Stimulus Plan's Home Buyer Tax Credit Checklist: Do You Qualify?

Feb. 26, 2009 — -- The government's new stimulus plan is printed on an astonishing pile of paper, but somewhere in the hefty stack are a few lines of text that could save American home buyers a pile of cash.

According to the new plan, first-time home buyers who buy a home this year will be eligible to receive an $8,000 tax credit -- if they meet a battery of qualifications.

"For first-time home buyers this year, this special feature can put money in their pockets right now rather than waiting another year to claim the tax credit," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, in a news release. "This important change gives qualifying home buyers cash they do not have to pay back."

The tax credit is different from the $7,500 tax credit already available to some home owners under last year's Housing and Economic Recovery Act.

"The most significant difference is that this tax credit does not have to be repaid. Because it had to be repaid, the previous 'credit' was essentially an interest-free loan," according to the plan's Web site.

Under the previous plan, the $7,500 tax credit was a 15-year interest-free loan and was available to home buyers who purchased their homes after April 9, 2008, and before July 1, 2009.

The new tax credit offers a larger tax credit, but it also sports a laundry list of fine print-like restrictions, from the date of purchase to the buyer's income.

Check out the guide to the new tax credit on the next page and then click here to visit FederalHousingTaxCredit.com for more information.