Last fall, Congress extended the Home Buyer Tax Credit to April 30, 2010 and expanded the program to apply to non-first time homebuyers as well. These buyers are sometimes referred to as “repeat buyers” or “long term residents”.

 Here are some further details on the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit:

Deadline: All buyers must be under contract to purchase a home by April 30, 2010 and must close on that home by July 1, 2010.

Type of Property: This credit may only be applied to primary residences and can include townhomes, condos and single family homes.

Type of Buyer: In order to qualify as a first time home buyer, buyers cannot have owned a home anytime over the last 3 years. In order to qualify as a ‘repeat buyer’, the current homeowners must have used the home that is being sold as a principal residence for 5 consecutive years within the last 8 years. Additionally, the full credit is only available for taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income of $125,000 or less.

Tax Credit: The tax credit for first time homebuyers is $8,000 and the tax credit for “long-time residents” is $6,500. Buyers can apply their credit to their 2009 return or apply the credit on their 2010 tax return.

Trivia: For 2008 and so far for 2009 tax year, the IRS reported that 1.763 million tax payers applied for the First Time Home Buyer Credit and received credits of $12.4 billion. (Source: CNBC 03/17/10)

 Time is running out – must be under contract by April 30, 2010.

Check out great Jackson Hole properties offered by Christy & Garth Gillespie at www.jacksonholeexperts.com

There has been a lot of talk about the Tax Credit for First Time Homeowners on this blog so I thought I would switch it up and let you read about all the terrific tax situations in the great state of Wyoming.

An excellent source of tax information whether it is Wyoming’s excellent tax climate or the tax climate of your state.

State By State Map

Wyoming

And maybe most importantly – Beer Tax NOTICE who is #1 in least amount of Beer Tax!

TEN TAX BENEFITS OF OWNING REAL ESTATE IN JACKSON HOLE

1. No state income tax

2. Dynasty trusts: In Wyoming, you can shield your real estate from federal estate taxes for up to 1,000 years through a dynasty trust.

3. No inheritance tax

4. No state gift tax

5. No tax on out-of-state retirement income

6. Low property taxes (well, we think so) actually ranked 38th.

7. No excise taxes

8. No tax on mineral ownership

9. No intangible taxes

10. No tax on the sale of real estate.

To learn more about the benefits of owning real estate in Jackson Hole and Wyoming please visit us. Feel free to call us at 307-739-8056 or email us at garth.gillespie@sothebyshomes.com.

February 17, 2009

Christy and Garth Gillespie, the “Jackson Hole Experts” have reviewed the Stimulis Bill and Treasury announcements made last week and being signed today and here are our thoughts.

We were in support for a $15,000 tax credit but that was defeated. We are very excited to report much of what the National Association of REALTORS campaigned for was introduced and kept into the bill and are equally excited to see the already established tax breaks stay in effect.

So here’s what is part of the package: 1) the loan limits will be raised to $727,000 in high cost areas, 2) the tax credit will be raised to $8,000, 3) the bill has over $50 billion in it for foreclosure mitigation, 4) Fannie has just agreed to lift the cap of 4 investment properties eligible for loans and raise it to 10.

In addition, the Government preserved what we have – mortgage interest deductability, real estate tax deductability, and the $250,000/$500,000 cap gains exclusion (an overall package worth more than $100 billion).

We also reviewed where the $727 billion dollar stimulus package was being spent – unfortunately NOT in Teton County, Wyoming or Idaho….

We will continue to update the benefits of the Stimulus Bill as more details are released. For more information on the Jackson Hole Real Estate market please feel free to contact us at 307-739-8056 or send us an email to gillespie@NUMBER1EXPERT.com.