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The steady decline in housing prices over the past few years has been due primarily to the decrease in home sales. The housing market is heavily affected by the economy. The government recognizes this and has put into action laws that are aimed at increasing property sales.

The Tax Credit for Home Buyers law was initially approved in 2008 and was later on revised in 2009. With the recent developments in the economy, the 2010 administration revised the law in which it provided new rules in acquiring the tax credit.

In 2010, the Tax Credit for Home Buyers law was revised again to lessen the strict guidelines for qualifying for the tax credit. However, one must get to know the Tax Credit for Home Buyers law thoroughly in order to avoid any future issues in buying your next home. Below you will find a summary of what the Tax Credit for Home Buyers law entails.

The status of individuals and their incomes are considered with clear guidelines, and the facilities are meant for first-time buyers who have not been owners of a main or primary property in the previous three years. Gross income for a buyer who is single must be between $125,000 and $145,000 and married couples must be earning between $225,000 and $245,000 to qualify.

Additional restrictions include an age limit and overall home price. An individual must be 18 years of age at the date of the closing of a property in order to qualify for the tax credit. In addition, homes that are prices over $800,000 are not eligible for the tax credit.

It is important to note that the date of sale is also important regarding tax credit qualification. A home purchase that qualifies for the tax credit must have closed after November 6, 2009. A dated proof of purchase is required in order to proceed in the process.

Because of the changes done for the law, the rules for home purchase tax credits are quite complicated even though the revision allows for less stringent requirements. This must be researched to the fullest extent in order to more smoothly purchase your first home. For a more help and a reliable reference, a comprehensive and detailed information on the topic can be found in the IRS website, irs.gov.

The government website also has FAQs and instructions on the on how to apply for the home purchase tax credits from the same website. The site has the rundown on all requirements needed when applying for the credit.

The author has been publishing commentary on buying property for the previous four years. In addition, this writer loves blogging regarding NYC neighborhood subjects, such as real estate Hudson Heights and apartments for rent in Alphabet City.

Tax time is the most stressful and hectic time of the year. You are scrambling looking for receipts from last year in every place imaginable. The best time to start organizing for your 2009 tax return is right after New Year’s Eve. Trust me it’ll be a lot easier and less stressful than trying to accomplish it last minute.

I highly recommend using a large manila folder to organized all your papers or documents when filing your taxes. You can set it up, where each folder is a year and in each folder it might include item such as:

*income (check stubs), interest and dividends, bonuses, miscellaneous income

-medical bills, work related expenses (ex: mileage logs, business trips, business dinner/lunch)

-interest from your mortgage, insurance and other taxes

I know you are wondering how to organize your tax documents for this year’s tax filing, but it is very simple if you do the organizing all year long, for only the year that you are in. Once the year has ended and your taxes completed, you are already a few months into the next year.

The key items you want to put from this basic list of documents needed to file for past year taxes is the income you made including gains on selling stocks and any business expenses that you might have done. A home office or a seminar is considered a deduction when it comes to using your own money for your business.

Since you can only write off a portion of your medical bills and some people don’t have enough to worry about, you can always start a manila envelope at the beginning of each year to only put your medical statements and receipts in.

If you own you own business, you’ll need copies of any utility payments, bank statements and office space payment, just to name a few. If you were working for a company, your employer should send a W2 for all the income including bonuses you earn from previous year. These documents are important when it comes to filing your taxes.

Owning you own business or if you’re self employed, it’s best that you keep everything related to your business in its own folder. This folder might included, invoices, payment checks, business bank statement and receipts.

Finding the receipts you need is easier as you go along because it can be hard to locate them several months later. When you want to know how to organize your tax documents, you want all the deductions you are entitled to, so if you are in doubt, it should go in the relevant envelope until you discuss it with your accountant.

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