3-Month Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension

by Jim Wang

There have been a lot of news reports of a potential 3-month extension of the $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit and those reports are all correct, albeit a little misleading. The bill they voted on would extend the deadline for closing a home sale as long as there was a signed contract by the original signing deadline of April 30th. So this doesn’t extend the tax credit itself, just the deadline for paperwork process. If you didn’t have a signed contract by April 30th, nothing has changed for you. If you did and the process has dragged on much longer than you planned, then you’ll get until April 30th (as long as the measure passes the Senate).


The House of Representative voted 409 to 5 to pass HR 5623 Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010. The measure will now go to the Senate for a vote and, assuming they approve it, will go to President Obama for signature. The Senate had included a similar provision in a much larger tax package that didn’t secure enough votes.


Five Republicans voted against the measure – Campbell (R-CA), Flake (R-AZ), Hensarling (R-TX), Linder (R-GA), and McClintock (R-CA). There were 18 Not Votings, 10 Democrats and 8 Republicans.

Incidentally, a standalone unemployment insurance bill was defeated in the House of Representatives today on a vote of 261-155 (failed to get a 2/3rds majority). You can see a detailed listing of who voted how via OpenCongress.