The best part: they will give you all the correct answers after you submit your responses…

You COULD get a refund check for your 2008 taxes!

]]> http://www.we-promise.com/blog/2009/05/test-your-knowledge-first-time-home-buyer-credit/feed/ 0 http://www.we-promise.com/blog/2009/04/tax-credit-for-energy-efficient-upgrades/ http://www.we-promise.com/blog/2009/04/tax-credit-for-energy-efficient-upgrades/#comments Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:20:40 +0000 Kathleen Seide http://we-promise.com/blog/?p=1083 Did you know that you could get money back for your home upgrades?

Residential Energy Property Credit (Section 1121): The new law increases the energy tax credit for homeowners who make energy efficient improvements to their existing homes. The new law increases the credit rate to 30 percent of the cost of all qualifying improvements and raises the maximum credit limit to $1,500 for improvements placed in service in 2009 and 2010.

The credit applies to improvements such as adding insulation, energy efficient exterior windows and energy-efficient heating and air conditioning systems.

A similar credit was available for 2007, but was not available in 2008. Homeowners should be aware that the standards in the new law are higher than the standards for the credit that was available in 2007 for products that qualify as “energy efficient” for purposes of this tax credit. The IRS will issue guidance that will allow manufacturers to certify that their products meet these new standards.

Until the guidance is released, homeowners generally may continue to rely on manufacturers’ certifications that were provided under the old guidance. For exterior windows and skylights, homeowners may continue to rely on Energy Star labels in determining whether property purchased before June 1, 2009, qualifies for the credit. Manufacturers should not continue to provide certifications for property that fails to meet the new standards.

Link

IRS Info: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206871,00.html

Prices go up

It costs you more each year to rent than it did the year before.  If you are paying $1000 a month today and see a 3.5% increase, over the next 10 years you will have paid $140,000 (yes – One Hundred and Forty THOUSAND dollars).

10 Years of Rent Payments

Deductions

Real estate taxes are deductible on your Federal income tax.  Also, if you took out a loan then the interest you pay on your loan is deductible.  Talk to your accountant to find out exactly how you would be affected.

"Why Rent When You Can Buy" NAR Handout

Do the Math

Here is a brochure that does the math for you on a few of the issues.

$8,000 Tax Credit

Don’t forget about the $8,000 tax credit! If you add that in to that NAR brochure it makes a big difference, doesn’t it?

You can apply the tax credit to your 2008 or 2009 taxes.  That means if you buy a house now you could file an amended 2008 tax return – the IRS could send you an $8,000 check after your purchase is finalized!

Want to know more about the tax credit for first time home buyers?

Read this post – details of who qualifies and what it means to you

Watch this video

Link to the IRS tax credit application form

Link to IRS form 1040x – amended returns

Click below to watch!

Want more information?  Here is is a link to the government website about the tax credit with so many resources your head will spin… http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/resources.html

A photo from last month's meeting - our induction to the group! (Bonnie Seide, Kathleen Seide, and Adam Bolton)

Great Food

The monthly membership meeting for the Builder’s Association of North Central Florida was held today.  As usual the Best Western Gateway Grand provided great food and wonderful service!

Adam Bolton started the meeting off with his soon-to-be-infamous jokes, and we got down to business.

State of Alachua County

County Manager, Mr. Reid

Randy Reid, County Manager, Alachua County Commission, was our main speaker this month.  Mr Reid give a State of the County Address, which is in constant flux along with the rest of the economy.  As things stand now the county is looking at an 8% reduction in revenue for 2010, which is more painful when we consider that revenues have been dropping consistantly for several years now.

We are coming to a difficult point in our local government – how do we balance our budget?  There is an option of combining services where the city and county overlap, but cost savings that result are questionable in many cases. Smaller cities in Alachua are having serious problems providing fire or police services and may ask the county to take over those services.

Keynote Speaker: County Manager, Mr. Reid

Alternative Futures

There isn’t much more fat that we can trim away from the budget, because the last few years have already seen reductions in hiring staff as well as other methods of lowering costs by attrition.  The citizens of Alachua County will have a few options – we can look hard and long at what services we think are most important and cut funding to the rest, or we can allow the Commission to increase our property taxes to pay Alachua County’s bills.

I know it will be painful to reduce or eliminate funding for many of our programs & services, but considering the financial pain that many of our citizens are feeling I can’t see causing more by increasing property taxes.

Public Meetings

Mr. Reid mentioned that his office is holding public meetings to talk about funding and where it should go, to get an understanding of what the people of Alachua County want to do with our money.  I would suggest attending one of the meetings, so that we all can understand how our money is being spent and so we can have a voice in where it should be spent in the future.

I have emailed Mr. Reid asking for information about the meetings and will post more info, and hopefully dates, when I hear back from him!

Information on the County Budgets and the County Manager’s office:

The County Manager’s Blog - Mr. Reid hasn’t added anything new here for a while, but it is an interesting way to learn about the man and his perspectives.

Community Update Newsletter – published by the Communications Office & intended to keep citizens in the know about the business and events of the County and the Board of County Commissioners.