The Homebuyer Tax Credit still around for Veterans.

Thanks to IRS.gov:

Additionally, there are new benefits for members of the military and certain other federal employees:

• Members of the military and certain other federal employees serving outside the U.S. have an extra year to buy a principal residence in the U.S. and qualify for the credit. Thus, an eligible taxpayer must buy, or enter into a binding contract to buy, a principal residence on or before April 30, 2011. If a binding contract is entered into by that date, the taxpayer has until June 30, 2011, to close on the purchase. Members of the uniformed services, members of the Foreign Service and employees of the intelligence community are eligible for this special rule. It applies to any individual (and, if married, the individual’s spouse) who serves on qualified official extended duty service outside of the United States for at least 90 days during the period beginning after Dec. 31, 2008, and ending before May 1, 2010.• In many cases, the credit repayment (recapture) requirement is waived for members of the uniformed services, members of the Foreign Service and employees of the intelligence community. This relief applies where a home is sold or stops being the taxpayer’s principal residence after Dec. 31, 2008, in connection with government orders received by the individual (or the individual’s spouse) for qualified official extended duty service. The credit is still allowable even if this happens during the year of purchase. Qualified official extended duty is any period of extended duty while serving at a place of duty at least 50 miles away from the taxpayer’s principal residence (whether inside or outside the U.S.) or while residing under government orders in government quarters. Extended duty is defined as any period of duty pursuant to a call or order to such duty for a period in excess of 90 days or for an indefinite period.

I have long advocated against the homebuyer tax credit, but I’ll moderate my opinion with respect to our veterans; we can’t thank them enough and this seems to be a small gesture.

My question with respect to the bolded items above – I wonder how and if this applies to the folks at Rivanna Station Military Base who are deployed for months at a time. My “I’m neither an accountant nor IRS person nor do I play one on TV” reading is that the answer is “probably.”

*Thanks to the KCM blog for the reminder about the credit; I knew about it but hadn’t written about it here.