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With the recent talk of raising the first-time homebuyer’s credit, one important question is still open: why are the current checks taking so long to go through? No one expects the tax credit to be instantaneous, and of course the IRS will need to validate each claim. But reports of delayed tax credits are pouring in — and when the tax credit is a key part of financing a new home, this has people nervous.
- One online commenter complained of a 12-week wait for the check, which hadn’t arrived yet.
- Other commenters are asking when the check will arrive — the answers indicate that it takes ten to twelve weeks, but there’s lots of confusion nonetheless.
- Other estimates for how long the credit takes imply a wait of 12-16 weeks.
- Some people are even less lucky. One of them had to wait fourteen weeks — to find out that he needed to send the IRS more information.
Some people are in no mood to wait for the check. Several states have found a way around this: HUD is starting to lend people money backed by the tax credits, for certain mortgages. And several states have taken matters into their own hands: here is a list of states that lend new homeowners money to tide them over until the tax credit arrives. For many new home buyers, this can be a good way to stay afloat, but in most cases, it’s best not to rely on that tax credit as the only way to close a new home purchase.
Tags: first time home buyer tax credit, irs, New Home Tax Credit
This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Tax Questions.- Unlimited live support.
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My boyfriend and filed sept 2009 by mail, did a amended return first I was told 8-12 weeks, then told 16 weeks. after several calls and IRS reps telling me it’s being processed or it’s being reviewed that they would put in a research request and i would get something in the mail in 30days, I’ve went through 3 30day periods, waiting still nothing. I called today and they said something was sent out to me March 14th, it’s 23rd and I still have nothing in the mail. IRS rep put in a request for the tax payers advocate says i should hear something from them in 3-7 business days. In the mean time my boyfriend ( we had to filed seperate bc we aren’t married, he gets 4,000 and i get 4,000) was jerked around as well with the same speech wait 30 days you’ll get something in the mail. In Feb. he recieved letter stating he needed to provide more information Bank statements, mortgage statements, electric bill in his name, contract to purchase, and settlement statements, IRS gave us several numbers to fax this information too, after trying each of the 6 numbers a few times each day we continued to get busy signal faxes wouldn’t go through ..finally after 2weeks the fax went through and IRS recieved his information, they are now telling him it could take up to 60more days to review the new info he provided. mean while i still have heard nothing about my share of the tax credit. we mailed ours out sept. 17th 6 mos and counting… wish everyone else luck. FYI i’d take it to tay preparer and get advice on quickest way to file and get your money. good luck!
I mailed my amended return on February 19, 2010. I callled the next week and it was’nt showing up in the system. I called again a week and a few days later and the rep. said still nothing showing in the system. A couple of days later a nice young lady informed me that all of my documents had been recieved as of February 23 and my return was adjusted on March 16th and that it would take 3 to 4 weeks to process. Well, just to be sure I called again about 2 days later and another rep. said that the process would take 12 to 16 weeks. I started to feel a little discouraged. Me feeling not so good about the news I called again on yesterday which was March 24th and the rep. told me that my refund date is April 2nd. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this is true! I’m not gonna call back to be on the safe side. I’m going with what the last rep. told me, so my entire wait will only have been about 5 weeks. Not only will I get the 8k but I am also getting much more because of my amended taxes. I also sent w-2′s in later with my HUD because they came in later after I filed my taxes. Let’s keep the faith, our money is on it’s way! Once I recieve my refund I will post again.
I went to the irs tax refund webpage a little while ago, and put in my info for the tax return that I have already recieved just to see what would come up. SURPRISE to me, it said that my refund would be direct deposited on April 2, 2010, if I don’t recieve it by April 7 to call. I did’nt think that it was possible for the first time homebuyer tax credit could/would be direct deposited! I guess I’ll know next Friday.
We bought our home Sept 2009 we did an ammendment for our 2008 taxes and IRS received it Sept 18th was told it was taking 120 days as there was so many people who bought homes 120 days went by no check called again 160 days it was taking called after 160 days said i would receive a letter from IRS in 30 days telling me when or what was going on didnt receive a letter called back they said there was no activity on it being done for me to call back in a week then said it went to referral finally in Jan. called again a woman said this should have been resolved a long time ago l and gave me the phone no. of a tax advocate who would be taking over my case and finally i called her and was told my taxes had no problems and check would be mailed April 3rd and I receiced it April 6th and IRS included 178.00 interest.there wasnt any reason for taking that long and i am still very upset with the IRS !!!! so if all of you that are still waiting call and tell them you want a IRS tax advocate to take your case over and good luck everyone as most of you it is uncalled for!!!
This is just rediculous. If you owe the IRS they threaten you with a levy of property or a garnishment of wages. Heaven forbid they aren”t human. We were told that our first time refund should be recieved in three weeks (after waiting for 3 months) we still have one more week to wait. The person I talked to said all the adjustments were done, then what is the hold up, and what adjustments? It better be intrest and penalties that they owe us and not some other hoop we have to jump through. This is Our Government Hard at Work. Yeh right.
The IRS is making us all wait because they have no money. It is so easy to tell by the hud one and county office if a home was sold. They are full of …. Our government thinks we are all so stupid and to busy to do anything about this bull crap. Call and email the IRS, your Senator, Congressmen, and any other elected official and make their lives a living hell.
I filed January 25th, was supposed to get my refund direct deposited on March 30th, March 30th I called and all of a sudden it’s in the Error department, I have to wait 3 weeks for a letter. 3 weeks later no letter I call again and now I need a Tax Payer Advocate… Still no word, no letter, no request for information, and no refund. Shoot I just want my NORMAL refund at least! They can hold the dang Tax credit until the fix their dang system!
I’m at 16 weeks today and still no check I hate the IRS the will hunt you down for $!.00 but when the owe you money they act dumb. I called sat on the phone for 1 hour and was told to call back in a week lame huh
My son and his wife filed an amended 2008 return for the first time buyers credit for a home he purchased in July 2009. The amended return was filed in Oct. 2009,, and this is July 7 2010 and they still are getting letters from IRS saying the claim is still under investigation and all of the information that IRS requested was sent in in February 2010 and they have received 2 letters since then saying 30 more days. I am beginning to think something is wrong here! Has anyone else had similiar problem?
Okay, I may have the longest wait time! We filed an amended return Feb 28, 2010 for the tax credit. 5 weeks later we received a letter saying they needed more info. I knew that was a joke, I was very careful to send more than they required. So, mailed off the 2nd package around April 6. Started calling them in June and was told they had 12-16 weeks to get it to me (counting from the 2nd package, not the 1st!). Called back at the 16 week mark and they said it still hadn’t been processed, no idea why, and now they have 30 days to get back to me on why it is taking so long. And when they do NOT call me back within 30 days (cause who believes that one anymore?!), THEN I can file to have it moved to a different dept. We are now at week 25 and still no phone call, no letter, no direct deposit.
I’d love to know if anyone has contacted their State Rep or Senator and had them get anything done? I need good news…we are struggling here.
I filed my takes in Feb of this year I ham still waiting first it was the Hud one the needed., then after that , then a letter telling me I didn’t qualify and to appeal if I thought otherwise, then I appealed then they needed my amendment which didn’t even apply because I filed everything at once then I called and they told me it would take up to 8 weeks for a response then and now they’re auditing me. I’ve been a single father for four years , recently married and we bought this house partially becuase of the incentive of the home buyers tax credit. Now they’ve jus tsent me an audit form questioning if I am the Head of Household!!!! By the time I get this credit it will be time to file again, it’s been seven months! Is anyone else waiting this long?
My fiance and I are on our 21st wk. We have called several times and got the same answer every time, “it is being processed”. So, finally my fiance got a nice man from the IRS on the phone and he informed us it hasn’t been touched. So, my assumption “being processed” to the IRS really means “it’s here collecting dust”. So, they only had until August 30th to mail us something and let us know what was going on with our return. Nothing. So we called and they sent a “referral” for it to be looked out…and said that if they did not contact us within 30 days to call back..so today 18 days AFTER they exhausted their 16 week limit, we get a letter in the mail saying that our return has been received by the “examination dept” and they will be contacting us! I am so frustrated and confused! We have never owned a house and we are low income…so does anyone know why it would be sent to the examination dept?
My wife and I closed on our home late March 2009. Shooting from the hip, I am pretty sure we are in or around our 22nd week, I am losing count now. Still no check, no letter… nothing.
The only information we have been able to obtain was by taking the initiative to put in numerous time consuming calls to the IRS.
Each time is a groundhogs day type experience; where we receive the same canned response. In which they verify that they have our return and it is being processed. They then proceed to advise us to call back in three weeks “if we have not heard anything.” Then we start the wait and call process all over again.
This is whole situation is totally ridiculous.
We got a house built in 2009 and moved in October 2, 2009. We filed our 2009 taxes february 20,2010. We had to send in our amendment around march 2010. Its now October 2010 and nothing. I faxed so many documents that they could not ask for more information. I faxed my homestead, driver license, HUD, bank statements, entergy bill, Certificate of Occupancy, water bill, fingerhut mail, UPS and Fed X deliver packages, DirecTV bills, the whole kitchen sink..etc.. I get a letter saying in 30 days u will hear a reply, 30 days have passed i get another letter saying they are sorry its taking so long to review due to large returns. So that letter said we should hear something within another 30 days. i called so many times the reps has left a note to the other reps that says he called yesterday. All i can do is laugh at this…It really makes me wonder..I am a United States citizen, borned and raised here and it takes the IRS over 1 year and counting to see if I am actually who I say i am…Then u get someone who is not from the United States that move here and has bad intentions it will take the IRS over 2 years to decide who that person is? Thats scary to know
My husband and I purchased a house in April 2009, filed to get our credit with our ’09 taxes in Feb of this year. A month or so goes by they ask for more stuff, so we fax AND mail in drivers license, HUD, mortgage statement, and a bank statement (they only asked for 2 things we sent 4 off the list) another 2 months goes by, we get this 12 page letter denying us, we call and call and call no one can help up, then this summer, around June they need ANOTHER verification so I faxed in a pay stub, we are declined AGAIN so we call and call and then we are told that the IRS thinks we are renting our home out….we keep saying no, we finally figure out in late August that since my husband filed an extension for his ’08 taxes it showed that his current address when he filed was our new home so we had to go get our lease agreement AND a canceled check to show we lived there until April of ’09. They received it via fax and overnight on Sept 8, told us we would know something by Oct 8. Of course we don’t so I call back and nothing, then we get an apology letter saying we will know something by Oct 18th, of course we dont hear anything so I call the Taxpayers Advocate, they set up a case # and we should hear back within 7 business days. We dont hear anything (she said she called but who knows) so I call them and talk to the person handling out stuff (meanwhile we have gotten another letter from the IRS saying “oh you have recently received your home buyers credit….no we havent!) she wants us to fax in our lease so she can send in an override – this was October 28th. I have heard nothing from her, so I called the IRS on Nov 1, and the girl I talkd to said our case was JUST assigned and to call back in 3 weeks….this has been a nightmare to deal with and when the IRS tells me they know how I feel well I think its a complete lie, just like everything else they have told us.
I realize that I have not been waiting nearly as long as some of you, but it is just so depressing. I initially didn’t think that I would make the (then) deadline of purchasing a home by June 30. I worked hard to make this happen and actually closed on June 30. I mailed all of the required documents on July 1. The mail must have went by pony express because the irs states they received my info on July 12. Considering that I was told repeatedly by folks that the refund would take 6-8 weeks, when the six weeks passed and I was told 12-16 weeks, I was not happy. At that time I was told my return was being processed. I called again at 16 weeks (I can count) and they argued with me that it had not been 16 weeks-they apparently just randomly go by months (June 12-Nov12). So, they won’t even listen to me until the 16 week time frame that they come up with passes. I have not received any correspondence requesting additional info, etc. The last person I spoke with said that if I haven’t received notification of anything, then that’s a good sign. They’re so full of crap. The biggest issue I have with this is that they simply won’t be honest with us. Just tell me why its taking so long and when I might actually be able to expect it. It is free money, I think most of us would be happy to get it whenever they say…but when you are forced to just sit and wonder for months on end, it really gives insight to how our government feels about us. I also have alot of confusion over whether amended returns are direct deposited and why it seems like some people have been able to access info from the where’s my refund website. I’ve read that these returns can’t be direct deposited and that 1040x return info isn’t available online. Any answers to these questions? Good luck to you all.
What number are all of you calling where you even get to talk to someone? I get nothing but automated messages and that just always gives me the runaround. I sent ours in in April 2010. In June I get it back in the mail with one section of a page highlighted that I “forgot to sign”. I wouldn’t put it past them to just slap a brand new page on there and highlight it and say I made a mistake. I am capable of making mistakes of course, but everyone is having such bad luck with this and being lied to…….So I quickly signed it and sent it back in the very same day. Now here we are on November 12th, and still nothing. I hang on the mail every day waiting for it. I try not to, but I can’t help it. In my case that’s a lot of money. If anyone could PLEASE share with me the number that you used to talk to a real human being I would so much appreciate that. Thanks, and good luck to everyone else.
Hey Patrick,
The number you call ends in 1040 (its on the irs website under where’s my refund) and wait til the end of the automated baloney, it will give you the option of pressing zero to speak to someone.
An update on mine….I called back on November 12 and learned that on November 2 (the day after I called them and they argued it had not been 16 weeks) my return was sent for review due to something “questionable” on my amended return. It would make too much sense for the person to have noted what was questionable. I was told that someone would “review” the return to determine if it needed “reviewed” (these people would be fired anywhere else for incompetency). I pulled out my copies of what I sent them and it is so straightforward, I just don’t get what they’re talking about. What’s really interesting is that it took the FULL 16 weeks for them to do ANYTHING with it! I have received NOTHING
….submitted my comment accidentally before completing. I was just saying that they did nothing with my return for four months and on the day that they had the return a full sixteen weeks, they submitted it for review. I have not received any correspondence whatsoever from them. This disgusts me. I have counted on this money as well…no the holidays are approaching and I’m still trying to hang on.
Here’s an interesting twist…..My husband filed in February 2010 and qualified for the 8k refund. In May he received his refund check via mail. Great!!! Well, not so much. In August, he received a letter from the IRS saying he owed them 8k because he didn’t qualify for the credit. He filed an appeal, they sent the letter asking for more info. He sent the info and 30 days later receive another letter saying he still owes them 8k and they need additional information. He sends them more info and received a letter saying it would be decided in 30 days. October comes and another letter apologizing for the wait and it would be 30 more days for a decision. Almost middle of December and receive a letter today telling him again that he does not qualify and to repay the 8k. What loophole are we missing here? The paperwork clearly shows his taxes completed by a reputable professional and easily qualifying for the credit. So the IRS gives it to him then says nope we want it back. This is crazy and they are getting a fight on this one. Good luck to you all and Merry Christmas
My accountant /lawyer spoke with two different IRS reps on two occasions after I spoke with three reps. They question my qualifications and then admit they see that I do qualify. I was told my check would be coming from both of the reps my accountant spoke with. It is December 31 and I have not received my refund. My accountant says the law is the law.He tells me I qualify and they must and will send the money I deserve. I keep feeling more nad more unsure that IRS will comply and there is NOTHING i can do about it.
I actually go my refund on time. BUT months later they sent a letter requesting a utility bill and copy of my drivers license to verify my address. I called to talk with someone about it and they informed me that I missed the reply date and now would have to resend in my settlement staement as well as the information requested because they will be re-reviewing my claim. Well, just heard today that I have now been denied and they want their 8 grand back. this is not right! The woman on the phone told me that they had reviewed half of them and then just pushed the other half through to review later? Sounds awful fishy to me. But what is one to do it’s the government. this whole thing makes me sick who has 8,000 lying around these days? Odd that I qualified the first time but now I don’t?
well im going on 7 months no check they have asked me for all the forms i already sent 2 times to send them again!! they give me a phone number to call never answer i have left at least 20 messages no dam call back why isnt the media reporting this crap ???
I filed my taxes in June of 2010. It is February 2011, and I still have not received my tax credit. I’ve called numerous times. I’ve sent in paperwork twice. I don’t know what to do. – Aaron
Consider this a link back for being so interesting.
Filed in Febuary of 2010 it is now almost April of 2011 .. Still no money . Sent in paperwork 4 times . We get letters every 30days saying that we will get a response in 30 days last one said we would get a decision by March 16th 2011 … It is now the 21st still no response .
Looks like phone call number 12 is on the agenda for today … After this guess it’s time for a lawer. Dont know what else to do .
Reading all these comments lets me know I am not the only person in this predicament. I closed on my house April 1, 2010. I amended my 2009 tax return in May 2010. I’ve called many times and documented each call. Each time I am given a date/time as to when I should receive either my refund or a response from the IRS. I too have received letters with “respond by” dates. I’ve spoken to rude individuals and nice individuals who basically try to reassure me that they are working on it and I should hear something by…..”insert date here”. I was told a while back that I was being audited. OK…fine, but how long does it take to verify that I actually bought the house, I live there, and I am a new homeowner? Really!!! I’ve sent them every document they asked for and then some. This is so incredibly frustrating. I wrote my congressman and that has not helped so far either. I filed my 2010 income tax with TurboTax and it was deposited promptly into my bank account on Friday, March 18, 2011. I can’t believe I received that before this tax credit. What is going on here? Can you hear me screaming? Ugh!!!!
Well everyone, get ready to wait! I’ve been waiting since february 16th 2010. For those of you who can count, that’s 13 months and 2 weeks…….or just 58 weeks to keep it simple. The only reason they have to deny me is that (pay attention here) I bought my house in feb. 2010 but I moved out in july 2009. Therefore I didn’t live in the house for the three years required. If you didn’t catch that then you must work for the IRS! Appeal after appeal, and still they can’t explain to me why I have to wait for them to fix their mistake, and why I must resend everything every month, just to be told sorry we’ll mail you a letter in a month and you can keep appealing.I hate our government and our president. Lies. If you promise a man something you need to honor it, I only wish I could meet our government at the preverbial “FLAGPOLE”…………if y’all know what I mean……
O M G i am so fustrated about this whole first time home buyers tax credit. I filed for an 2009 amended return back in sept 10. closed on my house in june 2010 but had already signed my binding contract to buy the house in April. I called because i had not heard anything by december and was told that they received it but it was not in review. I then received a letter in January asking for more information cause i was being audited ok mailed in the paper work. i called to verify that they had received the paper work i mailed in and after calling back every two weeks to check the status of my paper work like i as told to i finally got a lady who told me that they were working on october files and it would be a couple months before they got to the paper work that had been sent in in January. R you serisouly kidding me!? Ok i am being patient. I received a letter las month March that my return is being reviewed and i should hear a response from them by April 13th . No Problem- April 13th came and went so i called on the 15th to find out information-They lady that i talked to told me that they mailed me a letter out on April 11th letting me know that they still needed more infromation and told me that they needed my binding contract to prove that i was already in the process of buying the house before i closed. Why they just didnt say thet needed that in the first place. ok so i ask if i can fax and mail in to make sure that they receive it she says sure no problem. so on the 19th i fax and remail all the paperwork that i have sent them in regards to the tax credit. Theni receive a letter on the 15th that says DISSALLOW ALL ITEMS and IF I AGREE TO SIGN AND RETURN( EXCUSE ME). SO I GO HOME LAST NIGHT GATHER UP ALL MY PAPERWORK THAT THEY SENT ME AND IVE SENT THEM AND CALL AND TRY AND TALK TO THE GUY I FIRST STARTED TALKING WITH ACCORDING TO HIM NOT POSSIBLE BUT HE CAN HELP ME SO I START ASKING MORE DETAILED QUESTIONS IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN BE TRANSFERED OVER TO THAT OFFICE, DO YOU HAVE A DIRECT NUMBER FOR THAT OFFICE. gIVES ME NUMBER FOR OFFICE AND I START EXPLAINING THE LETTER I RECEIVED HE TELLS ME NO DONT SIGN ANYTHING AND DONT RETURN IT AND CONFIRMED THAT THEY RECEIVED MY PAPER WORK THAT I FAXED ON THE 19TH AND TELLS ME SO NOW ITS A WAITING PROCESS STILL AND CANT TELL ME ANYTHNG ELSE ON THE SITUTATION. BUT ACCORDING TO THE IRS REVIEW PROCESS PAPMLET I STILL NEED TO RESPOND BY WRITING A LETTER AS TO WHY I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE RESPONSE THEY GAVE ME. SO DO I GO AND FIND AN ADVOCATE FIRST OR DO I REQUEST AND INFORMAL INTERVIEW WITH THE EXAMINERS MANAGER I AM SO LOST ON THIS AND LIKE EVERONE ELSE AM TIRED OF GETTING THE RUN AROUND BY THE IRS. HOW IN THE WORLD DO I CONTACT THE ADVOCATE, MANAGER AND CONGRESS ANY BODY THAT HAS ANY INFORMATION ON THIS WOULD HELP AND IM IN THE OKlahoma area and my tax info was sent to CA
THANKS
I have been waiting also for my money. to come as well so do the Irs know anything yet, because I was depending on that money as well for personal reason’s for one thing i’m a grandmother trying to help.take care,of my 3 granddaughter’s ,and my 1 grandson whom all are under age 4. that’s why a’m asking where is my stimulus check time’s are hard for me right now you just would not begin to understand.well i’m closing this statement thank’s to who ever reads this note.and good luck by.
[...] The Wandering Tax Pro finds out how easy it is to get free money from the Feds — but not in the way you’d expect! It’s a good point about how little fact-checking there is behind the homebuyer’s rebate (and might explain why the homebuyer’s tax credit is taking so long. [...]
I entered into a binding contract in march of 2010, closed on the loan in may 2010 and filed an amended return for the 2009 tax year in July of 2010. I waited 13 weeks(was supposed to have only waited 12) and had not heard anything. It was October by this time and I called the IRS. was told that it went into review the same day it was received on July 22, 2010. From that day they had 120 days to reslove the matter. This was up in Jan 2011. I called again and was told that if I had not received a letter in 30 days to call again. The next week I got the letter telling me I had to resend all the info that I had included with the original amended return the contract, the purchase agreement the hud, everything. I sent utility bills, everything I had that proves I bought the house and have been living in it since its purchase. I send all that back in and a week after I send it I get a letter saying that they have not recieved my docs. I call again and they tell me to give it a few weeks that the docs are probably in the building but not checked in. Before the 2 weeks are up I get a letter saying they have my docs and to give them 45 more days. That 45 days was up the 2nd week of April 2011. I call them again because I have heard nothing. I was told that the case was closed the week before and I should be getting a letter. That same day I rec’d a certified letter saying that they closed my case because they never received my documents! I turn around and call them for the second time in the same day and asked what the devil was going on. I was in tears. The lady was nice and looked at the account and said that they show that a package was received from me in feb 2011 but no one had reviewed the case. She put a note on it and said it may or may not be seen due to the fact that the case was closed. She suggested that I resend all info again. At this point I call my tax person and get advice. I was told to write a letter and tell them why I wanted the case reopened and to mark on their form that I want to appeal and to send another copy of the documents. The day I went to post office to mail all the stuff again, I got a letter from IRS saying that they do have my info to give them another 45 days to review it. I am so upset, frustrated, just like everyone else on here! So today I call them again just to see what they will say. I have always heard that the squeaky wheel gets the grease……. I was told today by the most helpful person ive ever spoken with there(being serious, not sarcastic) that they my case is not closed, that my documents were scanned in and she can see them, but there was not an examiner assigned to my case! No one has looked at it siince I filed the amended return in July2010! She printed out all the documents went through them to make sure all they needed ws there and while I was on hold faxed them to the examiner’s in Texas. She SAID she included a cover letter explaining my situation and to give them 2 weeks and call back to see if the examiners had put any more notes in the system showing that they are reviewing my case. Back last year I kept hoping that I would receive the money before Christmas. I guess I should have specified Christmas what year!!! Now I am hoping that I receive it before my birthday this year 2011……..But today has been the best info day ive had. I have a little more optimism today than yesterday.
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