Introduction
This publication provides tax information for first-time homeowners. Your first home may be a house, condominium, cooperative
apartment, mobile
home, houseboat, or house trailer.
The following topics are explained.
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How you treat items such as settlement and closing costs, real estate taxes, sales taxes, home mortgage interest, and repairs.
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What you can and cannot deduct on your tax return.
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The tax credit you can claim if you received a mortgage credit certificate when you bought your home.
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Why you should keep track of adjustments to the basis of your home. (Your home's basis generally is what it costs; adjustments
include the
cost of any improvements you might make.)
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What records you should keep as proof of the basis and adjusted basis.
District of Columbia first-time homebuyer credit.
You may be able to claim a one-time tax credit of up to $5,000 ($2,500 if married filing separately) if you buy a
main home in the District of
Columbia. You must reduce the basis of your home by the amount of the credit you claim. Only purchases after August 4, 1997
qualify for this credit.
The credit is not allowed if you acquired your home from certain related persons or by gift or inheritance.
You qualify for the credit if you (and your spouse if you are married) did not have an ownership interest in a main
home in the District of
Columbia for at least 1 year before buying the new home. Individuals with modified adjusted gross income of $90,000 or more
($130,000 or more in the
case of a joint return) cannot claim the credit. Individuals with modified adjusted gross income between $70,000 and $90,000
(between $110,000 and
$130,000 in the case of a joint return) can claim only a reduced credit.
Use Form 8859, District of Columbia First-Time Homebuyer Credit, to figure your credit. See the form and its instructions
for more information.
Comments and suggestions.
We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.
You can write to us at the following address:
Internal Revenue Service
Individual Forms and Publications Branch
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:I
1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6406
Washington, DC 20224
We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number,
including the area code, in
your correspondence.
You can email us at
*[email protected]. (The asterisk must be included in the
address.) Please put “
Publications Comment” on the subject line. Although we cannot respond individually to each email, we do appreciate your
feedback and will consider your comments as we revise our tax products.
Tax questions.
If you have a tax question, visit
www.irs.gov or call 1-800-829-1040. We cannot answer tax questions at either
of the addresses listed above.
Ordering forms and publications.
Visit
www.irs.gov/formspubs
to download forms and publications, call 1-800-829-3676, or write to one of the three addresses shown under
How To Get Tax Help in the back
of this publication.
