Tax Update Blog: Permalink

« Previous · Tax Update Blog Home · Next »

Where there's a refundable credit, there's fraud...

February 24, 2010

...and the First-time homebuyers credit is no exception. Forbes.com reports:

Continuing its long battle against tax preparers it considers incompetent or dishonest, the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday sued a pair of Miami, Fla., practitioners, saying they wrongly claimed the first-time homebuyer's credit for dozens of clients.
In separate civil lawsuits, lawyers for the agency said both preparers claimed the credit for clients who had not even bought homes. One preparer, Paula O. Patrice, who operates To the Max Professionals Inc., allegedly listed nonexistent addresses for purchased property while Henry E. Medina Jr., who runs Medina Group Inc., also known as Medina & Associates, purportedly listed the same bought-property address on tax returns of different clients.

Don't believe anybody who says you can get a credit for the home you've lived in for years, or that you don't really need to buy a house to qualify. To find out what the rules really are, the IRS first-time homebuyer page is a good place to start.

Tags: Homebuyer credit.preparer penalties.tax preparers.