Congress tries again to extend homebuyer tax credit deadline

Our in-house lender John Skoglund, with PHH Home Loans sent out this article to our office today. Originally published by CNNMoney.com, this article

The House has passed their own version of the Tax Credit Extension. The Senate needs to sign this version as does the President if it going to become law.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The House of Representatives Tuesday voted to give first-time homebuyers three more months to close on their purchases and land an $8,000 federal income tax credit.

But the Senate had better act in the next 24 hours...the deadline is currently June 30.
The House voted 409 to 5 to delay the closing deadline to September 30 in a stand-alone measure. The move comes nearly a week after the Senate failed to advance a much larger jobs bill that contained the tax credit provision.

The smaller House bill would raise the deficit by $9 million over a decade.

An estimated 200,000 people may miss out on the tax credit because they won't be able to close by close of business Wednesday. Many are trying to take advantage of short sales, which are complicated deals to complete.

The measure also seeks to reduce fraud associated with the credit. Some 1,300 prison inmates are thought to have claimed and received more than $9 million in tax credits, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report released earlier this month. The bill would allow the Internal Revenue Service to disclose tax return information to prison administrators.

Senate Democrats hope to address the measure this week, said an aide to the Senate Majority Leader.