Washington DC/Baltimore

[GoldenEagle]

Does anyone know if this is likely or unlikely to be effective for 2012? Could Congress pass a law to make it retroactive?

[LoveRedfin]

Are you talking about the credit offered by the District of Columbia? That was good only for homes purchased by 12/31/11.

http://otr.cfo.dc.gov/otr/cwp/view,a,1330,q,594156.asp

The federal first-time homebuyer credit ended on 9/30/10.

And no, Congress is not likely to be doing anything on 12/30/11 (when you wrote this query) or 12/31/12 (today) other than trying to deal with the "fiscal clliff." 

The federal credit was an attempt to keep the housing industry from dying. As the industry has been recovering - especially in this area - for the past year or so, it seems rather unlikely that a federal credit will be given again anytime soon.

[GoldenEagle]

I'm referring to the DC credit and I understand it, our Congressional Overlords are the ones that have authority over the issue, which is why Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has advocated for it in the past. It's been in effect since 1997 so I'd be somewhat surprised if it stopped this year. I wonder if Congress can pass laws retroactively or if it's buried somewhere in the fiscal cliff bill. Unlikely, yes, but if indeed the DC tax credit is ending, I'm surprised no one is talking about it (though if you need $5K to incite you to buy a home, you probably shouldn't be buying one in the first place).

[LoveRedfin]

It doesn't appear that the credit was renewed but there is a carry-forward provision

Here is the text from H.R.8:

(L) FIRST-TIME HOME BUYER CREDIT FOR
19 THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.—Section
20 1400C(d) is amended to read as follows:
21 ‘‘(d) CARRYFORWARD OF UNUSED CREDIT.—If the
22 credit allowable under subsection (a) exceeds the limita-
23 tion imposed by section 26(a) for such taxable year re-
24 duced by the sum of the credits allowable under subpart
25 A of part IV of subchapter A (other than this section and

1 section 25D), such excess shall be carried to the suc-
2 ceeding taxable year and added to the credit allowable
3 under subsection (a) for such taxable year.’’.
4 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
5 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after
6 December 31, 2011.