2010 Tax Relief Act: Home Owners
Tue, April 5, 2011 at 4:11 PM The following summarizes tax changes for Home Owners in the 2010 Tax Relief Act:
Credit for Residential Energy Efficient Property
The credit for 30 percent of the cost of installing solar water heating equipment, solar electric equipment, geothermal heat pumps or small wind turbines in your primary residence or a second home is unlimited in 2010. But the credit for fuel cell property cannot exceed $500 per half-kilowatt capacity.
Credit for Energy-Saving Home Improvements
The tax credit for the cost of energy-saving home improvements is 30 percent for 2010, up to a combined maximum of $1,500 in both 2009 and 2010. It applies to qualified insulation, windows, outside doors, biomass fuel stoves and high-efficiency furnaces, water heaters and central air conditioners.
Converting a Second Home to a Primary Home
If you convert a second home into a principal residence after 2008, you may not be able to exclude all of your gain. A portion of the gain on a subsequent sale of the home will be ineligible for the home-sale exclusion of up to $500,000, even if the seller meets the two-year ownership-and-use tests. The portion of the profit that’s subject to tax is based on the ratio of the time after 2008 when the house was a second home or a rental unit, to the total time you owned it. So if you have owned a vacation home for 18 years and make it your main residence in 2011 for two years before selling it, only 10 percent of the gain (two years of nonqualified second home use divided by 20 years of total ownership) is taxed. The rest qualifies for the home-sale exclusion of up to $500,000.
Mortgage Insurance Premiums
The special itemized deduction for mortgage insurance premiums paid on mortgages taken out after 2006 expires on Dec. 31, 2010.
Credit for Energy-Saving Home Improvements
The 30 percent tax credit of the cost of energy-saving home improvements was extended by the Tax Relief Act of 2010 through 2011
Starting in 2013: Tax Relief for Taxpayers Who Lose Their Homes Due to Foreclosure Expires
Beginning in 2013, debt forgiven in connection with the foreclosure of a principal residence will once again be considered taxable income (unless you are in bankruptcy or insolvent).
Starting in 2017: Credit for Residential Energy-Efficient Property
The credit for 30 percent of the cost of installing solar water heating equipment, photovoltaic or fuel cell equipment, geothermal heat pumps or wind turbines in your primary residence or a second home does not apply after 2016.