1) The sum of the housing credit will be split into two tax returns.
2) You may not be eligible for the full credit. It depends on your tax liability. So the higher your income, the closer you will be to getting the full credit.
3) You CAN claim this credit on the 08 tax return (even though you’ve purchased in 09)
4) You do not have to repay this credit.
5) You do not have to be a first time home buyer for this credit. You just can not have owned a home at anytime in the past three years that was your principal residence.

Yes you can receive it on this years income tax. I’m a first time home buyer closing next month and I was able to get it. Make sure that they fill out the form for the 8k one that you don’t have to pay back the new rule obama past. Some tax preparor may get confused and file for the 7500 one.

When you file for 2009, you did not buy in 2008.