As its June 30, 2010 closing deadline approaches, the federal home buyer tax credit is back in the news.

Unfortunately, the headlines are misleading.

Contrary to what you may have read (or heard), the federal home buyer tax credit has not been extended past June 30, 2010. At least not yet. And here’s why there’s confusion.

Look at these headlines from earlier this week:

• Senate Extends Date On Home-Buying Tax Credit (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• U.S. Senate Approves Extension Of Home Buyer Tax Credit (NASDAQ)
• Senate Approves Home Tax Credit Extension (Reuters)

Now, nothing above is factually incorrect, but each neglects a key piece of the country’s law-making process — it takes more than the Senate to pass a law. For a bill to become a law, it must pass the Senate and the House of Representatives and then it must be ratified by the President.

To date, we’ve only cleared just one of those 3 steps.

This means that the federal home buyer tax credit has not been formally extended. As of now, it’s still in discussion.  Ultimately, though, if the extension does pass, it’s expected to extend the closing date deadline for Washington, Seattle, Gig Harbor and Tacoma home buyers beyond the original June 30, 2010 date into September 2010.

Homeowners must still have been in contract as of April 30, 2010 to claim up to $8,000 in federal tax credits.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Home-Buyer Tax Credit Update: Senate Moves to Extend Closing Deadline (blogs.wsj.com)
• Senate votes to extend home tax credit deadline (reuters.com)
• UPDATE 1-Senate votes to extend US home tax credit deadline (reuters.com)
• Senate approves home tax credit extension (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Related posts:

1. How Many Days Left For the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit? The credit ranges up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers, and...
2. First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit It’s Official (Video) Obama signed the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit today. Congress...
3. Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit Expires April 30th The federal home buyer tax credit expires April 30 and...
4. The End Of The First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit (Video) Buyers not under contract by October 15 have little chance...