Spouses Must Qualify as First-Time Homebuyers Under Same Provision

Reversing the Tax Court, the Eleventh Circuit held that married taxpayers filing jointly did not qualify for the first-time homebuyer credit when one of them was a longtime homeowner. The unambiguous language of Secs. 36(c)(1) and 36(c)(6) requires a married couple to be considered as a unit to qual...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Accountancy 2014-07, Vol.218 (1), p.82
Main Author: Speciale, Raymond C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Couples
Federal court decisions
Homeowners
Language
State court decisions
Tax courts
Tax credits
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Reversing the Tax Court, the Eleventh Circuit held that married taxpayers filing jointly did not qualify for the first-time homebuyer credit when one of them was a longtime homeowner. The unambiguous language of Secs. 36(c)(1) and 36(c)(6) requires a married couple to be considered as a unit to qualify under either provision, the circuit court held. The circuit court explained that the "pre-eminent canon of statutory interpretation" requires a court to "presume that the legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says there." Accordingly, the court found that the statutory language made clear Congress's intent to treat married couples as a single, inseparable unit.
ISSN:0021-8448
1945-0729