Laws & Taxes

February 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Norfolk Commissioner of Revenue Sharon McDonald announced today that 4 satellite locations have been selected to help senior citizens apply for Real Estate Tax Relief.

Washington, D.C. - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that the first piece of legislation she is introducing in the 112th Congress is a bill to provide property tax relief for more than 1 million New York homeowners. Senator Gillibrand’s legislation would enable all New Yorkers that pay property taxes to deduct the full amount of money they pay from their federal income taxes. Currently, only homeowners that itemize their federal taxes can deduct the cost of property taxes. Senator Gillibrand’s legislation would make property taxes fully deductable for individuals who do not itemize their federal taxes, providing additional tax relief for up to 30 million Americans, including approximately 1.1 million New Yorkers. The Homeowner Tax Fairness Act would save New York homeowners approximately $1 billion.

Vancouver, WA - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Clark County property owners soon will receive their 2011 property tax statements in the mail, and the Department of Assessment wants to inform them about the impact ballot measures approved last year will have on their tax bills.

Springfield, IL - February 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S military personnel and certain other federal employees serving overseas must act quickly if they plan to take advantage of the federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for long-time homeowners that expires on April 30, 2011. Members of the U.S. military, foreign serviceand intelligence communities were given an extra year to claim the tax credit, which expired in 2010 for all other homebuyers.“The tax credit has been a great incentive for new and repeat homebuyers and U.S. service members have but a short window to claim it before it is gone. At a time when affordable home prices have never been better, U.S. service members can get even more homebuying power with a sizable tax credit that they don’t have to pay back,” said REALTOR® Sheryl Grider Whitehurst, ABR,CRB,GRI, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® and the Development and Operations Coordinator for Traders Realty in Peoria.

February 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Since September 7, 2008 the U.S. taxpayers have sunk $153 billion into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And according to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) the final tab could be as high as $363 billion! As if the news couldn’t get any worse for the American people, an investigation undertaken by this Subcommittee has discovered that the taxpayers have spent more than $162 million defending Fannie, Freddie and their former top executives in civil lawsuits accusing them of fraud. This includes over tens of millions dollars for former executives who knowingly and purposefully manipulated earnings to increase their own compensation, and whose actions directly contributed to the demise of the GSEs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Most home buyers who claimed the federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying their first home in 2008 are required to start repaying the credit in 15 annual installments, beginning with their 2010 tax returns. The credit—some form of which was offered for qualified home purchases in 2008, 2009 and 2010—has different repayment rules depending on when and under what circumstances the home was purchased. As tax season approaches, this may cause confusion among home buyers who received the tax credit.

New York, NY - February 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, joined by a Staten Island family struggling with high property taxes and the financial difficulties of raising a child with special needs, today announced that the first piece of legislation she is introducing in the 112th Congress is a bill to provide property tax relief for 1.1 million New York homeowners, including nearly 300,000 in New York City. Senator Gillibrand’s legislation would enable all New Yorkers that pay property taxes to deduct the full amount of money they pay from their federal income taxes. Currently, only homeowners that itemize their federal taxes can deduct the cost of property taxes

February 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Senate Majority Leader submits testimony in support of proposal that would give towns discretion; says this is a simple ‘matter of fairness’. Hartford: Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney (D-New Haven / Hamden) submitted testimony this week in support of a bill that would give municipalities the option to waive interest owed on property taxes by members of the armed services who are on active duty

SPRINGFIELD, IL - February 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Chicagoland region ended 2010 nearly even with home sales in 2009 while statewide the Illinois housing market continued to ride out the turbulent economic times boosted by sales from the homebuyer tax credits. For the year, statewide total home sales (single family homes and condominiums) were down 3.8 percent in 2010 with 103,710 homes sold compared to 107,782 sales in 2009; in the nine-county Chicagoland PMSA, home sales reached 69,010, off just -0.5 percent from 69,367 home sales in 2009

LĪHU‘E, HI - February 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Because the normal deadline for real property taxes fall on Sunday, Feb. 20 and Monday, Feb. 21 is President’s Day, Kaua'i property owners have until Tuesday, Feb. 22 to pay the second installment of real property taxes for the 2010-2011 tax year without penalty

WASHINGTON, DC - February 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Continued government participation in the secondary mortgage market is essential to ensuring affordable and available home mortgages to qualified consumers when private lenders withdraw from the market, according to the National Association of Realtors®’ recommendations for restructuring the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)

ARLINGTON, VA - February 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan today proposed a balanced budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 with no real estate tax rate increase and no restoration of previous service cuts.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The United States has filed six lawsuits in five states to stop tax return preparers from fraudulently claiming the first-time homebuyer tax credit and the earned-income tax credit, the Justice Department announced today. The filings of those civil injunction complaints coincided with the indictment of a Philadelphia man on criminal charges of fraudulently claiming the first-time homebuyer credit. All of these actions are part of the Justice Department’s continuing efforts to halt tax scams involving false claims for tax credits and to prosecute those who fraudulently file tax returns containing those claims.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 9, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International’s Board of Governors recently passed two new policy positions in response to important, emerging issues. Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA) Policy Position: BOMA International supports amending, if not the outright repeal of, FIRPTA to increase the amount of foreign capital invested in the U.S. commercial real estate market

New York, NY - February 8, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The New York State Senate today passed three mandate relief bills that would give local governments more authority and flexibility and help save taxpayer dollars. “As the Senate works to enact a property tax cap, it’s important that we also pass mandate relief measures to give municipalities the ability to allocate resources on community priorities, rather than to address state mandates that may not be needed,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said. “The bills we passed today are simple, common sense legislation to save money.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 4, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) applauded President Obama’s support for provisions in S. 1637, the Expanding Build...

February 3, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Chris Beutler today said cities are willing to do their part to help the State solve its budget crisis. But he called on the State Legislature to reconsider proposals that could force cities to raise pro...

New York, NY - February 1, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The New York State Senate today passed property tax relief legislation (S.2706) that would place a cap on the growth of school property taxes at two percent or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is less. If enacted, New York would become the 44th state to cap local property taxes. In addition, the Senate approved two measures related to providing mandate relief to school districts and local governments.

WOODSTOWN, N.J. - January 28, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Representatives of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) joined local officials today to celebrate the completion of Freedom Village, an affordable housing community located on Woodstown-Alloway Road in Woodstown. The HMFA, an affiliate of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), provided $2 million in permanent financing to the project from the Special Needs Housing Trust Fund and also awarded federal tax credits and tax credit subsidies. The DCA committed housing vouchers from the State Rental Assistance Program to assist with the project’s operations.

Washington, DC - January 28, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is an original cosponsor of H.R. 462, the Tax Code Termination Act. This legislation would abolish the Internal Revenue Code and call on Congress to fundamentally reform the federal tax system

New York, NY - January 26, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Vince Ferrante, Tucson resident, is a single dad, responsible father and employee, native of Innsbruck, Austria adopted as an infant with his identical twin brother. He’s pretty disillusioned as an American citizen trying to meet his responsibilities because, for one year, he’s been the victim of a financial fraud scheme initiated by Paragon Financial Solutions, LLC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - January 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Duke Energy has reached a settlement with the Wyoming Department of Revenue on the company’s 2010 property tax valuation appeal.

BUFFALO, NY - January 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Steven Carlson, 52, of Jamestown, New York, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, to evading the payment of taxes and mortgage fraud. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison, a fine of $1,000,000, or both

January 21, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today noted that the Michigan Department of Treasury is now processing Michigan Home Heating Credits (HHC) for the 2010 tax year. The credit assists low-income customers with winter energy bills.

LĪHU‘E, HI - January 20, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- County officials would like to remind Kaua‘i property owners that the second installment of real property taxes for the 2010-2011 tax year is due on Feb. 20

Las Vegas, NV - January 18, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- According to the Associated Press, the bleakest year in the foreclosure crisis has only just begun. Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006.

New York, NY - January 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- "The first of two bills before me today is Introductory Number 436-A, sponsored by Council Members Mendez, James, Brewer, Chin, Dromm, Lander, Mark-Viverito, Seabrook, Vann, Williams, Jackson, Rodriguez, Nelson, Arroyo, Rose, Lappin, Gennaro, Recchia, Fidler, Barron, Gardonick, Gonzalez, Greenfield, Koppell, Reyna, and Sanders. Introductory Number 436-A makes changes to the Alternative Enforcement Program.

January 13, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) is pleased to announce two (2) Application Overview Sessions for the 2011 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program have been scheduled for:

McLean, VA - January 4, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- I'm pleased to reach this agreement with Bank of America and believe it is in all parties' best interests. Since entering federal conservatorship, Freddie Mac has focused sharply on being a responsible steward of taxpayer funds, and we have worked closely with our lender partners to ensure that standards for loan underwriting are vigorously maintained. Bank of America has long been one of Freddie Mac's largest and most important business partners and we look forward to continuing our work together to provide mortgage funding for America's families.

Los Angeles, CA - December 30, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Los Angeles County Assessor John R. Noguez today reminded property owners who may have been affected by the recent storms to contact his office as soon as possible for information about potential tax relief if rain, mud or related damage amounts to $10,000 or more.