NEW! 2009 Budget Relief for 1st Time Home Buyers and Homeowners

DURHAM REGION

1: First-time homebuyer's tax credit:

The costs associated with purchasing a home, such as legal fees, disbursements and land transfer taxes, can be a particular burden for first-time home buyers, who must pay these costs on top of saving the money for a down payment.

To assist first-time home buyers with the costs associated with the purchase of a home, Budget 2009 proposes to introduce a First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit - a $5,000 non-refundable income tax credit amount on a qualifying home acquired after January 27, 2009.
For an eligible individual, the credit will provide up to $750 in federal tax relief starting in 2009. It is also proposed that the First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit be made available to existing homeowners in respect of a more accessible or functional home purchased by an individual eligible for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), or for the benefit of a DTC-eligible person who is related to the individual purchasing the home.

2: Home Buyers' Program:

Two first-time home buyers purchasing a home jointly (e.g. a married or common-law couple) can each take up to $25,000 out of your RRSP's for a total of $50,000 and pay no taxes.  Unlike regular RRSP withdrawals, HBP withdrawals are not included in income when withdrawn. Amounts withdrawn under the HBP must be repaid over a 15-year period, starting the second year following the year of the withdrawal, or included in the individual's income if not repaid.

3: Home Renovation Tax Credit-for everyone.

Claim up to $1,350 in tax credit for renovations to your home costing $1,000 to $10,000 and done before February 1, 2010.

Examples of HRTC-Eligible and Ineligible Expenditures

Eligible

• Renovating a kitchen, bathroom or basement
• New carpet or hardwood floors
• Building an addition, deck, fence or retaining wall
• A new furnace or water heater
• Painting the interior or exterior of a house
• Resurfacing a driveway
• Laying new sod

Ineligible

• Purchase of furniture and appliances (e.g. refrigerator, stove, and couch)
• Purchase of tools
• Carpet cleaning
• Maintenance contracts (e.g. furnace cleaning, snow removal, lawn care, and pool cleaning)

4: EcoEnergy Retrofit Program:

Get a grant of up to $5,000 for changes to your home that add to its energy efficiency; you can also claim the Home Renovation Tax Credit for these upgrades. Grants apply to a variety of measures that reduce energy consumption from increasing insulation to upgrading a furnace.

Additional Savings:

5. Incredibly Low Mortgage Rates-for everyone. Currently a 5-year, fixed rate mortgage can be found for as low as 4.39%. For a mortgage of $150,000 over 35 years, the payment for interest and principal equals 696.05 per month.

6. The Ontario Land Transfer Rebate for 1^st-Time Buyers.
The maximum refund of $2,000 can be claimed at time of registration to offset the tax ordinarily payable.