This is tax time.
Sometimes escrow offices wonder if we are CPA firms during tax time. Our office has received numerous phone calls from clients that are in need of their “signed” Final Settlement Statements. Lynlee wrote a quick post on our blog with an IRS link addressing what the IRS may need from borrowers to claim the tax credit.
As always, please contact your CPA or tax professional for specific details regarding claiming the homebuyer tax credit.
We contacted a CPA and they responded:
“we generally have found that the Final Settlement Statement (with NO signatures) are acceptable.”
Why? Because in Washington State (and other escrow states) Final Settlement Statements do not have signatures from borrowers. Final Settlement Statements are mailed to clients after a transaction is closed. Estimated Settlement Statements are signed at escrow prior to your transactions being closed.
HI Tim – I have seen this popping up this last week quite frequently as well. Thanks for the timely post.
No problem Courtney. It’s that time of year for taxes.
Good topic and I will now look into how that is handled in Virginia. We typically have everyone sign the HUD-1 at settlement so they should already have a copy in their file… I just don’t want them to lose the original!