IRS First-Time Homebuyer Credit Lookup: Three Ways to Check

The IRS First-Time Homebuyer Credit lookup tool has been taken offline, so to check your balance today you need to sign in to your IRS online account, pull a tax account transcript, or call the IRS at 800-829-1040.¹ The standard 15-year repayment schedule for 2008 purchases ended with the 2024 tax return, and in January 2026 the IRS announced that Form 5405 will no longer be revised.² If you made every installment on time, your obligation is complete. If you skipped any, the IRS still shows those amounts as unpaid tax on your account.

Three Ways to Check Your Balance

Your IRS Online Account

The individual online account is the closest replacement for the retired lookup tool. It shows balances owed by tax year.³ Create or sign in using ID.me verification, then look at your balance summary across the years in the repayment window. Any year where you missed the installment should show an amount due. A clean account with zero balances across those years means you’re done.

A Tax Account Transcript

A Tax Account Transcript gives you a year-by-year record of what the IRS has posted: credits claimed, payments made, and additional taxes assessed. You can request one through your online account or by mailing Form 4506-T. The transcript will show the original credit amount and each repayment posted afterward, which lets you calculate any remaining balance and spot discrepancies. If a year looks wrong, this is the document to pull.

A Call to the IRS

If you can’t get into your online account, the IRS directs first-time homebuyer credit questions to its main individual taxpayer line at 800-829-1040.¹ An agent can confirm your original credit amount, total payments received, and any outstanding balance.

What Your Balance Should Look Like

To read what you find, it helps to know which version of the credit you claimed. The rules were very different.

The 2008 credit was structured as an interest-free loan of up to $7,500, repaid in 15 equal annual installments starting with the 2010 return.⁴⁵ A full $7,500 credit meant $500 added to your tax each year. That schedule ran through the 2024 return.

The 2009 and early-2010 credit was up to $8,000 and did not have to be repaid at all, as long as the home stayed your principal residence for at least 36 months after purchase.⁶ If you cleared the three-year mark in the home, you owe nothing and should see no balance.

So the account you’re looking at should tell one of two stories. For a 2008 credit, you should see 15 years of $500 (or your share) posted as additional tax and paid. For a 2009 or 2010 credit that stayed your home past 36 months, you should see the credit claimed and no repayment activity at all.

If You Still Owe

Each missed annual installment was treated as underpaid tax on that year’s return, and interest accrues on it. As of mid-2026, the IRS charges 6% annual interest on individual underpayments, and that rate changes quarterly.⁷ A few skipped years can add up. Someone who missed eight installments on a $7,500 credit owes $4,000 in principal alone, plus compounded interest across those years. The IRS can collect through the usual channels: refund offsets, notices, and collection action.

The most direct way to clear a balance is IRS Direct Pay or the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. For a larger amount, you can request a payment plan through your online account.

If a Sale, Move, or Other Event Happened During the Window

Some events made the whole remaining balance come due at once. Selling the home, or stopping principal-residence use by converting it to a rental, using it for business, or treating it as a vacation home, all counted.⁴ For 2008 credits, those triggers applied across the full 15-year period. For 2009 and 2010 credits, they mattered only if the event fell inside the 36-month window.⁶

If you sold to an unrelated buyer, the repayment was capped at the gain on the sale, and a sale at a loss to an unrelated buyer meant no repayment was owed.⁸

Several situations wiped out the obligation or shifted it. If the person who claimed the credit died, the remaining balance was canceled and did not pass to the estate; on a joint return, the deceased spouse’s share was forgiven and the surviving spouse continued their share.⁸⁹ Transferring the home to a spouse or ex-spouse in a divorce moved the remaining obligation to the receiving spouse on the same schedule. Members of the uniformed services, Foreign Service, and intelligence community who sold or moved out because of qualified official extended duty orders were released from the standard recapture rules.¹⁰

If one of these applied to you and your online account still shows a balance, that’s a discrepancy worth resolving with a transcript and, if needed, a call.

If the Account Looks Clear

For a 2008 credit, all 15 installments posted and no balances across those years means the obligation is satisfied. For a 2009 or 2010 credit, passing the 36-month mark in the home with no triggering event means you owe nothing and should see no repayment activity. Keep copies of the returns and payment confirmations from the repayment years until you’ve confirmed everything is clean. If a balance appears that you don’t recognize, pull the transcript for that specific year; it will show what the IRS has recorded and what proof of payment you may need to provide.

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Internal Revenue Service. First-Time Homebuyer Credit Account Look-Up
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 5405, Repayment of the First-Time Homebuyer Credit
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Internal Revenue Service. Online Account for Individuals
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Internal Revenue Service. Repayment of First-Time Homebuyer Credit
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5405 (Rev. November 2024)
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Internal Revenue Service. Expanded Tax Break Available for 2009 First-Time Homebuyers
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Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 36 – First-Time Homebuyer Credit
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 5405 (Rev. November 2024) Repayment of the First-Time Homebuyer Credit
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 36 – First-Time Homebuyer Credit