Tax Credit Cheating: A No – No.

It seems that when you’ve got an opportunity to receive significant monetary assistance towards the purchase of buying our first homes, the existence of others trying to cheat the system for ill gotten gain rears its ugly head as well.

The Washington Post and Tulsa World news sites have both reported on instances where some type of tomfoolery has been attempted to get one of the tens of thousands of $8,000 tax credit checks offered to first-time homebuyers who purchase a home before December 1 of 2009.

The problem is the IRS calls this fraud.

Last month a tax preparer in Florida entered a guilty plea on federal charges of fraud in connection with the first-time-buyer credit. He’s awaiting sentencing and faces up to three years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.

This fraud comes to consumers in various ways such as online ads from internet tax preparers claim to make your reporting job easier. The IRS even has a whistle blower award for those who help the government shine a light on those suspected of this fraud. You can download the form here.