The IRS First-Time Homebuyer Credit lookup tool has been taken offline, so to check your balance now you need to sign in to your IRS online account, pull a Tax Account Transcript, or call the IRS at 800-829-1040.1Internal Revenue Service. First-Time Homebuyer Credit Account Look-Up The standard 15-year repayment schedule for 2008 purchases also ended with the 2024 tax return, and the IRS announced in January 2026 that Form 5405 will no longer be revised.2Internal Revenue Service. About Form 5405, Repayment of the First-Time Homebuyer Credit That doesn’t mean every account is settled. If you missed installments along the way, the balance is still on your IRS record.
Three Ways To Check Your Balance Now
The dedicated look-up page the IRS used to host for this credit no longer returns account information.1Internal Revenue Service. First-Time Homebuyer Credit Account Look-Up You have three practical replacements.
Your IRS Online Account
The IRS online account for individuals shows balances owed by tax year.3Internal Revenue Service. Online Account for Individuals Sign in or create an account using ID.me verification, then look at the balance summary across each year in your repayment window. If you skipped the $500 annual installment (or whatever your share worked out to) in a given year, that year should show an amount due. A clean set of zeros across the repayment years means nothing is sitting on your account.
A Tax Account Transcript
A Tax Account Transcript gives you a year-by-year summary of credits claimed, taxes assessed, and payments posted. You can request one through your online account or by mailing Form 4506-T. The transcript shows the original credit amount and each repayment posted in later years, so you can reconstruct the running balance yourself. This is also the document to pull if a year’s balance looks wrong and you need to see what the IRS actually recorded.
Call the IRS
If online access isn’t an option, the IRS routes First-Time Homebuyer Credit questions to its main individual taxpayer line at 800-829-1040.1Internal Revenue Service. First-Time Homebuyer Credit Account Look-Up An agent can confirm the original credit amount, the total you’ve paid back, and any outstanding balance.
Why You Might Still Owe
The end of the 15-year repayment schedule did not erase missed payments. Each annual installment was treated as additional tax on that year’s return, so a skipped installment sits on the account the same way any other unpaid tax would.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5405 (Rev. November 2024) Interest accrues on the unpaid amount; as of mid-2026 the IRS charges 6% annual interest on individual underpayments, and the rate adjusts quarterly.5Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates
The amounts add up. Someone who skipped eight installments on a $7,500 credit is looking at $4,000 in principal before interest. The IRS can collect through its normal process: offsetting future refunds, sending notices, and pursuing collection if the balance is ignored.
What To Do If a Balance Shows Up
If your account or transcript shows an open balance, the direct path is to pay it through IRS Direct Pay or the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. For larger amounts, you can request a payment plan from inside your IRS online account.
If the balance looks wrong, start with a Tax Account Transcript for the specific year in dispute. Compare the IRS’s record of credits, payments, and adjustments against your own filed returns and payment confirmations. If something you paid wasn’t posted, you’ll need proof of payment to get it corrected. Keep those records until the account shows clear.
Situations Where You Don’t Owe
Before assuming a gap in your records means a debt, check whether one of these applied to you.
If you claimed the credit for a 2009 or early 2010 purchase and kept the home as your principal residence for at least 36 months after buying it, repayment was waived entirely.6Internal Revenue Service. Expanded Tax Break Available for 2009 First-Time Homebuyers You should see no balance tied to the credit at all.
If the person who claimed the credit died, the remaining repayment was canceled for any tax year ending after the date of death, and the balance does not pass to the estate or heirs.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 36 – First-Time Homebuyer Credit On a joint return where one spouse died, the deceased spouse’s share was forgiven and the surviving spouse continued with their own share.8Internal Revenue Service. Form 5405 (Rev. November 2024) Repayment of the First-Time Homebuyer Credit
If the home was transferred to a spouse or to a former spouse in a divorce, the obligation moved to that person on the same schedule. The transferring spouse stopped owing anything further.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 36 – First-Time Homebuyer Credit
Members of the uniformed services, Foreign Service, and intelligence community who sold or stopped using the home as a principal residence because of qualified official extended duty orders were not subject to the standard recapture rules. For pre-2009 purchases, no further annual installments were due from the year of disposition forward.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 36 – First-Time Homebuyer Credit
Confirming You’re Done
If you made all 15 installments on a 2008 credit, or your 2009 or 2010 credit cleared the 36-month residence requirement without a triggering event, your obligation is satisfied. The surest confirmation is an IRS online account showing no balance for any year in the repayment window.3Internal Revenue Service. Online Account for Individuals Zeros across those years mean you’re done.