Jeff & Senia

Hi Maria,
Just checking-in to see if you'd followed-up and read the other responses. I see that you've gotten some good feedback from Just Bob pertaining to applying for citizenship under the 5-year rule. Also, I can tell from your previous posts, you are not confused about how the First Time Homebuyer's Credit for homes purchased after 4/8/08 and prior to 01/01/09 works, i.e., that you pay back the credit taken on your 2008 return interest free over a 15-year period starting with the 2010 tax year return. You didn't say anything about it, but I'm guessing you paid your 1/2 for 2010, $250, on the 2010 return you filed for yourself? Each year you are supposed to recieve IRS Notice CPO3a, "Repaying your First-Time Homebuyer Credit", that tells/reminds you of the portion of the original credit you need to "recapture" on the current year's tax return. I'm curious, did you receive such a notice in advance of filing your 2010 return?
So with that out of the way, I think it is safe to assume that you correctly understand that the annual repayment of your share of that credit over 15 years (14 years left now since 2010 was the first repayment year) does not show-up as an outstanding or past-due tax obligation/liability. It's just an additional $250 tax (1/2 of the $500 x 15 years) each year and becomes due with that particular current year's tax return.
My concern, as a Tax Professional, is that while it's apparent that you've read the basic rules concerning the 2008 First Time Homebuyer's Credit, you might not be fully familiar with all of the triggers that can take place upon certain events, i.e., when the home stops being your personal residence, when it is sold, when your ownership share is transferred to the other spouse, etc., etc. Additionally, I also have concern that you may feel like you are obligated to payback 1/2 of the credit when it was taken on a house "supposedly" purchased, and claimed on an amended return that you had know knowledge about (i.e., your signature was forged). Lastly, I'm concerned that you felt it necessary to file your 2010 return as a "single" taxpayer instead of "married filing separately" because your estranged husband has led you to believe such base on his filing as being single.
You were not "stuck" with filing single because your estranged husband filed his return that way. If you were legally married on the last day of the tax year and did not maintain a home for a dependent child, then you should have filed as "married filing separately" regardless of how he filed his return. You are also not stuck with paying back 1/2 of $7,500 credit he claimed on the amended 2008 joint return if he did so frivolously without your knowledge.
You've stated that you've gone on to become a professional engineer, so I trust that you appreciate that there are times when it is best to seek advice from a professional with training, experience and expertise in a particular field. That's exactly what you should do concerning your current tax matters and quit relying on the advice of a guy who has claimed a tax credit on a home "supposedly" purchased by filing an amended joint return without your knowledge.