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A ray of good news shined through the ominous clouds of the fiscal cliff this past week stating that the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act has officially been extended. Through this act, homeowners who are involved in a short sale, foreclosure, or mortgage restructuring are able evade a significant tax bill.

However, the storm is not anywhere near from over. The recent fiscal cliff deal was a small step of progress but the federal deficit still needs to be resolved which calls for more budget battles ahead. Could we be seeing our last Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act extension in 2013?

Only hours before the end of year 2012, congress was able to strike a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. Fortunately, this included the extension of the debt relief act which is now set to the new expiration date: December 31, 2013. It is official and the proof can be found in the IRS Website or in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 Bill.

Homeowners are very fortunate to get one extra year of opportunity to short sell their homes. Congress realizes that without this extension, numerous homeowners would be devastated with critical financial conditions. Although, the extension of the various tax cuts alleviated our impending tax increases momentarily, our government is also in a bad financial position in that it has a debt ceiling issue to deal with and the $1.3 billion dollars in taxes that they lost through the extension of the act may be a provision that our government may not be able to continue in our future budgets.

We may get a better forecast in a couple of months as a debt ceiling battle in Congress may occur and more budgets will be established.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you believe we will get an extension beyond Jan 1, 2014?