Withdrawing from a Roth IRA for first home purchase

[Guest k9burn]

I would like to be able to withdraw from my Roth without penalty if possible. I will be making my first home purchase in 1-2 months (approximately).

I have been looking around the web to find the exact laws on withdrawing from a Roth IRA regarding the first purchase of a home. Does anyone have a link or exact knowledge on this subject?

Would the money withdrawn have to go towards the downpayment or could it be used as 'living' money to pay for the mortgage, taxes...etc..

Thanks

-Rich

[Guest saber]

Check out IRS Publication 590.

You can take out your original contributions to a Roth IRA at any time with no penalty. To take out earnings in the Roth review the Pub 590 for the list of exceptions to the penalty.

[Appleby]

From the Internal Revenue Manual(IRM)

Acceptable costs include expenses to acquire, construct or reconstruct a residence, reasonable settlement, financing, or other closing costs

….other IRS references use the term build or rebuild, in place of construct or reconstruct.

Link to IRM http://www.irs.gov/irm/part4/ch18s05.html