Consumer finance columnist Eileen Ambrose, in a piece today about the impending deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit, notes that some folks are really trying to push the envelope to get the $8,000.

One homeowner considered filing taxes separately from her husband or even divorcing him if that would help him get the credit.

Parents ask if a child can claim the credit if they refinance their mortgage and put the child's name on the new loan. And one parent acknowledges that she and her husband don't qualify for the credit but asked if they could get the money by buying a house under their 3-year-old's name.

Nice try, but no dice, the Internal Revenue Service says.