My spouse and I filed jointly on our Federal return but in Missouri we are required to file as a "combined" return where we list our income separately. My spouse has no earned income, only a small amount of interest and dividends from jointly held accounts. So that is listed separately. We also have a tax credit on the MO-TC form which has an option to split the credit by spouse:
If you are filing a combined return and both you and your spouse have income:
• Use Column 1 for yourself and Column 2 for spouse.
• Both names must be on the credit certificate.
The tax credit comes with a certificate of eligibility from the state and it was required to have both of our names since we file combined.
The question is do I have to split that credit 50/50 with my spouse on the MO-TC form or can I put it all under my column? I cannot find anything that clearly states it must be split 50/50 like the interest on our jointly held accounts.
If I split it we effectively lose half of the credit since my spouse has a small enough income to have no MO tax liability and the credit is not refundable. It seems strange to be penalized in that way, especially with no way to fill out the tax credit eligibility form as only one spouse making the donation that the tax credit is applied against.
Thanks!
