Ma State Circuit Breaker Credit

According to the Massachusetts state Gov, "The Massachusetts “Circuit Breaker” tax credit program is a program for adults age 65 + whose property taxes and half of the water and sewer bills are more than 10% of their annual gross income (or for renters, if their rent is greater than 25% of their income) and who meet a few other rules." Please select this Mass link for further details of the credit.

When you prepare your Massachusetts state return, Turbo Tax recognizes you are over 65 years old. As you go through the interview and navigate the screens, it will bring you to a section of your return where it addresses the Massachusetts Circuit Breaker  section. It will ask you if you own or rent. If you own, it will ask for the assessed value of the property, amount of real estate property taxes unless it is reported in your federal return.  it will ask what the amount of your water and sewer bills.  Once all the information is entered, the program will determine what your credit will be. To claim the credit, your home has to be in Massachusetts, you have to reside in it, and you would have to pay property. Remember the total of your taxes + 1/2 your water and sewer must be more than 10% of your gross income reported to the state.  If you rent, rent payment must be greater than 25% of your income to be eligible for the credit.

Thank you for your response. There is a point in the turbo tax program that lists various Mass credits that are available if you qualify. The problem is when I select the 'start' button for the circuit breaker credit routine, I get a message stating my AGI is over $90,000, which it is not, and I get sent back to the 'start' screen. I cannot even get in to enter my data.

Did you report a duplication of income somewhere? Maybe a pension that is being taxed that shouldn't be? 

I have done the calculations manually on a blank form using the data from the 'forms' pages saved in the return. The 'qualifying income' amount is less than $90,000.

Review these requirements to see if you meet all of them.

• You must be a Massachusetts resident or part-year resident.
• You must be 65 or older by January 1, 2020.
• You must file a Massachusetts personal income tax return.
• You must own or rent residential property in Massachusetts and occupy it as your primary residence.
• For tax year 2019, your total Massachusetts income doesn't exceed:
  • $60,000 for a single individual who is not the head of a household.
  • $75,000 for a head of household.
  • $90,000 for married couples filing a joint return.
• If you are a homeowner, your Massachusetts property tax payments, together with half of your water and sewer expense, must exceed 10% of your total Massachusetts income for the tax year.
• If you are a renter, 25% of your annual Massachusetts rent must exceed 10% of your total Massachusetts income for the tax year.

Update. I was able to add the form and worksheet for the credit to my turbotax return manually. The values were then automatically transferred from my main return and I finished the process. The link from the main credit page button and the circuit breaker credit process seems to be flawed. Thanks again 

Here is what I found. Was there any income that needed to be added back into your Massachusetts income? 

• You must be a Massachusetts resident or part-year resident.
• You must be 65 or older by January 1, 2020.
• You must file a Massachusetts personal income tax return.
• You must own or rent residential property in Massachusetts and occupy it as your primary residence.
• For tax year 2019, your total Massachusetts income doesn't exceed:
  • $60,000 for a single individual who is not the head of a household.
  • $75,000 for a head of household.
  • $90,000 for married couples filing a joint return.
• If you are a homeowner, your Massachusetts property tax payments, together with half of your water and sewer expense, must exceed 10% of your total Massachusetts income for the tax year.

Amounts included in or considered Massachusetts gross income

Income you earned abroad as a Massachusetts resident - This is added back to get Massachusetts income.

Employee contributions to a qualified Massachusetts pension plan - This is added back to get Massachusetts gross income. The maximum allowed deduction is $2,000 per taxpayer, and the payments added back are reflected in Form W-2, Box 16. This amount will be more than the amount shown as Federal wages in Box 1 of the W-2.

Interest income from state and local obligations (other than Massachusetts) - Subtract these amounts on Massachusetts Schedule B, Line 6.

MA Circuit Breaker Credit

When filing for the Circuit breaker credit, do I deduct the residency credit deduction from my real estate tax amount, when filing out for the credit?

The deduction for your real estate tax should already be factored in to the credit unless the program specifically asks you what your real estate taxes are. If you have reported your real estate taxes already in your program as an itemized expense, that should have automatically transferred into your Massachusetts State return. .

there is an error in turbo tax and it is costing me over 1000 senior circuit breaker credit, our adjusted gross income is NOT over 92k and I have wasted 2 days trying to correct this. When I try to go to the worksheet I can input the correct number for my AGI and homeowner taxes but it will not allow me to enter 1/2 the utilities or complete the form.  So annoying and it is happening to a lot of us

Look on the Schedule CB form and look on Line 17 to see if there is an amount listed. Then check on Line 44 of your Form 1 to the see if the circuit breaker credit amount is listed. The program in the state interview may have informed you that you did not qualify for the credit but check the two places i referenced above just to see if you got credit anyway. Meanwhile, remove all the other extraneous entires you may have made trying to correct this on your own..

Our adjusted income is $84k, well below the 93K to qualify for the circuit breaker.  I have a MA pension that is not taxable in MA, but is federally taxed. When I put in my MA pension income in the box asking for nontaxable pension income, I'm told we make more than 93K and don't qualify. If I put in 0, we do get a circuit breaker credit.  Since the pension is federally taxed, but not MA taxed, do I put my MA pension number in or not??

Yours may be exempt. The Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit | Mass.gov eligibility has quite the long list of things to include or exclude. There are pensions that should be included and those that should not. It depends on the type of pension. This includes:

Generally, do not add back anything excluded from federal gross income into the total income calculation if it's not defined as income and not included in Massachusetts gross income by specific law. Do not add back subsidies, insurance programs and similar reimbursement programs, etc. into the total income calculation.

@Crsalamone

the AGI for MA is $36k, $59k if SS is added, although not taxable. but turbo tax says the income exceeds $64k. what can I do?

the AGI for MA is $36k, $59k if SS is added, although not taxable. but turbo tax says the income exceeds $64k. 

Unfortunately, the Sch CB, line 4 adds the nontaxed SS back in. Line 5 adds nontaxed pensions to your income. Please take a look at the actual form, Schedule CB so you can see how qualifying income is calculated.

Please preview your return.

• In desktop, switch to Forms Mode. 
• For online, see How do I preview my TurboTax Online return before filing?

@biker chuck 

I got the same problem as you. 2024 turbotax premium.

could you please share how you do that? Thanks a lot

We'd love to help you complete your tax return, but need more information. Can you please clarify your question?

@janetgan 

I would like to take a deeper look at this. However, I need a diagnostic file which is a copy of your tax return that has all of your personal information removed. You can send one to us by following the directions below:

TurboTax Online:

1. Sign into your online account.
2. Locate the Tax Tools on the left-hand side of the screen.
3. A drop-down will appear. Select Tools
4. On the pop-up screen, click on “Share my file with agent.”
5. This will generate a message that a diagnostic file gets sanitized and transmitted to us.
6. Please provide the Token Number that was generated in the response.

TurboTax Desktop/Download Versions:

1. Open your return.
2. Click the Online tab in the black bar across the top of TurboTax and select “Send Tax File to Agent” *
3. This will generate a message that a diagnostic copy will be created.  Click on OK and the tax file will be sanitized and transmitted to us.
4. Please provide the Token Number (including the dash) that was generated in the response.

*(If using a MAC, go to the menu at the top of the screen, select Help, then, “Send Tax File to Agent”)

@janetgan