AGI is 81,826. MA does not let me do circuit breaker deduction because is recognizes our AGI as over 88,000. Why?

[CherylW · Accepted solution]

You are correct about the $88,000, for Married Filing Jointly.

It could be one of two things:

1)  You might be filing as Head of Household.  The income limit is $73,000.

2)  You may have income that's taxed only for MA, which makes your Massachusetts personal income tax return different from your 1040.

Here are the rules, from mass.gov:

Circuit Breaker Credit

If it's not one of these two, post back to this thread.

[Baker18]

Federal is correct as MFJ. AGI is 81,826, with taxable 55,226.  Taxable for state income is 39,899.  Circuit breaker not allowed.

[CherylW]

Do you meet all of these other requirements?

• You must be a Massachusetts resident or part-year resident.
• You must be 65 or older by December 31.
• 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 2018, your total Massachusetts income doesn't exceed:
  • $58,000 for a single individual who is not the head of a household.
  • $73,000 for a head of household.
  • $88,000 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.

If you do meet ALL of them and you're still not getting the credit, try clearing out you MA return and re-starting it. 

Here's how:

Starting State Over

If that still doesn't work, post back to this thread.