Has anyone had any luck getting the Massachusetts Senior Circuit breaker credit to work instead of it saying that AGI is too high when it definitely isn't?

I am able to generate a Massachusetts Circuit Breaker Credit for a homeowner with Massachusetts property taxes.

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.

Eligibility for the Massachusetts Senior Circuit Breaker Credit may be found here.

What error message are you receiving?

@vinro1 

I’m being told our AGI exceeds 96,000, which it does not. It does not take me to the worksheet to input property taxes or water and sewer expenses. 

To qualify for the credit, for the tax year 2022, your total Massachusetts income (not MA   AGI) can't exceed:

• $64,000 for a single individual who is not the head of a household.
• $80,000 for a head of household.
• $96,000 for married couples filing a joint return.

Check your MA tax return - or State Tax Summary to verify you do not have some income entered twice.  

 __________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Calculating Massachusetts AGI - The Tax Summary will show the MA   AGI

Federal gross income (Form 1, Line 10 or Form 1-NR/PY, Line 12 for part-year residents and nonresidents)

+ Schedule B, Line 35 (interest, dividends, and short-term capital gains)

+ Schedule D, Line 19 (long-term capital gains)

- Schedule Y, Lines 1 - 10

- Schedule B adjustments

- Schedule D adjustments

= Massachusetts AGI

+ All other income excluded from Massachusetts gross income
- Minus the personal income, dependent, over age 65, and blindness exemptions
= Total income for purposes of the credit

Which line on the MA tax summary is AGI?

Simply go to Form1 in your Ma state tax. Go through line by line to see where your income is coming from. Alongside some of lines will be a supporting schedule like a Sch B or D which you may cross reference to. Your Ma adjusted income will follow line 26. See here

I hope this helps you.

I printed out my Mass return and it does not have the Adjusted Gross Income section after line 26.

Referring to Dawn C's post above, she tells you how to determine your MA AGI.

Federal gross income (Form 1, Line 10 or Form 1-NR/PY, Line 12 for part-year residents and nonresidents)

+ Schedule B, Line 35 (interest, dividends, and short-term capital gains)

+ Schedule D, Line 19 (long-term capital gains)

- Schedule Y, Lines 1 - 10

- Schedule B adjustments

- Schedule D adjustments

= Massachusetts AGI

I did that - and even after adding back I social security our AGI is less than 96,000.

Do you meet all the other eligibility guidelines?

Who is eligible

• You must be a Massachusetts resident or part-year resident.
• You must be 65 or older by December 31 of the tax year.
• You must file a Schedule CB with your Massachusetts personal income tax return.
• You must own or rent residential property in Massachusetts and occupy it as your primary residence.
• For tax year 2022, your total Massachusetts income doesn't exceed:
  • $64,000 for a single individual who is not the head of a household.
  • $80,000 for a head of household.
  • $96,000 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.
• The assessed valuation of the homeowner's personal residence as of January 1, 2022, before residential exemptions but after abatements, cannot exceed $912,000.

If you do, please tell us all of your Federal Income items.

Massachusetts Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit

Yes - I manually filled out Schedule CB and did the Schedule CB worksheet and meet all the requirements. 

We are not able to duplicate the problem you are having. I think the easiest thing would be to file without this form and then mail it in according to the instructions provided by MA.

If you're eligible, complete Schedule CB with your Massachusetts state income tax return and either submit with MassTaxConnect or by mail.

Find complete instructions here: Massachusetts Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit

It’s not as simple as that. I would have to file an amended Mass return, not just submit the form. I don’t understand why TurboTax can’t see the calculations that are causing it to say my AGI is over 96000.

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:

Sign into your online account.

Locate the Tax Tools on the left-hand side of the screen. 

A drop-down will appear. Select Tools  

On the pop-up screen, click on “Share my file with agent.”

This will generate a message that a diagnostic file gets sanitized and transmitted to us.

Please provide the Token Number that was generated in the response.

TurboTax Desktop/Download Versions:

Open your return.

Click the Online tab in the black bar across the top of TurboTax and select “Send Tax File to Agent”

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.

Please provide the Token Number that was generated in the response.  

I have the same problem. Mass AGI under 80k limit (filing head of household).

When I click on Circuit Breaker Credit Turbotax  says "do not qualify for this credit because Mass AGI exceeds $80,000 allowed to claim this credit."

Turbo Tax needs to word this differently. It's not your Massachusetts AGI you would use to determine your eligibility, it is your total income. What Turbo Tax is trying to say is, use your adjusted TOTAL income for Mass, not your federal income; which to adjust for Mass you would include dividends, ALL of your social security benefit, pension, etc. that would normally not be included in your AGI.

"For purposes of the tax credit, a taxpayer’s “total income” includes taxable income as well as exempt income such as social security, treasury bills and public pensions."

This is from "Deductions, Exemptions and 2022 'Circuit Breaker' Tax Credit"

https://www.mass.gov/doc/dor-tax-tips-for-seniors-and-retirees/download

I hope this is clear enough. I'm not a teacher/educator for a reason! Please let me know if you need me to explain anything further. Good luck 🙂 

Please take a look at the instructions for how to calculate your CB income. Mass adds in gifts, food stamps, disability, Social Security, sick pay, all sorts of income! 

The program has no way of knowing about food stamps and things not entered in the program. It will add your nontaxable pension, annuity, IRA and KEOGH distributions. The rest is up to the user. That is why this box for miscellaneous income exists in the circuit breaker questions.

@boballen5150 

I think I found my problem. They are only including capital gains in the Mass total income for CB purposes. So even if you have a net loss it doesnt matter as the gross capital gains are what counts. This doesnt seem correct or fair  but this is what all the forms are leading to.

this is why my Mass CB total income  is so high

from the instructions linked for calculating CB income https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-senior-circuit-breaker-tax-credit#calculate-[product key removed]e-

Excluded while calculating total income

• Losses included in U.S. Schedule D

Correct.   Only certain capital gains are included in income.   

Massachusetts Adjusted Gross Income
+ All other income excluded from Massachusetts gross income
- Minus the personal income, dependent, over age 65 and blindness exemptions
= Total income for purposes of the credit

Income added back:
 

• Estate income (Schedule CB worksheet) - Earned income from an estate, e.g. the estate is in probate, or cannot be settled due to a pending lawsuit; any interest income earned from funds left in the account, or rental income earned from rental property that is part of the estate is included. Generally reported to beneficiaries on a K-1.
• Gains included in U.S. Schedule D (not including losses) - CB Worksheet, Part 3., Lines 12 -17
• Interest income from U.S. and Massachusetts government bonds, notes and bills - CB Worksheet, Part 2, Line 8

I have encountered a similar problem. In calculating "Qualified Income" on Line 9 of the Massachusetts Schedule CB, the taxpayer can deduct the personal, over 65 and blindness exemptions, but TurboTax does not provide a way to adjust for these items in calculating Qualifying Income. In my taxpayer's case, with the exemptions deducted, they meet the test to receive a Circuit Breaker Credit of $1200. Without those exemptions, the taxpayer does not qualify. I will likely need to submit it through Mass Tax Connect to get this credit.

It worked for me, but MA Dor asked for tax and assessment documentation to review the credit determined by Turbotax.  They determined that the credit was not allowed and determined I would be responsible for updated interest and penalty charges.  The issue they said is that the credit applies to taxes paid on up to 1 acre of land.  If you have more land than that the property tax must be adjusted.  Turbotax did not have set of questions that would support assessing this requirement.

I am having the same problem, same dollar amount.  I cannot access the form - $96,000.  Nope.