Michigan Home Heating Credit

Who May Claim a Credit
This credit helps low income families pay their home heating costs. To see if you may claim a credit, answer the following questions:

• Are you a full-time student who is claimed as a dependent on another person's income tax return?
• Did you live in a licensed care facility for the entire year? (See "Licensed Care Facilities" on page 5.)

If you answered yes to either of these questions, you cannot claim a home heating credit. If you answered no to both questions, you may claim a credit if:

• Your homestead is in MichiganYou own or rent the home where you live
• You DO NOT live in college or university-operated housing (including dormitories, residence halls, or apartments
• Your income is within the income limits listed in the instruction of Schedule CR-7.

You can have only one homestead at a time and you must be the occupant as well as the owner or renter. Your homestead can be a rented apartment or a mobile home on a lot in a mobile home park. A vacation home or income property is not considered your homestead.

Your homestead is in your state of domicile. Domicile is the place where you have your permanent home. It is the place to which you plan to return whenever you go away. Even if you spend the winter in a southern state, your domicile is still Michigan. College students and others whose permanent homes are not in Michigan are not Michigan residents. Domicile continues until you establish a new permanent home.

Spouses who share a home are entitled to only one home heating credit based upon the number of allowable exemptions in the household or the heating costs for the home, and joint household income. If you were separated for all or part of the year and file a joint federal or Michigan income tax return with your spouse, your credit claim is based upon either the heating costs of only one home or the number of exemptions in each household.

The household income must be the combined income of both spouses for the entire year. Spouses who maintain separate homes for the entire year and do not file joint federal or Michigan income tax returns may each claim a credit based upon their separate heating costs or exemptions and household income. If you were separated or divorced during the tax year and do not file joint income tax returns, your credit must be based on your share of the heating cost or exemptions before separation, plus your exemptions and individual heating costs after separation. Attach a schedule showing your computation.

Note: You cannot file a home heating credit claim for any prior tax year.