Revenue Administrative Bulletin 2015-18

Income Tax – Total Household Resources Defined

Approved: October 5, 2015

(Replaces Revenue Administrative Bulletin 1988-46)

Pursuant to MCL 205.6a, a taxpayer may rely on a Revenue Administrative Bulletin issued by the Department of Treasury after September 30, 2006, and shall not be penalized for that reliance until the bulletin is revoked in writing. However, reliance by the taxpayer is limited to issues addressed in the bulletin for tax periods up to the effective date of an amendment to the law upon which the bulletin is based or for tax periods up to the date of a final order of a court of competent jurisdiction for which all rights of appeal have been exhausted or have expired that overrules or modifies the law upon which the bulletin is based.

RAB 2015-18. This Revenue Administrative Bulletin (RAB) describes income included in “total household resources” for purposes of computing eligibility for the Homestead Property Tax Credit and the Home Heating Credit. The Farmland Preservation Tax Credit will continue to rely upon the definition of household income as it was under MCL 206.508 in effect for 2011, which defined household income as all income received by all persons of a household in a tax year while members of a household. The Farmland Preservation Tax Credit, originally created by PA 116 of 1974 and formerly called the Farmland and Open Space Preservation Act, is now located in Part 361 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, PA 451 of 1994, MCL 324.36109. This RAB is effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2011.

“Total Household Resources” Defined

Beginning in 2012, “household income” as used in Chapter 9 of the Michigan Income Tax Act (MITA) relating to the home heating and the homestead property tax credits was replaced with “total household resources.” Total household resources are defined as:

all income received by all persons of a household in a tax year while members of a household, increased by the following deductions from federal gross income:

1. Any net business loss after netting all business income and loss.
2. Any net rental or royalty loss.
3. Any carryback or carryforward of a net operating loss as defined in section 172(b)(2) of the internal revenue code. MCL 206.508(4); 2011 PA 177 (emphasis added).

“Income” is federal adjusted gross income (AGI) plus all income specifically excluded or exempt from the computation of federal AGI. MCL 206.510.

“Household” is statutorily defined as a claimant and spouse. MCL 206.508(3). A claimant is a person who files a claim for a homestead property tax credit or a home heating credit and includes a husband and wife if they are required to file a joint state income tax return. MCL 206.504(2). For purposes of the homestead property tax credit only, a claimant must also have been domiciled in Michigan for at least six months of the calendar year preceding the year in which the claim is filed. The terms spouse, husband, and wife include individuals lawfully married to a person of the same sex whether married in Michigan or another state. See IRS Rev Rul 2013-17 and Obergefell et al v Hodges, WL 2473451 (June 26, 2015).

Based on the statutory definition of household, the income of both husband and wife must be included in total household resources if 1) they are required to file joint state tax returns, even if the husband and wife do not reside together, or 2) they share a home, regardless of their filing status.

What income is included?

The total household resources (THR) calculation begins with federal AGI and adds back all income specifically excluded or exempt from federal AGI. Items specifically excluded or exempt from AGI are listed in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) beginning at section 101. IRC 104-140. Only those sections pertaining to individuals apply. Household resources are not limited to taxable items of income.

Nonexclusive List of Taxable and Nontaxable Income Included in Total Household Resources

• Wages, salaries, tips, sick or long-term disability pay, strike or supplemental unemployment benefits (SUB pay). (Supplemental unemployment benefits from a company-financed fund are fully taxable as wages. See http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Employees/Unemployment-Compensation.
• Interest and dividend income (including nontaxable interest income). MCL 206.30
• Net business income (if greater than zero)
• Net royalty or rent income (if greater than zero)
• Farmland preservation tax credit. The Farmland preservation tax credit is not established under Part 1 of MITA and is therefore included in THR per MCL 206.510(1)(e). See also Mich Admin Code, R 206.4(2)(d) and Michigan Tax Letter Ruling 1985-22. Although Rule 206.4 defines household income (HHI) rather than total household resources, the rule remains instructive because the definition of THR is the same as the definition of HHI except that THR is increased by net business loss after netting all business income and loss, net rental or royalty loss, and any carryback or carryforward of a net operating loss as defined in IRC 172(b)(2)
• Retirement pension income, annuity benefits, and IRA and deferred compensation distributions to the extent they are included in AGI
• Rollovers from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in the year the income is included in AGI
• The amount of a qualified distribution from a Roth IRA in excess of a taxpayer’s contributions to the Roth IRA
• Capital gains less capital losses (including nontaxable gain from the sale of a home) (losses cannot exceed $3,000 if single or married filing jointly or $1,500 if married filing separately)
• Alimony received. IRC 71; R 206.4(1)(j)
• The amount over $300 of total awards, prizes, lottery, bingo or gambling winnings received during the year. MCL 206.510(1)(b)
• Social security, supplemental security income (SSI), railroad retirement benefits and retirement, survivors, and disability insurance (RSDI) benefits received by the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s spouse or minor children. R 206.4(1)(a)
• Child support and foster parent payments. See RAB 1988-28; R 206.4(1)(j)
• Unemployment compensation and trade readjustment allowances (TRA) benefits. R 206.4(1)(c)
• The amount over $300 of total gifts of cash or goods received during the year including all payments made on the taxpayer’s or taxpayer’s spouse’s behalf by relatives, friends, and/or other individuals except government payments made directly to third parties such as an educational institution or housing authority. MCL 206.510(1)(a)
• Inheritance (except from the death of a spouse) or proceeds of a life insurance policy paid on death of the insured (except from the death of a spouse). R 206.4(1)(i) and (k); see also Michigan Tax Letter Ruling 1988-47
• Scholarships, stipends, grants, and payments made directly to an educational institution, except government payments. R 206.4(1)(m)
• Worker’s compensation benefits paid as compensation for personal injuries, sickness, or death, and veterans’ payments for disability, pension, or mustering out. R 206.4(1)(d) and (e)
• Cash assistance from a Family Independence Program and other Department of Health and Human Services benefits, not including food assistance. R 206.4(1)(b)
• Cash assistance from the Department of Education for the payment of child care
• Compensation received for damages to character or for personal injury or sickness. See IRC 104(a); R 206.4(1)(g)
• Death benefits paid by or on behalf of an employer. R 206.4(1)(q)
• Housing allowance for ministers or clergy. See IRC 107
• Forgiveness of debt, even if excluded from AGI (for example, mortgage foreclosure). See RAB 1989-11
• Reimbursement from dependent care and/or medical care spending accounts
• Foreign earned income excluded from federal gross income. DeKoning v Dep’t of Treasury, 211 Mich App 359 (1995); R 206.4(1)(s)

Items not included in Total Household Resources

• Net operating loss deductions taken on the federal return
• Payments received by participants in the foster grandparent or senior companion program
• Energy assistance grants or tax credits. MCL 206.510(1)(j)
• Government payments to a third party (for example, Medicaid payments to a doctor, and tuition grants, including GI bill, paid directly to an educational institution by a Federal or State agency, and most payments from The Step Forward Michigan program). See R 206.4(2)(b)
• Money received from a government unit such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency to repair or improve the homestead. MCL 206.510(1)(f)
• Surplus food or food assistance program benefits. MCL 206.510(c)
• State and city income tax refunds and homestead property tax credits. See R 206.4(1)(n)
• Chore service payments (these payments are income to the provider of the service)
• The first $300 from gambling, bingo, lottery, awards, or prizes. MCL 206.510(1)(b)
• The first $300 in gifts of cash or merchandise received, or expenses paid on the household member’s behalf by parents, relatives, or friends MCL 206.510(1)(a). MCL 206.510(1)(a)
• Amounts deducted from Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits for Medicare premiums
• Health and accident insurance premiums the taxpayer or taxpayer’s spouse paid for their family’s plan. MCL 206.510(1)
• Employer’s contributions to life, accident, or health insurance plans. MCL 206.510(1)(i)
• Loan proceeds
• Inheritance or life insurance proceeds from the death of a spouse
• Payments from a long-term care policy made to a nursing home or other care facility

Netting of Losses

In computing total household resources, three separate categories of net losses must be added back if they reduced federal gross income. To calculate the increase to total household resources from these net losses, a taxpayer must net each category of income and losses separately, ensuring that losses are only netted against income of the same character. For example, rent and royalty losses must be netted only against rent and royalty income, and business losses must be netted only against business income. The net loss of each of those categories must then be included in total household resources in addition to any carryback or carryforward of a net operating loss as defined in IRC 172(b)(2).

Example: During calendar year 2014, Jack had the following income:

During calendar year 2014, Jack had the following total household resources:

The above chart shows the treatment of casual gambling income as well as the separate netting of business income and loss, rental income and loss and net operating losses as required by statute. Adding back net losses from these categories to AGI nullifies the effect of any net loss on AGI. Applying the statutory add-backs to AGI results in the same calculation of total household resources as computed on the Homestead Property Tax Credit Claim Form MI-1040CR: