Real Estate tax credit for persons age 65
Same-Sex Marriage; Filing Status
Use Tax Liability Safe Harbor

Real Estate tax credit for persons age 65 and older:
Known as the circuit breaker credit: This is a refundable credit, which allows a tax refund even though no state taxes have been paid or withheld.

Same-Sex Marriage; Filing Status:
Effective May 16, 2004, Massachusetts law permits same-sex couples to be married. Same-sex spouses will file as married persons, jointly or separately, for state income tax purposes. However, federal law does not recognize same-sex marriage, and same-sex spouses will remain individual filers for federal purposes. Same-sex spouses who file as head of household federally will generally not be eligible to file as head of household for Massachusetts purposes. The term “head of household” as used in Massachusetts derives from the federal definition, which generally allows the status only for unmarried persons. Since the spouses are married under state law, applying the federal definition renders them generally ineligible for head of household status.

Use Tax Liability Safe Harbor:
Since 2002, the personal income tax return has had a line for consumers to report use tax on items that they may have purchased out of state, or from internet or mail order sellers who did not collect Massachusetts sales or use tax. Recent legislation permits taxpayers to use a schedule, as set forth below, to self report a “safe harbor” amount of use tax based on their Massachusetts adjusted gross income. This legislation applies to purchases made on or after January 1, 2004. A taxpayer may pay this amount in lieu of the actual amount of use tax that would otherwise be due with respect to such purchases. Individual taxpayers electing to report use tax under this method will not be assessed additional use tax on audit, even if the actual amount of use tax due would have been greater than the amount from the schedule. The estimated liability applies only to purchases of any individual items each having a total sales price of less than $1,000. For each taxable item purchased at a sales price of $1,000 or greater, the actual use tax liability for each purchase must be added to the amount of the estimated liability derived from the table.

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