Schedule M asks if you both have wages. My son had wages but his wife is self-employed and her income goes on Schedule C. Turbo tax gave them $800 and I'm wondering if she is entitled to $400 or not. Thanks for your help
Actually it asks, very poorly, if you (and your spouse if filing jointly) had wages.
That "and" might more properly be "and/or" and is probably causing come confusion.
It is not supposed to be asking if you AND your spouse (if MFJ) both had wages.
What it means is add all the wages earned by you (and if filing MFJ, your spouse) ....
The starting point for this credit for MFJ is the lower of 6.2% of total earned income, whether one or both of you had earned income, or $800.
It is not a matter of whether "she" is entitled or not.
Take a couple filing MFJ and only he has $10,000 of earned income; or only she had 10,000 of earned income; or between the two of them they had 10,000 of earned income, in each case the Schedule M credit starts at $800.
It can be reduced if one or both special $250 payments were received. It is reduced by the total amount of special 250 payments (up to one payment per taxpayer.)
This is the correct definition.
This is an incorrect example. With $10,000 of income, "lesser" equals 6.2% of $10,000 or $620, not $800.
This may be a good spot to add the following information for nonresident aliens.
When you have a married couple filing jointly and only one of them only has an ITIN (either an NRA or an RA not entitled to a social security number) they can get the Making Work Pay credit as long as the spouse with the SSN is listed first on the tax return.
Doh! You'd think I'd be able to do the math, huh?
Thanks!
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