Married Couple Filing Separately

Married Couple Filing Separately

Below are examples of taxpayers who are married but file separately, with or without children who qualify for the child tax credit payment.

1) Married filing separately and no children and both have valid social security numbers.

A married couple with no children and they decide to file separately with each one using the Married Filing Separately (MFS) tax filing status. the husband has an adjusted gross income of $7,000 and none of it is qualifying income or earned income and the wife has an adjusted gross income of $12,000 and a net income tax liability of $328.

The husbands tax rebate payment is $0 because he has no qualifying income and no net income tax liability.

The wife's tax rebate payment is $328, which is limited to her net income tax liability.

But if they actually decide to file jointly instead and they have a joint net income tax liability of at least $1 they would be eligible for a tax rebate check of $600

2) Married filing separately and no children and both have valid social security numbers

A married couple with no children and they decide to file separately with each one using the Married Filing Separately (MFS) tax filing status. the husband has an adjusted gross income of $7,000, including $5,000 of earned income and the wife has an adjusted gross income of $12,000 and a net income tax liability of $328

The husbands tax rebate payment is $300 because he has no net income tax liability but does have earned income of at least $3,000.

The wife's tax rebate payment is $328, which is limited to her net income tax liability.

But if they actually decide to file jointly instead they would be eligible for a tax rebate check of $600

3) Married filing separately and no children and both have valid social security numbers

A married couple with no children and they decide to file separately with each one using the Married Filing Separately (MFS) tax filing status. the husband has an adjusted gross income of $25,000 and the wife has an adjusted gross income of $26,000 and they both have a net income tax liability in excess of $600.

The husband's tax rebate payment is $600

The wife's tax rebate payment is $600

Should they decide to file jointly and their joint net income tax liability exceeds $1,200, then they would be eligible for a tax rebate check of $1,200.

4) Married filing separately and no children and both have valid social security numbers

A married couple with no children and they decide to file separately with each one using the Married Filing Separately (MFS) tax filing status. the husband has an adjusted gross income of $80,000 and the wife has an adjusted gross income of $70,000 and they both have a net income tax liability in excess of $600.

The husband's tax rebate payment is $350 which is the basic tax rebate payment of $600 phased down by $250 because his adjusted gross income is over $75,000.

The wife's tax rebate payment is $600

Should they decide to file jointly and their joint net income tax liability exceeds $1,200, then they would be eligible for a tax rebate check of $1,200.

5) Married filing separately and two children and all have valid social security numbers

A married couple with two qualifying children and they decide to file separately with each one using the Married Filing Separately (MFS) tax filing status. They both will claim one of the two children on their separate tax returns. The husband has an adjusted gross income of $15,000 with a net income tax liability of $286 and the wife has an adjusted gross income of $25,000 and a net income tax liability in excess of $600.

The husband's tax rebate payment is $600 which is the basic tax rebate payment of $300 which is limited by his net income tax liability of $286 but raised to the minimum of $300 and the plus the child amount of $300

The wife's tax rebate payment is $900 which is the basic tax rebate payment of $600 plus the child amount of $300

Should they decide to file jointly and their joint net income tax liability exceeds $1,200, then they would be eligible for a tax rebate check of $1,800, which is the basic tax rebate payment of $1,200 plus the child amount of $600

6) Married filing separately and two children and all have valid social security numbers

A married couple with two qualifying children and they decide to file separately with each one using the Married Filing Separately (MFS) tax filing status. They both will claim one of the two children on their separate tax returns. The husband has an adjusted gross income of $80,000 and the wife has an adjusted gross income of $70,000 and they both have a net income tax liability in excess of $600.

The husband's tax rebate payment is $650 which is the basic tax rebate payment of $600 plus the child amount of $300, which totals $900 then is phased down by $250 because his adjusted gross income is over $75,000.

The wife's tax rebate payment is $900 which is the basic tax rebate payment of $600 plus the child amount of $300

Should they decide to file jointly and their joint net income tax liability exceeds $1,200, then they would be eligible for a tax rebate check of $1,800, which is the basic tax rebate payment of $1,200 plus the child amount of $600

7) Choosing married filing separately instead of married filing jointly and one spouse with an ITIN

A married couple with no children and the wife has a valid social security number but the husband is not eligible for a social security number but has an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) which was issued by the IRS for tax filing purposes. Both are required to file for the 2007 tax year and they will file separate tax returns using the married filing separate filing status. They both also meet the income and the income tax liability qualifications in order to receive a tax rebate payment of the maximum amount.

The husbands tax rebate payment is $0 because he does not have a valid social security number

The wife's tax rebate payment is $600

Should they decide to file jointly they would not be eligible for a tax rebate payment because they both do not have a valid social security number.