Michigan Home Heating Credit | 2025 Historical Reference

Michigan Home Heating Credit | 2025 Historical Reference

At a glance

Current status: the 2025 round is closed

Michigan Treasury set September 30, 2026 as the last day to file a Home Heating Credit claim for the 2025 claim year. The 2025 instruction booklet says a mailed claim had to be postmarked by that date. Treasury’s September 28 notice said applications had to be received by September 30, and its current deadline guidance says a late claim is denied. The filing deadline has passed under either instruction. No income-tax extension applies. The deadline has passed, so this page is an archive of the rules for that completed round; it is not an invitation to submit a 2025 claim now.

Treasury’s September 28, 2026 notice said that the Home Heating Credit would reopen during the 2027 individual income tax filing season early next year. That notice did not publish a new claim year, form, opening date, deadline, income table, or payment amount. Do not assume that the 2025 thresholds and calculation figures below will carry forward. Check the Michigan Department of Treasury’s official Home Heating Credit information page and the new form and instructions once Treasury publishes the next round. The page currently retains its 2025 details, and the department’s announcement only establishes that reopening is planned during the 2027 filing season.

The Home Heating Credit is a Michigan tax credit intended to help qualifying lower-income households with heating expenses. It is claimed on Form MI-1040CR-7, separate from a state income-tax liability. Its amount depends on the household’s resources, exemptions, Michigan homestead circumstances, heating costs, and the calculation method. It is not a uniform cash award. Treasury says the program is funded through the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program block grant, so the available funding can affect the calculation from year to year.

Who qualified for the 2025 claim

For the completed 2025 claim year, the official MI-1040CR-7 instructions said a claimant needed to own or rent and occupy a Michigan homestead. A renter needed to be contracted to pay rent for the home where they lived. The homestead is the permanent home where the person lives and intends to return; a vacation home or an income property is not a qualifying homestead. A mobile home can qualify when the ownership or rental and occupancy rules are met. A person may have only one homestead at a time.

The 2025 instructions also excluded a full-time student who was claimed as a dependent on another person’s income-tax return and someone who lived in college- or university-operated housing for the entire year. A person who lived in a licensed care facility for the entire year generally could not claim, although Treasury’s instructions describe exceptions and special situations. Anyone whose facts involved part-year residence, care-facility stays, separation, a deceased taxpayer, or shared housing needed to use the relevant instruction rather than rely only on the short eligibility list.

Household resources had to fall within the applicable 2025 income limit in Table A or Table B. Total household resources were broader than wages or taxable income. Treasury required claimants to report taxable and nontaxable income, including certain gifts and amounts paid on the household’s behalf. Social Security information and household member details also mattered. The 2025 booklet warned that missing or invalid Social Security numbers for household members could lead to denial.

Shared housing had special rules. Two or more single adults could not each claim the full standard allowance for one home. Separate claimants had to meet the ownership-share or rental-contract conditions and divide the allowance or heating costs as the instructions directed. Spouses who shared a home generally had one household claim based on the applicable exemptions, resources, and heating expenses. Married people filing separately, people who separated during the year, and divorced claimants were directed to Form 5049 and the corresponding worksheet instructions.

Part-year residents could qualify for the standard method when they occupied a Michigan homestead for part of the year, but the standard allowance had to be prorated to the occupancy period. The alternate calculation had stricter residency conditions and was unavailable to a claimant who was not a Michigan resident for the full year. These distinctions are tied to the 2025 claim and should not be treated as confirmed rules for the next round until Treasury posts its updated instructions.

Amount and calculation details from the 2025 round

The 2025 standard method used Table A’s allowance and income ceiling based on the number of exemptions. For 0–1 exemptions, the standard allowance was $604 and the resource ceiling was $17,243. For 2 exemptions, the figures were $815 and $23,271; for 3, $1,027 and $29,329; for 4, $1,239 and $35,385; for 5, $1,451 and $41,443; and for 6, $1,662 and $47,471. Each exemption above 6 added $212 to the allowance and $6,057 to the income ceiling. Treasury instructed people who occupied the homestead for less than 12 months to prorate the standard allowance.

Those amounts were inputs to the calculation, not promised checks. The 2025 form’s calculation applied a 60 percent factor to the relevant computed amount to reflect the federal home-energy assistance funding available for that year. The actual credit could therefore be lower than the listed standard allowance. Funding can vary, and these 2025 numbers should not be reused for a later round without checking the new table and form.

The alternate method used actual eligible heating costs for a different period. For the 2025 claim, the booklet instructed applicants to total heating bills from November 1, 2024 through October 31, 2025. People buying bulk fuel such as oil, coal, wood, or bottled gas used their receipts. Heating costs had to relate to the Michigan homestead, not a vacation home or commercial account. Treasury could ask for documentation. Table B listed the household-resource ceilings for the alternate calculation: $18,592 for 0–1 exemptions, $25,018 for 2, $31,449 for 3, and $34,227 for 4 or more.

A claimant whose heating costs were included in rent at the time of filing had to mark the applicable box and reduce the standard credit computation by 50 percent. The 2025 instructions said the alternate method was not available when heat was included in rent at filing. Some shared-household and special-status cases changed how allowances, bills, and resources were divided. The calculation table alone was not enough to establish eligibility or predict a payment.

What applicants did for the completed cycle

The 2025 claim used Form MI-1040CR-7 and its matching instruction booklet. The form year mattered: it contained the relevant household questions, income tables, heating-cost period, and the deadline for that round. The official information page also listed Form 4976 for additional household members and Form 5049 for married-filing-separately or divorced or separated claimants. Those documents explain the prior cycle only; wait for Treasury’s updated forms before preparing a future claim.

Applicants first gathered filer and household details, valid Social Security numbers, Michigan homestead information, occupancy dates, and heat-provider information. They calculated total household resources for the claim year using all categories described in Treasury’s booklet, rather than entering only wages. Renters needed to understand whether heating costs were included in rent. Applicants using the alternate calculation assembled the appropriate monthly bills or bulk-fuel receipts and kept them in case Treasury requested proof.

The form then asked the filer to identify homeowner or renter status, heat provider and heat type, residency, household members, resources, exemptions, and the calculation method. Claimants applied part-year proration or shared-household rules only when relevant to their facts. People with a complicated household, separation, a deceased claimant, or a care-facility period had to check the detailed instructions and any supplemental schedule instead of treating the basic form as a complete explanation.

For the 2025 round, Treasury allowed electronic filing or paper filing by mail. A person who did not have to file a Michigan Individual Income Tax Return could file MI-1040CR-7 on its own. A person filing MI-1040 submitted the credit claim along with the income-tax return according to Treasury’s filing guidance. The Home Heating Credit could not be used to pay an income-tax liability. The last filing date has passed, and filing an amended claim that requested an additional credit was also subject to the September 30, 2026 deadline.

Treasury recommended keeping a copy of the claim and schedules for six years. E-filed claims were usually processed within 14 business days, but the department could take longer when a claim needed review. Applicants could check status through Treasury eServices and needed identifying information from the claim. Treasury could ask for a lease, ownership record, heat statement, receipt, income record, or other evidence supporting the figures reported.

Payment and remaining 2025 drafts

An approved credit was generally issued as a State of Michigan Energy Draft when the claimant was responsible for heating bills. The claimant gave the draft to an enrolled heating provider to apply to current or future energy bills. The draft was restricted to energy bills. The 2025 booklet described exceptions in which Treasury could review a returned draft and possibly reissue payment as a check, including some cases where the provider was not enrolled or a bulk-fuel claimant had already purchased that year’s supply. When heat was included in rent, the credit was reduced and issued as a check under the instructions.

Treasury’s September 28, 2026 notice stated that issued drafts were only good until December 15, 2026, and asked recipients to redeem them promptly. It also reported that the department would give heating providers a 30-day grace period to submit drafts for reimbursement. That redemption notice concerns approved credits from the closed cycle, not a way to submit a late application. A person who already received a draft should follow the instructions on that payment and contact Treasury or the heat provider if it is lost or cannot be redeemed.

Where to check when the next round opens

The official source for future dates, forms, eligibility tables, and filing instructions is the Michigan Department of Treasury’s Home Heating Credit information page. Treasury’s latest notice available for this update says the program will reopen during the 2027 individual income tax filing season early next year; it does not yet say when applicants may file or what the new deadline and terms will be. Confirm those details on Treasury’s site before acting. Free tax-preparation assistance was identified by Treasury through 211, text message, MichiganFreeTaxHelp.org, United Way, and Community Action Agencies in its September 2026 notice.

Households needing help with an immediate utility problem should not wait for a future tax-credit cycle. Treasury points people who do not qualify or need other assistance to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and its emergency and energy-assistance resources, including LIHEAP-funded support. Eligibility for a separate assistance program is determined by that program, not by this archive page.

Official sources

• Michigan Treasury Home Heating Credit information
• Treasury filing deadline guidance
• Treasury September 28, 2026 reopening and redemption notice
• 2025 MI-1040CR-7 form and instruction booklet
• 2025 Table A standard allowance
• 2025 Table B alternate credit computation
• Michigan Treasury Home Heating Credits FAQs