Michigan’s Personal and Dependent Exemptions

Personal and dependent exemptions reduce the amount of income subject to tax. For Michigan taxpayers, these exemptions have been recently reinstated, an adjustment that directly lowers a taxpayer’s taxable income. The system of exemptions is designed to account for the taxpayer, their spouse, and any dependents they support.

Eligibility for Michigan Personal and Dependent Exemptions

To claim a personal exemption in Michigan, you must be a resident of the state. If you are married and file a joint return, you and your spouse can each claim a personal exemption. The state’s criteria for claiming a dependent largely mirror federal guidelines, which categorize dependents as either a “qualifying child” or a “qualifying relative.”

A qualifying child must meet four tests:

• Relationship: The child must be the taxpayer’s son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, or a descendant of any of them.
• Age: The child must be under age 19 at the end of the year, a full-time student under age 24, or any age if permanently and totally disabled.
• Residency: The child must have lived with the taxpayer for more than half the year.
• Support: The child did not provide more than half of their own financial support.

The criteria for a qualifying relative are different, focusing more on financial support than a direct familial relationship. A person can be a qualifying relative if they are related to the taxpayer in one of the specified ways or lived with the taxpayer all year as a member of their household. The gross income test requires the person’s income to be less than the exemption amount for that year, and the taxpayer must have provided more than half of the person’s total support for the year.

Value of Michigan Tax Exemptions

The value of a single personal or dependent exemption for the 2024 tax year is $5,600. This amount is subtracted from your adjusted gross income (AGI) for each eligible person you claim. For example, a married couple with two qualifying children would be able to claim four exemptions, resulting in a total deduction of $22,400 from their AGI.

Michigan also offers several additional exemptions for specific circumstances. An additional exemption of $3,300 is available for each taxpayer or dependent who is deaf, blind, paraplegic, quadriplegic, hemiplegic, or totally and permanently disabled. This is in addition to the standard personal exemption.

Furthermore, parents who have experienced a stillbirth may claim a special exemption. If you were the parent of a stillborn child delivered during the tax year and have a certificate of stillbirth from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, you can claim an additional exemption of $5,600. An additional exemption of $500 is also available for each disabled veteran in the household. These specific provisions provide targeted tax relief to individuals and families facing unique challenges.

Claiming Exemptions on the Michigan Tax Return

You will use the Michigan Individual Income Tax Return, Form MI-1040, to claim your exemptions. On the MI-1040 form, you will find a designated line item to report your total exemptions. You will enter the total count of all exemptions, including your personal exemption, your spouse’s if filing jointly, and each dependent you are eligible to claim.