How to File the Michigan Home Heating Credit Claim (MI-1040CR-7)

To claim Michigan’s home heating credit for 2025, file form MI-1040CR-7 — the Michigan Home Heating Credit Claim — by September 30, 2026, reporting every household member, all sources of income for the year, and either your actual heating bills from November 1, 2024 through October 31, 2025 or the standard allowance for your family size.¹ An income tax extension does not extend this deadline.²

Check That You Qualify Before Filing

You can file if you owned or rented a Michigan homestead during 2025, your total household resources fall within the income limits, and you are not a full-time student someone else claimed as a dependent. You also cannot have lived the entire year in college or university housing or in a licensed care facility.² Subsidized senior citizen apartments are not licensed care facilities, so residents there can still claim.³

Your homestead is the one place you permanently live. Cottages, vacation homes, and rental property you own but don’t live in don’t count, and you can only have one homestead at a time. Receiving FIP or other public assistance doesn’t disqualify you.³

Standard Credit Income Limits (Table A)

Your maximum total household resources for the standard credit depend on how many exemptions you claim on the form:²

0 or 1 exemption: $17,243
2 exemptions: $23,271
3 exemptions: $29,329
4 exemptions: $35,385
5 exemptions: $41,443
6 exemptions: $47,471 (add $6,057 for each exemption beyond six)

Alternate Credit Income Limits (Table B)

The alternate credit uses your actual heating bills and has its own ceilings:

0 or 1 exemption: $18,592
2 exemptions: $25,018
3 exemptions: $31,449
4 or more exemptions: $34,227

Gather Your Documents First

Before you open the form, pull the following together:

Social Security numbers for every person in your household, including dependents. Missing or wrong numbers are one of the most common reasons claims get delayed.³
Heating bills covering November 1, 2024 through October 31, 2025. Keep bulk fuel receipts (oil, propane, coal, wood) too — Treasury may ask to see them.³
Income records for everyone in the household: W-2s, 1099-Rs, SSA-1099s, child support received, foster care payments, unemployment statements, and any cash gifts over $300.
Your heat provider’s name code and heat type code. Lookup tables are in the instruction booklet.
Your lease if you rent, especially if heating is included.

Fill Out the Form Section by Section

The form runs through four blocks: personal information (lines 1–14), exemptions (lines 15–16), total household resources (lines 17–35), and the credit computation (lines 36–45).¹

Personal Information (Lines 1–14)

Enter your name, Social Security number, county code, and filing status. Line 5 asks whether you’re a homeowner or renter. Lines 6 and 7 take the heat provider name code and heat type code from the instruction booklet’s tables. Line 10 is easy to miss and important: check the box if heating is included in your rent. Skipping it changes the calculation and can get your claim denied.²

Line 13 is your actual heating costs from November 1, 2024 through October 31, 2025. Skip line 13 if you checked line 10, if you weren’t a full-year Michigan resident, or if you weren’t billed for a full 12 months during that window.²

Exemptions (Lines 15–16)

Count exemptions carefully; they drive both your income limit and your credit amount. Line 15a is the personal exemption (1 for single or married filing separately, 2 for married filing jointly). Line 15b adds an exemption for any household member who is deaf, blind, or totally and permanently disabled. Blind means better-eye vision of 20/200 or less with corrective lenses, or peripheral field of 20 degrees or less. Totally and permanently disabled follows the Social Security definition under 42 USC 416.²

Line 15c covers qualified disabled veterans. Lines 15d through 15f count children living with you by age band (2 and under, 3–5, 6–18). Line 15g covers dependent adults other than your spouse. Add everything on line 15h; that total sets your row in Tables A and B.

Line 16 asks for name, SSN, and citizenship or qualified-alien status for every household member, including dependents.²

Total Household Resources (Lines 17–35)

This section captures all taxable and nontaxable income for you and your spouse. Michigan’s definition of total household resources is broader than federal adjusted gross income. It includes wages, interest, dividends, business income, pensions, Social Security and SSI, child support, foster care payments, unemployment and workers’ compensation, veterans’ benefits, FIP and MDHHS payments (food assistance excluded), cash gifts over $300, gambling winnings over $300, and rent or bills paid on your behalf.⁴

Enter annual, not monthly, amounts on lines 17 through 30. Reporting a single month’s figure is one of the most common errors on this form.³ Business losses cannot reduce total household resources. Lines 32–34 allow limited deductions, including medical insurance or HMO premiums you paid. Subtract those from the subtotal on line 31 to reach total household resources on line 35.

How the Credit Is Calculated

The form computes both a standard credit and an alternate credit, and you receive whichever is larger.

Standard Credit (Lines 36–39)

Look up your standard allowance from Table A using your line 15h exemption count. On line 37, multiply total household resources (line 35) by 3.5%. Subtract that from your standard allowance. If heating is included in your rent (line 10 checked), cut the result in half on line 39.¹

Alternate Credit (Lines 40–43)

Enter your total heating costs from line 13, or $3,765, whichever is less, on line 40. On line 41, multiply total household resources by 11%. Subtract line 41 from line 40, then multiply the result by 70%.¹

You can’t use the alternate method if you weren’t a Michigan resident all 12 months, heat is included in your rent, you’re claiming costs for a vacation home or commercial account, or your resources exceed the Table B limits.³

Final Credit (Lines 44–45)

Line 44 takes the larger of the two credits. Line 45 multiplies that by 60%, the share of federal home heating funds available for this year. The line 45 figure is your 2025 credit.²

Where and How to Send It

The fastest option is Michigan’s e-file system at MIfastfile.org.² For paper, mail the form to:

Michigan Department of Treasury
Lansing, MI 48956¹

If you’re also filing an MI-1040, put the MI-1040CR-7 in the same envelope but do not staple it to the return; fold it and leave it loose. If you’re filing an MI-1040CR or MI-1040CR-2 property tax credit without an MI-1040, include the heating claim with that filing. If you aren’t required to file an income tax return, you can send the MI-1040CR-7 by itself.³

Paper claims must be postmarked by September 30, 2026. An income tax extension does not move this date.²

How You Get Paid

The payment form depends on your heating situation. If you pay your own heat directly, Michigan law requires the credit to be issued as a State of Michigan Energy Draft rather than a check. You give the draft to your enrolled heat provider, who applies it to current or future bills.³

If heating is included in your rent (line 10 checked), you get a check instead. If your provider is DTE Energy, Consumers Energy, or SEMCO Energy Gas, the credit may go directly to them.²

If a draft arrives but your heat is included in your rent or the service is in someone else’s name, mail the draft back with a written explanation and a copy of your lease to: Michigan Department of Treasury, P O Box 30757, Lansing, MI 48909.³

Shared Housing and Part-Year Residents

When two or more single adults share a home, each can claim separately if each has a rental agreement or an ownership share. Add the personal exemptions of everyone sharing the home, look up that combined number in Table A, then divide the result by the number of claimants to get each person’s standard allowance.³

If you occupied your homestead fewer than 12 months, prorate your standard allowance: divide the days you owned or rented and occupied the homestead by 365, then multiply by the standard allowance. Someone who moved to Michigan on September 1 would use 122/365.³

Mistakes That Delay Your Credit

Treasury sees the same errors on this form repeatedly:³

Leaving out income sources like cash gifts, Social Security benefits received for a dependent, or other nontaxable income.
Entering monthly instead of annual figures on lines 17–30.
Missing or incorrect Social Security numbers for household members.
Wrong heating cost amounts, or including costs for a vacation home.
Failing to check box 10 when heat is included in rent.
Basic math errors or entries on the wrong lines.
Filing after September 30. Late claims are not accepted, and no extension applies.

Checking Your Claim Status

Track your claim through the MiTreasury eServices Citizen Portal.⁵ You’ll need your Social Security number, the tax year, your adjusted gross income or total household resources, and your filing status to look up the account.²

1
Michigan Department of Treasury. 2025 Michigan Home Heating Credit Claim MI-1040CR-7
2
Michigan Department of Treasury. 2025 MI-1040CR-7 Home Heating Credit Claim Instruction Book
3
Michigan Department of Treasury. Home Heating Credit Information
4
Michigan Department of Treasury. Total Household Resources
5
Michigan Department of Treasury. MiTreasury eServices Citizen Portal