ME joint 10Kpwages 23page 24sage

[feenberg]

See http://taxsim.nber.org/out2psl/1051

TA allows the EIC in spite of the taxpayers youth. See the bottom of the EIC worksheet for the rationale.

[DTrim99]

Confirmed — three separate effects here, reconciling our −$841.62 to TaxAct's $562 refund exactly:

Component	policyengine-taxsim	TaxAct 1040ME
Maine EIC (Schedule A, line 4)	0.00	325
Property Tax Fairness Credit (25d)	21.62	22
Sales Tax Fairness Credit (25e)	220.00	215
2025 "affordability payment" (not a return item)	600.00	—
Refund	841.62	562

1. You're right about the EIC. 36 M.R.S. §5219-S sub-§6 extends "eligible individual" to childless filers at least 18 but under 25 (sub-§7 adds ITIN filers), and sub-§5 requires the credit to be "calculated in the same manner as it would be calculated if that individual were eligible for a federal earned income credit" — the pro forma computation at the bottom of the worksheet you attached. Pro forma childless federal EIC on $10,476 earned is $649, × 50% (no qualifying child) = $324.50 → TaxAct's $325. PolicyEngine's me_eitc currently just multiplies the actual federal EIC by 50%, so it returns 0 for this couple. Filed as Maine EITC omits the §5219-S expansion: childless filers age 18-24 get $0 instead of 50% of a pro forma federal EIC policyengine-us#8927.

2. STFC: the 2025 Schedule PTFC/STFC table gives married-joint / 0 dependents $215 (income ≤ $50,950); PolicyEngine's 2025 base amount is $220. Filed as Maine STFC 2025 base amount is $220; the 2025 Schedule PTFC/STFC table shows $215 for joint/HoH filers with no dependents policyengine-us#8928.

3. The remaining $600 is Maine's one-time "affordability payment" (H.P. 1491, Part T): $300 per non-dependent adult, keyed to the 2025 return but mailed by the assessor from a Special Revenue Fund in 2026–27 — never a 1040ME line. PolicyEngine models it as a refundable credit for policy analysis, so it was landing in siitax. Zero PE-modeled direct payments (ME affordability payment, MA premium pay) in siitax (#1056, #1084) #1065 zeroes it in the emulator (same approach as the imputed-transfers fix in Zero PE-imputed transfers via set_input (fixes MA Senior Circuit Breaker, #1031) #1049); with that change this record returns siitax = −241.62, and it will reconcile to your $562 once the two policyengine-us fixes land.