Calculating the Making Work Pay Credit on your IRS tax return for the 2010 year has different effects on each taxpayer.
It is important to understand what the Making Work Pay Credit does and why it is available for taxpayers to claim.
During the years of 2009 and 2010, the adjusted withholding tax tables for each taxpayer's withholding was less, which gave more take home pay (net pay) from each paycheck earned.
To make it simpler to understand, here is an example: a taxpayer was paying taxes of $23 per paycheck.
With the new Making Work Pay Credit, that taxpayer would be only paying taxes of $16 instead of the $23.
This gives the taxpayer a $7 savings (or "credit") towards the full take-home amount with every paycheck.
When you add up those seven dollars, it totals out to be a $364.
00 savings towards the money that you get to use (once you receive your refund) rather than the IRS! This was enabled by the new tax table law from the IRS for employers to use - from the changes that were made in December of 2010 by the Obama Administration and Congress.
The Making Work Pay Credit should equal out to the same amount that was taxed by the IRS on each paycheck when filing for an IRS tax return at the end of each year.
Single taxpayers can get $400, married filing jointly can get a total of $800 on the Making Work Pay Credit.
Now that money is being "paid" back by the IRS (from when taxes were taken out of paychecks earlier), taxpayers are receiving their refunds and doing what they please with their money.
However, if a taxpayer does not qualify for the credit, then that taxpayer may owe taxes in accordance to the withholding tax table (as there is a limit to the total amount of money earned for the Making Work Pay Credit that enables them to receive more money throughout the year with less taxes being withheld).
A taxpayer who makes about $230,000 would not qualify for the credit, as the amount is way above what a taxpayer qualifies for the credit.
If you are a self employed worker, a contractor, or a freelancer, and did not have any withholdings during the 2010 year, you are still eligible for the Making Work Pay credit because you worked.
To claim the credit (to offset the taxes that were taken out during your calculating and paying of the taxes), you must file the Schedule M of the 1040 form in order to receive it.