Married Couples

An individual is not considered married until a marriage has actually occurred, but EWs can accept verification of relationship status (spouse, registered domestic partner, etc.) through self-attestation for purposes of the MAGI MC household composition.

Married couples living together are always included in each other's MAGI MC household regardless if they file taxes Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.

Married couples who self-attest to planning to file taxes as “Married Filing Jointly,” for the current tax year regardless of whether they are living together in the same home, are required to include both spouses at application, redetermination or change in circumstance when requesting MAGI Medi-Cal coverage. If an individual self-attests to filing taxes as “Married Filing Jointly” and fails to include their spouse on the case (after appropriate requests for the missing information), the entire case must be denied or discontinued for failure to complete the determination or redetermination.

Exception: Do not deny/discontinue the case if the individual who the applicant/beneficiary files “Married Filing Jointly” with would have no impact on the household composition and whose income counts (ex: if the client clarifies that they are actually unmarried - see instructions for unmarried individuals below), or if the individual reports that they will not file taxes as MFJ the next year (i.e. victim of intimate partner violence, legally separated, divorced, spousal abandonment, etc.) Reminder - individuals can self-attest regarding their relationship status for purposes of determining the MAGI tax household.

In general, if there is more than one tax filer in the home each tax filer is evaluated as a separate household with his/her tax dependents, this may require multiple cases. Each person must be included in each other's case.

Note: Individuals who file Married Filing Separately are not eligible for APTC unless they meet one of the three (3) exceptions.

Related Topics

Overview

IRS Tax Filing Statuses

Tax Filer Rules

Tax Dependent Rules

Non-Tax Filer Rules

Parent-Child and Stepparent Rules

Joint Custody and Determining Custodial Parent Rules

Unmarried Couples

Pregnant Individual

Determining Household Size

Household Examples