An Act To Establish a Wellness Tax Credit
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 0590
Committee: Taxation
Sponsors: GILES, MARRACHE, AUSTIN, JONES, KNAPP, KNIGHT, PERRY, PRESCOTT, STRANG BURGESS, RECTOR
Amends: 36 MRSA §5219-D

FIRST REGULAR SESSIor~-2009 
Legislative Document 
No. 590 
H.P.428 
House of Representatives, Febmary 17,2009 
An Act To Establish a Wellness Tax Credit 
Reference to the Committee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative GILES of Belfast. 
Cosponsored by Senator MARRACHE of Kelmebec and 
'7J/~-t 1/1· 7llt1C~{ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: AUSTIN of Gray, JONES of Mount Vemon, KNAPP of Gorham, KNIGHT 
of Livennore Falls, PERRY of Calais, PRESCOTT of Topsham, STRANG BURGESS of 
Cumberland, Senator: RECTOR of Knox. 
Printed on n:cycleJ [HlP":!' 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as fol1ows: 
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §5219-DD is enacted to read: 
§5219..,DD .. Credit for wellness programs 
1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the 
following tenns have the following meanings. 
A. "Employee" means an individual who perfonns services for an employing unit. 
B. "Employing unit" has the same meaning as in Title 26, section 1043. 
C. "Qualified wellness program expenditure" means expenses by an employing unit 
to develop, institute and maintain a wellness program. 
D. 
"Wellness program" means a program instituted by an employing unit that 
improves employee health, morale and productivity, including, without limitation: 
(1) Health education programs; 
(2) Behavioral change programs such as counseling or seminars or classes on 
nutrition, stress management or smoking cessation; 
(3) Time during the work day for exercise; 
(4) Equipping, operating and maintaining a facility owned by the employing unit 
for use by its employees for exercise; 
(5) 
Equipping and registering an athletic team that is composed solely of 
employees and spouses or dependants of employees who are members of the 
employing unit's health care plan; 
(6) Membership, either individual or group, to a health club or gym; and 
(7) Incentive awards to employees who engage in regular physical activity. 
2. Credit allowed. A taxpayer constituting an employing unit with 20 or fewer 
employees is allowed a credit against the tax imposed by this Part for each taxable year 
beginning on or after January 1, 2009 for a qualified wellness program expenditure made 
on or after January 1, 2009. 
3. Record keeping. An employing unit that makes qualified wellness program 
expenditures is responsible for recording exercise facility usage or the amount of time 
employees engage in wellness programs for which the employing unit is claiming an 
expense. 
.. .Limit; carry-over. The total credit for each taxpayer under this section is limited 
to $100 per employee or $2,000, whichever is less, per tax year. The credit may not 
reduce the tax otherwise due under this Part to less than zero. A taxpayer who elects to 
take the credit under this section may not also claim the same expenditure as an 
adjustment to income. A taxpayer entitled to a credit under this section for any taxable 
year may carry over the portion, as reduced from year to year, of any unused credit and 
apply it to the tax liability for anyone or more of the next succeeding 5 taxable years. 
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5. Calculation and transfer; Fund for a Healthy Maine. Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, the State Budget Officer, n() later than July 1 st annually, shall 
calculate the amount of the income tax revenue lost due to the credit provided under this 
section and transfer that amount from the Fund for a Healthy Maine, established in Title 
22, section 1511, to the General Fund. 
Sec. 2. Application. TIlls Act applies to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 
2009. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides a tax credit to employers of 20 or fewer employees for the expense 
of developing, instituting and maintaining wellness programs for their employees in the 
amount of $100 per employee, up to a maximum of $2,000. A wellness program includes 
programs for behavior modification, such as smoking cessation programs, equipping and 
maintaining an exercise facility and providing incentive awards to employees who 
exercise regularly. The tax credit is paid for with funds from the Fund for a Healthy 
Maine.