An Act To Strengthen the Benefits of the State Earned Income Tax Credit for Childless Workers
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 0963
Committee: Taxation
Sponsors: STUCKEY, BATES, GILBERT, GOODE, HAMANN, MOONEN, POWERS, TEPLER
Amends: 36 MRSA §5219-S

Legislative Document 
No. 963 
H.P. 662 
House of Representatives, March 17, 2015 
An Act To Strengthen the Benefits of the State Earned Income Tax 
Credit for Childless Workers 
Reference to the Committee on Taxation suggested and ordered printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative STUCKEY of Portland. 
Cosponsored by Representatives: BATES of Westbrook, GILBERT of Jay, GOODE of 
Bangor, HAMANN of South Portland, MOONEN of Portland, POWERS of Naples, TEPLER 
of Topsham. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  36 MRSA §5219-S, as amended by PL 2009, c. 213, Pt. BBBB, §16, is 
further amended to read: 
§5219-S.  Earned income credit 
1.  Resident taxpayer.  A resident individual is allowed a credit against the tax 
otherwise due under this Part in the amount of 5% of the federal earned income credit for 
the same taxable year, except that for tax years beginning in 2009 and 2010, the 
applicable percentage is 4% on or after January 1, 2015, the applicable percentage for an 
individual with no qualifying child is 50%. 
2.  Nonresident taxpayer.  A nonresident individual is allowed a credit against the 
tax otherwise due under this Part in the amount of 5% of the federal earned income credit 
for the same taxable year, except that for tax years beginning in 2009 and 2010, the 
applicable percentage is 4% on or after January 1, 2015, the applicable percentage for an 
individual with no qualifying child is 50%, multiplied by the ratio of the individual's 
Maine adjusted gross income, as defined in section 5102, subsection 1-C, paragraph B, to 
the individual's entire federal adjusted gross income, as modified by section 5122. 
3.  Part-year resident taxpayer.  An individual who files a return as a part-year 
resident in accordance with section 5224-A is allowed a credit against the tax otherwise 
due under this Part in the amount of 5% of the federal earned income credit for the same 
taxable year, except that for tax years beginning in 2009 and 2010, the applicable 
percentage is 4% on or after January 1, 2015, the applicable percentage for an individual 
with no qualifying child is 50%, multiplied by a ratio, the numerator of which is the 
individual's Maine adjusted gross income as defined in section 5102, subsection 1-C, 
paragraph A for that portion of the taxable year during which the individual was a 
resident plus the individual's Maine adjusted gross income as defined in section 5102, 
subsection 1-C, paragraph B for that portion of the taxable year during which the 
individual was a nonresident and the denominator of which is the individual's entire 
federal adjusted gross income, as modified by section 5122. 
4.  Limitation.  The credit allowed by this section may not reduce the Maine income 
tax to less than zero, except that for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, the 
credit for an individual with no qualifying child is refundable. 
SUMMARY 
This bill increases the state earned income tax credit for an individual with no 
qualifying child from 5% to 50% of the federal credit and makes it refundable.