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2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65a - Taxation of Transfers of Certain Estates › Section 2 - Due Date of Tax; Penalty for Delinquent Payment; Extension of Time

Section 2. The tax imposed by this chapter shall become due and payable at the expiration of twelve months from the date of death, and executors, administrators, trustees, grantees, donees, beneficiaries and surviving joint owners shall be and remain liable for the tax until it is paid. If the tax is not paid when due, interest shall be charged and collected pursuant to section thirty-two of chapter sixty-two C. The commissioner may, for cause shown, extend the time for payment with interest.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65a - Taxation of Transfers of Certain Estates › Section 3 - Credits on Transfers of Future Interests

Section 3. If after the payment of the tax under this chapter there shall become payable a tax under chapter sixty-five upon any future interest in any property owned by such decedent or subject to such tax as a part of or in connection with his estate, such part of the tax paid under this chapter as is attributable to such future interest shall be credited against the tax under said chapter sixty-five, but the amount so credited shall not in any event exceed the amount of the tax on such future interest.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65a - Taxation of Transfers of Certain Estates › Section 4 - Application of Law Relating to Succession Taxes in Respect to Collection and Refunds

Section 4. The provisions of chapters sixty-two C and sixty-five relative to the determination, certification and collection of the tax imposed by chapter sixty-five, relative to the refund or recovery of taxes assessed and collected without authority of law and relative to the determination of questions concerning the tax and all necessary administrative provisions of said chapters shall also be effective in reference to all corresponding matters arising in connection with the tax hereunder, except that no lien shall attach to any property of any estate on account of the tax imposed hereunder. The commissioner shall have authority to require all persons or corporations liable for the payment of taxes hereunder to file returns in such form as he may prescribe.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65a - Taxation of Transfers of Certain Estates › Section 5b - Jurisdiction

Section 5B. The probate court having jurisdiction of the estate of a decedent, or of any trust or person affected by sections five and five A, and by this section, or any of them, shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all questions arising under said sections, and to make apportionments and prorations, determine the amounts thereof and of reimbursements, contributions and other payments therein provided for, and by order or decree to direct the making of any such payments, and issue execution therefor, and to make such other determinations, orders and decrees as may be required under said sections, subject to appeal as in other cases.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65a - Taxation of Transfers of Certain Estates › Section 6 - Effect of Change in Federal Revenue Act

Section 6. If the amount of tax imposed by Title III of said revenue act or any subsequent federal revenue act shall be increased or decreased as affecting an estate taxable hereunder subsequent to the payment of the tax on account of such estate imposed by section one of this chapter the tax imposed upon such estate hereunder shall be changed accordingly. Any additional tax shall be assessed by the commissioner and paid within thirty days after the date of the notice from the commissioner of the amount thereof. Any excess tax received by the commonwealth shall be refunded within thirty days after the amount shall have been certified by the commissioner without appropriation; provided that no refund shall be made under this section unless written application therefor is made to the commissioner within six months of the date of final determination of the federal tax.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65b - Settlement of Disputes Respecting the Domicile of Decedents for Death Tax Purposes › Section 1 - Definitions

Section 1. When used in this chapter the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) ''Executor'', any executor of the will or administrator of the estate of a decedent, except an ancillary administrator;
(b) ''Taxing official'', the commissioner of revenue in this commonwealth, and in any other reciprocal state the officer or body designated in the statute of such state substantially similar to this chapter;
(c) ''Death tax'', any tax levied by a state on account of the transfer or shifting of economic benefits in property at death, or in contemplation thereof, or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after death, whether denominated an ''inheritance tax'', ''transfer tax'', ''succession tax'', ''estate tax'', ''death duty'', ''death dues'', or otherwise;
(d) ''Interested person'', any person who may be entitled to receive, or who has received any property or interest which may be required to be considered in computing the death tax of any state involved.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65b - Settlement of Disputes Respecting the Domicile of Decedents for Death Tax Purposes › Section 2 - Procedure to Determine Domicile for Tax Purposes

Section 2. In any case in which this commonwealth and one or more other states each claims that it was a domicile of a decedent at the time of his death, and no judicial determination of domicile for death tax purposes has been made in any of such states, any executor, or the taxing official of any such state, may elect to invoke the provisions of this chapter. Such election shall be evidenced by the sending of a notice by registered mail, receipt requested, to the taxing officials of each such state and to each executor, ancillary administrator and interested person. Any executor may reject such election by sending a notice by registered mail, receipt requested, to the taxing officials involved and to all other executors within forty days after the receipt of such notice of election. If such election be rejected, no further proceedings shall be had under this chapter. If such election be not rejected, the dispute as to the death taxes shall be determined solely as hereinafter provided, and no other proceedings to determine or assess such death taxes shall thereafter be instituted in the courts of this commonwealth or otherwise.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65b - Settlement of Disputes Respecting the Domicile of Decedents for Death Tax Purposes › Section 3 - Agreements as to Tax

Section 3. In any case in which an election is made as provided in section two and not rejected, the commissioner may enter into a written agreement with the other taxing officials involved and with the executors, to accept a certain sum in full payment of any death tax, together with interest and penalties, that may be due this commonwealth; provided, that said agreement also fixes the amount to be paid the other state or states. If an agreement cannot be reached and the arbitration proceeding specified in section four is commenced, and thereafter an agreement is arrived at, a written agreement may be entered into at any time before such proceeding is concluded, notwithstanding the commencement of such proceeding. Upon the filing of such agreement or duplicate thereof with the authority which would have jurisdiction to assess the death tax of this commonwealth if the decedent died domiciled in this commonwealth, an assessment shall be made as therein provided and such assessment, except as hereinafter provided, shall finally and conclusively fix and determine the amount of death tax due this commonwealth. In the event that the aggregate amount payable under such agreement to the states involved is less than the maximum credit allowable to the estate against the United States estate tax imposed with respect thereto, the executor forthwith shall also pay to the commissioner the same percentage of the difference between such aggregate amount and the amount of such credit, as the amount payable to the commissioner under the agreement bears to such aggregate amount.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65b - Settlement of Disputes Respecting the Domicile of Decedents for Death Tax Purposes › Section 5 - Penalties and Interest for Non-Payment of Tax

Section 5. In any case where it is determined by the board of arbitration referred to in section four that the decedent died domiciled in this commonwealth, penalties and interest for nonpayment of the tax, between the date of the election and the final determination of the board, shall not exceed, in the aggregate, four per centum of the amount of the taxes per annum.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 2 - Computation of Estate Tax

Section 2. (a) A tax computed in accordance with the following table less the credit, if any, provided in subsection (a) of section three, is hereby imposed on the transfer of the Massachusetts taxable estate of every deceased resident of Massachusetts:—
; provided, however, that the tax under this subsection shall not be greater than twenty per cent of the amount by which the Massachusetts net estate exceeds the exemption given at subsection (a) of section three.
(b) If the maximum credit for state death taxes allowable to the estate of a deceased resident or nonresident against the federal estate tax, computed according to the rate schedule found in section two thousand and eleven of the Code based upon an amount equal to the Massachusetts taxable estate, computed, with respect to a nonresident, as if the decedent had been a resident and apportioned in accordance with subsection (b) of section four, exceeds the tax imposed under subsection (a), the amount of such excess shall be added to the tax imposed under said subsection (a). In the case of a decedent who was a nonresident of the United States, however, the Massachusetts taxable estate shall be computed as if such decedent had been a resident without apportionment in accordance with subsection (b) of section four. For purposes of this subsection, the Massachusetts taxable estate shall include the value of any property subject to a power of appointment to the extent that such value has been excluded from the computation in said subsection (a) because a tax had been paid thereon pursuant to section fourteen of chapter sixty-five and shall also include the value of qualified terminable interest property, as defined in subsection (b)(7)(B) of section two thousand and fifty-six of the Internal Revenue Code in effect on January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-five, to the extent that such property has been included in the gross estate of the decedent as finally determined for federal estate tax purposes but has not been included in the gross estate of the decedent for Massachusetts estate tax purposes, in each case less the deductions described in subsection (b) of section three attributable thereto and the value of real and tangible personal property includible therein and having an actual situs outside the commonwealth.
(c) The provisions of this section shall apply to decedents dying on or before December thirty-first nineteen hundred and ninety-six.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 3a - Qualified Terminable Interest Property

Section 3A. (a) In the case of qualified terminable interest property, (i) for purposes of subsection (a) of section two thousand and fifty-six of the Code, such property shall be treated as passing to the surviving spouse, and (ii) for purposes of subsection (b)(1)(A) of section two thousand and fifty-six of the Code, no part of such property shall be treated as passing to any person other than the surviving spouse; provided, however, that a deduction with respect to such terminable interest property shall not be limited by subsection (c) of section two thousand and fifty-six of the Code.
(b) For purposes of this section, the term ''qualified terminable interest property'' shall mean property (i) which is included in the Massachusetts gross estate, (ii) which passes from the decedent, (iii) in which the surviving spouse has a qualifying income interest for life, and (iv) to which an election under this section applies.
(c) The surviving spouse has a qualifying income interest for life if (i) the surviving spouse is entitled to all the income from the property, payable annually or at more frequent intervals, and (ii) no person has a power to appoint any part of the property to any person other than the surviving spouse. Clause (ii) of this subsection shall not apply to a power exercisable only at or after the death of the surviving spouse.
(d) The term ''property'' includes an interest in property.
(e) A specific portion of property shall be treated as separate property.
(f) An election under this section with respect to any property shall be made by the executor on the Massachusetts estate tax return filed within the time prescribed for filing such return, or any extension of such time granted by the commissioner, to have the property treated as qualified terminable interest property for Massachusetts estate tax purposes. Such election, once made, shall be irrevocable and shall be separate from and independent of any election made by the executor for federal estate tax purposes.
(g) If the surviving spouse of the decedent is the only noncharitable beneficiary of a qualified charitable remainder trust, subsection (b)(1) of section two thousand and fifty-six of the Code shall not apply to any interest in such trust which passes or has passed from the decedent to such surviving spouse. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the term ''noncharitable beneficiary'' shall mean any beneficiary of the qualified charitable remainder trust other than an organization described in subsection (c) of section one hundred and seventy of the Code and the term ''qualified charitable remainder trust'' shall mean a charitable remainder annuity trust or charitable remainder unitrust as described in section six hundred and sixty-four of the Code.
(h) Nothing in this section or any other provision of this chapter shall allow the value of any interest in property to be deducted under this chapter more than once with respect to the same decedent.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 4 - Nonresident Decedents; Tax on Certain Property Located in Commonwealth

Section 4. (a) A tax is hereby imposed on the transfer of a nonresident decedent's real and tangible personal property having an actual situs in Massachusetts, if such property would have been included in the Massachusetts gross estate had the decedent been a resident.
(b) The tax imposed under subsection (a) shall be an amount which bears the same ratio to the tax that would be due if the decedent had been a resident as (i) the value of all real and tangible personal property, diminished by any mortgage or lien thereon, having an actual situs in Massachusetts, the transfer of which is subject to tax under said subsection (a) bears to (ii) the value of the decedent's Massachusetts gross estate, diminished by any mortgage or lien or property included therein, determined as if he had been a resident.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 4a - Generation-Skipping Transfers

Section 4A. (a) When used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context indicates otherwise, have the following meanings:—
(1) ''Generation-skipping transfer'', every transfer subject to the federal generation-skipping transfer tax in which the original transferor is a resident of the commonwealth at the date of original transfer or the property transferred is real or personal property in the commonwealth.
(2) ''Original transferor'', any grantor, donor, settlor or testator who by grant, gift, trust or will makes a transfer of real or personal property that results in a federal generation-skipping transfer tax.
(b) A tax is hereby imposed upon every generation-skipping transfer in which the original transferor is a resident of the commonwealth at the date of original transfer, in an amount equal to the amount allowable as a credit for state death taxes under section twenty-six hundred and two of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States in effect on December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighty-one.
(c) A tax is hereby imposed upon every generation-skipping transfer in which the original transferor is not a resident of the commonwealth at the date of the original transfer but in which the property transferred includes real or personal property in the commonwealth, in an amount equal to the amount allowable as a credit for state death taxes under section twenty-six hundred and two of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States in effect on December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighty-one.
(d) Every person required to file a return reporting a generation-skipping transfer under applicable federal law and regulations shall file with the commissioner, on or before the last day prescribed for filing the federal return, a return in such form as the commissioner may prescribe, including a duplicate copy of the federal return.
(e) The person liable for payment of the federal generation-skipping transfer tax shall be liable for the tax imposed by this section, which tax is due upon a taxable distribution or taxable termination as determined under the applicable provisions of the federal generation-skipping transfer tax, and shall be paid to the commissioner.
(f) Any person failing to file any payment of tax required by this section when due shall be subject to the interest and penalty provisions under sections thirty-two and thirty-three of chapter sixty-two C.
(g) If, after a duplicate copy of the federal return of a generation-skipping transfer has been filed with the commissioner, the amount of the federal generation-skipping transfer tax is increased or decreased by the federal government, an amended return shall be filed with the commissioner showing all changes made in the original return and the amount of increase or decrease in the federal generation-skipping transfer tax and in the state death tax credit relating thereto.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 6 - Executor's Liability for Tax

Section 6. (a) The tax imposed by this chapter shall be paid by the executor. The term ''executor'', wherever used in this chapter, means the executor or administrator of the decedent, or, if there is no executor or administrator appointed, qualified and acting within the commonwealth, then any person in actual or constructive possession of any property of the decedent. The probate court may authorize an executor to sell so much of the property of the estate as will enable him to pay such tax in the same manner as it may authorize him to sell such property for the payment of debts.
(b) No final account of an executor of any estate shall be allowed by the probate court unless and until the executor shall have filed in the probate court a certificate of the commissioner showing either that the amount of the tax has been paid, that payment thereof has been secured as provided in section ten, or that no tax is due. For dates of death on or after January 1, 1997, said certificate of the commissioner shall not be required.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 7 - Discharge of Executor's Personal Liability

Section 7. If the executor makes a written application, accompanied by a copy of the final determination of federal estate tax liability, to the commissioner for determination of the amount of the tax and discharge from personal liability therefor, the commissioner, as soon as possible, and in any event within one year after the making of such application, or, if the application is made before the return is filed, then within one year after the return is filed, shall notify the executor of the amount of the tax. The executor, on payment of the amount of which he is notified, shall be discharged from personal liability for any deficiency in tax thereafter found to be due, and shall be entitled to a receipt or writing showing such discharge.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 10 - Extension of Due Date for Payment of Tax

Section 10. (a) The commissioner may extend the time for payment of the tax imposed by this chapter for a reasonable period not to exceed six months from the date fixed for the payment thereof. If the commissioner finds that the payment on the due date of any part of such tax would result in undue hardship, he may extend the time for payment for a reasonable period not in excess of three years from the date fixed for payment of the tax. If an extension is granted, the commissioner may require the taxpayer:—
(i) to deposit with the state treasurer bonds or other negotiable obligations of the commonwealth or of the United States of America of such aggregate face amount as the commissioner may from time to time deem necessary to adequately secure payment of such taxes; or
(ii) to give a bond to the state treasurer in such amount and with such sureties as the commissioner deems necessary, conditioned upon the payment of the amount with respect to which the extension is granted in accordance with the terms of the extension.
In case of a deposit of bonds or other negotiable obligations with the state treasurer hereunder he shall pay to such taxpayer the interest accruing thereon, and, if such taxes shall be paid in full when due in accordance with the terms of the extension, he shall return such bonds or obligations to the persons entitled thereto; but if such taxes shall not be paid when due, the state treasurer may sell all or any part of such bonds or obligations to satisfy such taxes, and shall return to the taxpayer all the proceeds of such sale, and all such bonds or obligations, remaining in his hands after satisfying such taxes.
(b) If the value of a reversionary or remainder interest in property is included in the value of the gross estate, the payment of the part of the tax imposed by this chapter attributable to such interest may, at the election of the executor, be postponed until six months after the termination of the precedent interest or interests in the property, and the amount the payment of which is so postponed shall then be payable, together with interest thereon at the rate of eight per cent per annum from the date the tax was payable under section thirty-two of chapter sixty-two C until such amount is paid. The postponement of such amount shall be under regulations to be prescribed by the commissioner, and shall be upon condition that the executor, or any other person liable for the tax, shall give bond to the state treasurer in such amount, and with such sureties as the commissioner deems necessary, conditioned upon the payment within six months after the termination of such precedent interest or interests of the amount the payment of which is so postponed together with interest thereon, as hereinbefore provided.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 13 - Fraudulent Underpayment; Penalty

Section 13. If any part of any underpayment of tax required to be shown on the return required by section seventeen of chapter sixty-two C is due to fraud, there shall be added to the tax an amount equal to fifty per cent of the underpayment. For purposes of this section, the term ''underpayment'' means a deficiency assessed pursuant to subsection (b) of section twenty-six of chapter sixty-two C except that, for this purpose, the tax shown on a return referred to in subsection (a) of said section twenty-six shall be taken into account only if such return was filed before the last day prescribed for the filing of such return, determined with regard to any extension of time. If any penalty is assessed for fraud under this section for an underpayment of tax required to be shown on the return, no penalty under section thirty-three of chapter sixty-two C shall be assessed with respect to the same underpayment.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 15 - Assessment of Tax on Decedent's Transferee

Section 15. (a) The amount of the liability, at law or in equity, of a transferee of property of a decedent in respect of the tax imposed by this chapter shall, except as hereinafter in this section provided, be assessed, collected, and paid in the same manner and subject to the same provisions and limitations as in the case of the tax with respect to which the liability was incurred. Any such liability may be either as to the amount of tax shown on a return or as to any deficiency in tax.
(b) The period of limitations for assessment of any such liability of a transferee shall be as follows:—
(i) In the case of the liability of an initial transferee, within one year after the expiration of the period of limitation for assessment against the transferor.
(ii) In the case of the liability of a transferee within one year after the expiration of the period of limitation for assessment against the preceding transferee, but not more than three years after the expiration of the period of limitation for assessment against the initial transferor;
except that if, before the expiration of the period of limitation for the assessment of the liability of the transferee, a court proceeding for the collection of the tax or liability in respect thereof has been begun against the initial transferor or the last preceding transferee, respectively, then the period of limitation for assessment of the liability of the transferee shall expire one year after the return of execution.
(c) In the absence of notice to the commissioner under section sixteen of the existence of a fiduciary relationship, any notice of liability enforceable under this section, if addressed in the name of the decedent or other person subject to liability and mailed to his last known address, shall be sufficient.
(d) As used in this section, the term ''transferee'' includes donee, heir, legatee, devisee and his distributee, and includes a person who, under subsection (b) of section fourteen, is personally liable for any part of the tax.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 16 - Executor; Fiduciaries; Assumption of Powers and Duties

Section 16. (a) Upon notice to the commissioner that any person is acting as executor, such person shall assume the powers, rights, duties and privileges of an executor in respect of the tax imposed by this chapter until notice is given that such person is no longer acting as executor.
(b) Upon notice to the commissioner that any person is acting in a fiduciary capacity for a person subject to the liability specified in section fifteen, the fiduciary shall assume on behalf of such person the powers, rights, duties, and privileges of such person under such section, except that the liability shall be collected from the estate of such person, until notice is given that the fiduciary capacity has terminated.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 24 - Documents; Issuance; Fees

Section 24. The commissioner is hereby authorized to issue the following documents and to charge and collect therefor the fees as determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven, except that in those cases where a fee has been paid with the filing of a return under section seventeen of chapter sixty-two C, no additional fee shall be charged or collected for copies of any of said documents. In each case, the fee for a duplicate original or for additional copies of any document shall be the same as for the document itself.
(a) For a certificate of release of any lien imposed by this chapter, a certificate of discharge of any property subject to any lien imposed by this chapter, or a certificate that particular property is free of any lien imposed by this chapter.
(b) For a certificate showing no tax is due under this chapter as a result of the death of a specified decedent.
(c) For a copy of a computation sheet showing the computation of the tax due under this chapter as a result of the death of a specified decedent.
(d) For a certificate showing the amount of tax paid under this chapter.
(e) For a duplicate copy of a notice of assessment showing the amount of any tax assessed under this chapter.
(f) For a duplicate copy of a receipt showing the amount of any tax paid under this chapter.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 26 - Tax Evasion; Penalties

Section 26. Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this chapter or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than two and one half years, or both.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 27 - Willful Failure to Pay Tax or Provide Information; Penalties

Section 27. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter, any person required under this chapter to pay any tax, or required by this chapter or chapter sixty-two C, or regulations made under the authority of chapter fourteen and chapter sixty-two C to make a return or supply any information, who willfully fails to pay such tax or make such return or supply such information at the time or times required by law or regulations, shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than one year, or both.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IX - Taxation › Chapter 65c - Massachusetts Estate Tax › Section 28 - Removal or Concealment of Goods; Penalties

Section 28. Any person who removes, deposits or conceals, or is concerned in removing, depositing, or concealing, any goods or commodities for or in respect whereof any tax is or shall be imposed, with intent to evade or defeat the assessment or collection of any tax imposed by this chapter shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or imprisonment in jail for not more than two years, or both.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 1 - Supervision of Public Records; Powers and Duties

Section 1. The supervisor of public records, in this chapter called the supervisor of records, shall take necessary measures to put the records of the commonwealth, counties, cities or towns in the custody and condition required by law and to secure their preservation. He shall see that the records of churches, parishes or religious societies are kept in the custody and condition contemplated by the various laws relating to churches, parishes or religious societies, and for these purposes he may expend from the amount appropriated for expenses such amount as he considers necessary. The supervisor of records shall adopt regulations pursuant to the provisions of chapter thirty A to implement the provisions of this chapter.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 1a - Creation of Educational Materials; Preparation of Forms and Reference Materials; Operation of Website; Development of Best Practices

Section 1A. The supervisor of records shall:
(i) create educational materials or guides for agencies and municipalities, and may make available training in order to foster awareness and compliance with this chapter; and
(ii) prepare forms, guidelines and reference materials for agencies and municipalities to use and disseminate to individuals seeking access to public records to assist them in making informed public records requests.
The supervisor of records shall make the forms, guidelines and reference materials available at no cost on a website operated by the secretary of the commonwealth. Upon request and to the extent feasible, the supervisor of public records shall assist each agency and municipality in developing best practices to facilitate compliance with this chapter and to promote access to public records.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 3 - ''record'' Defined; Quality of Paper and Film; Microfilm Records

Section 3. The word ''record'' in this chapter shall mean any written or printed book or paper, or any photograph, microphotograph, map or plan. All written or printed public records shall be entered or recorded on paper made of linen rags and new cotton clippings, well sized with animal sizing and well finished or on one hundred per cent bond paper sized with animal glue or gelatin, and preference shall be given to paper of American manufacture marked in water line with the name of the manufacturer. All photographs, microphotographs, maps and plans which are public records shall be made of materials approved by the supervisor of records. Public records may be made by handwriting, or by typewriting, or in print, or by the photographic process, or by the microphotographic process, or by electronic means, or by any combination of the same. When the photographic or microphotographic process is used, the recording officer, in all instances where the photographic print or microphotographic film is illegible or indistinct, may make, in addition to said photographic or microphotographic record, a typewritten copy of the instrument, which copy shall be filed in a book kept for the purpose. In every such instance the recording officer shall cause cross references to be made between said photographic or microphotographic record and said typewritten record. If in the judgment of the recording officer an instrument offered for record is so illegible that a photographic or microphotographic record thereof would not be sufficiently legible, he may, in addition to the making of such record, retain the original in his custody, in which case a photographic or other attested copy thereof shall be given to the person offering the same for record, or to such person as he may designate.
Subject to the provisions of sections one and nine, a recording officer adopting a system which includes the photographic process or the microphotographic process shall thereafter cause all records made by either of said processes to be inspected at least once in every three years, correct any fading or otherwise faulty records and make report of such inspection and correction to the supervisor of records.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 3a - Recommendations for Employment Submitted in Support of Candidates Hired by the Commonwealth; Use of Recommendation by Hiring Authority

Section 3A. Recommendations for employment submitted in support of candidates who are hired by the commonwealth, or any political subdivision of the commonwealth, in the position to which the recommendations were applicable, shall be considered public records under section 7 of chapter 4 and this chapter; provided, however that this shall not apply to internal communications. Recommendations for employment submitted in support of candidates applying for employment by the commonwealth, or any political subdivision of the commonwealth, shall not be considered by a hiring authority until the applicant has met all other qualifications and requirements for the position to be filled; provided, however, that a hiring authority may, in accordance with said agency's regular practice for conducting reference checks, contact and speak with a reference provided to it by a candidate for employment, or contact and speak with any person who has submitted a written recommendation on behalf of a candidate for employment with said agency.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 4 - Regulation of Recording Materials and Devices; Mandamus

Section 4. No ink shall be used upon any permanent public record except ink of such a standard as established and approved by the supervisor of records, and no ribbon, pad or other device used for printing by typewriting machines, or stamping pad, or any ink contained in such ribbon, pad, device, stamping pad or carbon paper, shall be used upon any permanent public record, nor shall any photographic machine or device or chemical used in connection therewith be used in making any permanent public record, except such as has been approved by the supervisor of records, who may cancel his approval if he finds that any article so approved is inferior to the standard established by him. The supreme judicial or superior court shall have jurisdiction in mandamus, on petition of the supervisor of records and pursuant to section five of chapter two hundred and forty-nine, to order compliance with the provisions of this section.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 5 - Municipal Records; Copies

Section 5. County commissioners, city councils and selectmen may cause copies of records of counties, cities or towns, of town proprietaries, of proprietors of plantations, townships or common lands, relative to land situated in their county, city or town or of easements relating thereto, to be made for their county, city or town, whether such records are within or without the commonwealth, and such records within the commonwealth may be delivered by their custodians to any county, city or town for such copying. City councils and selectmen may also cause copies to be made of the records of births, baptisms, marriages and deaths kept by a church or parish in their city or town.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 5a - Records of Meetings of Boards and Commissions; Contents

Section 5A. The records, required to be kept by sections eleven A of chapter thirty A, nine F of chapter thirty-four and twenty-three B of chapter thirty-nine, shall report the names of all members of such boards and commissions present, the subjects acted upon, and shall record exactly the votes and other official actions taken by such boards and commissions; but unless otherwise required by the governor in the case of state boards, commissions and districts, or by the county commissioners in the case of county boards and commissions, or the governing body thereof in the case of a district, or by ordinance or by-law of the city or town, in the case of municipal boards, such records need not include a verbatim record of discussions at such meetings.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 6 - Records of Public Proceedings; Preparation; Custody

Section 6. Every department, board, commission or office of the commonwealth or of a county, city or town, for which no clerk is otherwise provided by law, shall designate some person as clerk, who shall enter all its votes, orders and proceedings in books and shall have the custody of such books, and the department, board, commission or office shall designate an employee or employees to have the custody of its other public records. Every sole officer in charge of a department or office of the commonwealth or of a county, city or town having public records in such department or office shall have the custody thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 7 - Custody of Old and Other Records

Section 7. Every town clerk shall have the custody of all records of proprietors of towns, townships, plantations or common lands, if the towns, townships, plantations or common lands to which such records relate, or the larger part thereof, are within his town and the proprietors have ceased to be a body politic. The state secretary, clerks of the county commissioners and city or town clerks shall respectively have the custody of all other public records of the commonwealth or of their respective counties, cities or towns, if no other disposition of such records is made by law or ordinance, and shall certify copies thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 8 - Preservation and Destruction of Records, Books and Papers

Section 8. Every original paper belonging to the files of the commonwealth or of any county, city or town, bearing date earlier than the year eighteen hundred and seventy, every book of registry or record, except books which the supervisor of public records determines may be destroyed, every town warrant, every deed to the commonwealth or to any county, city or town, every report of an agent, officer or committee relative to bridges, public ways, sewers or other state, county or municipal interests not required to be recorded in a book and not so recorded, shall be preserved and safely kept; and every other paper belonging to such files shall be kept for seven years after the latest original entry therein or thereon, unless otherwise provided by law or unless such records are included in disposal schedules approved by the records conservation board for state records or by the supervisor of public records for county, city, or town records; and no such paper shall be destroyed without the written approval of the supervisor of records. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the register of deeds in any county may, without such written approval, destroy any papers pertaining to attachments or to the dissolution or discharge thereof in the files of his office following the expiration of twenty years after the latest original entry therein or thereon, unless otherwise specifically provided by law, and he may destroy all original instruments left for record and not called for within five years after the recording thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 8a - Destruction of Certain Records by City and Town Clerks if Micro-Photographed

Section 8A. Any provision of general or special law to the contrary notwithstanding, the clerk of any city or town, with the written approval of the supervisor of records, may destroy any index of instruments made by any clerk of such city or town under the provision of law now embodied in section fifteen of chapter forty-one or any original record made by any such clerk under any of the provisions of law now embodied in section eleven of chapter two hundred and nine, section three of chapter two hundred and fifty-five, or any similar statute; provided, that such index or record, as the case may be, has been, or shall have been, micro-photographed, and that twenty years has, or shall have, expired after the making of such index or record. The micro-photograph of any index or record so destroyed shall have the same force and effect as the original index or record from which such micro-photograph was made.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 9 - Preservation and Copying of Worn, etc., Records

Section 9. Every person having custody of any public record books of the commonwealth, or of a county, city or town shall, at its expense, cause them to be properly and substantially bound. He shall have any such books, which may have been left incomplete, made up and completed from the files and usual memoranda, so far as practicable. He shall cause fair and legible copies to be seasonably made of any books which are worn, mutilated or are becoming illegible, and cause them to be repaired, rebound or renovated. He may cause any such books to be placed in the custody of the supervisor of records, who may have them repaired, renovated or rebound at the expense of the commonwealth, county, city or town to which they belong. Whoever causes such books to be so completed or copied shall attest them, and shall certify, on oath, that they have been made from such files and memoranda or are copies of the original books. Such books shall then have the force of the original records.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 11 - Fireproof Vaults and Safes

Section 11. Officers in charge of a state department, county commissioners, city councils and selectmen shall, at the expense of the commonwealth, county, city or town, respectively, provide and maintain fireproof rooms, safes or vaults for the safe keeping of the public records of their department, county, city or town, other than the records in the custody of teachers of the public schools, and shall furnish such rooms with fittings of non-combustible materials only.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 12 - Arrangement of Records

Section 12. All such records shall be kept in the rooms where they are ordinarily used, and so arranged that they may be conveniently examined and referred to. When not in use, they shall be kept in the fireproof rooms, vaults or safes or buildings, vaults or file rooms that comply with standards of the National Fire Protection Association, or by electronic means with off-site secure storage, or in accordance with standards promulgated by the records conservation board.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title X - Public Records › Chapter 66 - Public Records › Section 13 - Custodian to Demand Records; Compelling Compliance

Section 13. Whoever is entitled to the custody of public records shall demand the same from any person unlawfully having possession of them, who shall forthwith deliver the same to him. Upon complaint of any public officer entitled to the custody of a public record, the superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to compel any person unlawfully having such record in his possession to deliver the same to the complainant.