Massachusetts Small Business Wellness Tax Credit

It pays to have healthy employees. Let the Commonwealth of Massachusetts pay for 25% of your wellness program.
In August, 2012, the Massachusetts legislature once again took a step forward in leading the way to improve the health of its citizens. The newly passed General Law Chapter 224: An Act Improving the Quality of Health Care and Reducing Costs through Increased Transparency, Efficiency and Innovation (Chapter 224), included key provisions to incent employers and insurers to focus on improving health through worksite wellness programs.

Massachusetts Small Business Tax Credit begins in 2013
Chapter 224 provides Massachusetts small businesses with a state tax credit of 25% of the cost associated with a workplace wellness program, with a maximum of $10,000 each tax year. Businesses with 200 or fewer workers may qualify for the tax credit by offering a comprehensive wellness program.

This represents a significant step forward in expanding the impact of worksite wellness programs to
more of the Commonwealth’s workers. Up until now mostly large organizations were able to capture the
benefits of such programs, among them reduced health care costs and improved productivity.

These benefits will now also be available to smaller businesses.

The goal of this tax credit is to provide smaller businesses with an expanded opportunity to implement wellness programs. The Department of Public Health (DPH) has established the criteria for the tax credit and created appropriate regulations for the implementation. The legislation requires the DPH to ‘certify’ a company’s wellness program before the company is eligible to apply for the tax credit.

The application form for the tax credit is now available. Businesses interested in applying should first check to see that the business and the wellness program qualify. Details on qualifications and the online application are here.

AdvancingWellness' small business wellness solution is perfect for small businesses and will meet the requirements for the tax credit.

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Updated 12/23/13