An Act to Make Technical Changes to Maine's Tax Laws
Sponsored By: Kristen Cloutier (Democratic)
Signed by Governor
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
25 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 5 costs, 15 mixed.
Families get $300 per dependent credit
For tax years 2018 through 2025, you get a $300 Maine income tax credit for each qualifying child or dependent. Beginning in 2026, you get $300 for each dependent you could claim under the federal personal exemption rules (amount greater than $0). The credit is reduced for higher incomes under the law’s phase‑out rules. Residents, nonresidents, and part‑year residents can claim it, subject to those rules.
Property tax relief for veterans and survivors
The value of real property owned by a veteran, an unremarried surviving spouse, or a veteran’s minor child is exempt from property tax. If a veteran died within the year before April 1 and the survivor or minor child missed the normal filing deadline, assessors may abate taxes on a written application filed within one year of commitment.
Stronger enforcement for unpaid local taxes
After a reasonable demand, the collector can seize goods, hold them 4 to 7 days, and then auction them with 48 hours’ posted notice. Three months after commitment, the collector can issue a warrant to arrest a taxpayer or distrain property, and may act sooner if delay risks losing the tax. If 12 days after demand you refuse to pay and cannot show goods to pay, you can be arrested and held until payment or lawful release. If the sheriff posts the assessment and you pay the sheriff within 30 days, you must add a 5% fee. In foreclosure cases, the proceedings up to the complaint are presumed valid; a defendant must state and prove any defect.
Timber and grass land taxes
If state taxes on timber or grass acreage are not paid by March 30 after assessment, your share is forfeited to the State. You can redeem within one year by paying your proportional share of all sums due plus $1. You may also pay only your share and get a discharge certificate. Forfeited acreage is held in trust and managed by the state land bureau.
Stricter rules for shipyard investments
To count as a qualified shipyard investment, spending must total at least $100 million and be incurred on or after January 1, 2018. It must be capitalized for federal tax. Most salaries do not count, except design, engineering, and construction staff. Spending already used for other specific Maine programs does not count.
Rules to redeem tax-sold property
After a tax sale, the treasurer holds the deed for two years. You can redeem by paying the tax, charges, and 8% yearly interest plus costs, including $0.67. If you were a minor, mentally ill, imprisoned, or outside the U.S., you get 10 years after that ends (or after death for heirs) to sue. After 20 years of recorded tax payments and possession by the buyer, old owners cannot recover the land.
Boat excise credit and lien
If you transfer a boat in the same tax year, you get an excise tax credit up to what you already paid. If you do not pay the boat excise tax, the collector can record a lien on all your county property for five years, extendable. The lien has judgment‑lien priority and may sit behind earlier mortgages unless the mortgagee was notified.
More notice and protections in tax sales
Before a tax sale, the collector must give the owner or any occupant at least 10 days’ notice, and mail notice to nonresident owners. If you pay before the sale, the advertisement and notice charge is capped at $1 plus any printer fee. Buyers must notify each recorded mortgage holder within 60 days; if they fail, a mortgagee can redeem within three months after actual notice. After a distraint sale, any surplus belongs to the former owner with a written accounting. Errors in notice alone do not void a sale, but injured persons can get damages from the collector. Courts cannot enter a personal money judgment in these cases, and a collector cannot deny the April 1 record owner’s title; filing deed details can free a prior owner from liability. If the high bidder does not pay within 20 days, the town becomes the purchaser. A nonresident owner who pays the taxes and costs after a tax sale has one year to sue the town to recover that amount. If a new collector pursues an alleged unpaid tax and you state you paid a former collector, they cannot seize property or commit you without a vote of the municipal officers. If your property was wrongfully taken, you can recover its full value plus 20% annual interest and costs.
Business tax exemptions and reimbursements updated
To get the interstate commerce exemption, you must place qualifying property in use within 30 days after purchase or lease start (local assessor can extend up to 60 days) and use it at least 80% of days over the next two years. Casual or one‑off resales no longer qualify for the resale‑certificate exemption, so sales tax applies. If you or a successor included property in the former investment credit base, you can now seek reimbursement of property tax on that eligible property, up to the actual taxes paid.
Avoid 4th estimated-tax penalty by filing
If you file your return and pay your full tax by the last day of the first month of the next tax year, you do not owe a penalty for underpaying the 4th estimated payment. This applies to individuals, trusts, and estates that were required to pay estimates.
Excise-paid cars avoid property tax
When you pay the vehicle excise tax for the year, that vehicle is exempt from local personal property tax for that year.
Higher standards and penalties for assessors
Towns that hire a full‑time assessor must use someone certified by the Maine tax bureau. If an assessor refuses required tax work or knowingly fails duties, the assessor can be fined up to $100.
Extra costs if you skip returns
If you refuse to file a required return for taxable personal property, the State Tax Assessor can gather the facts and add the cost to your tax bill. You must pay those added costs with the tax.
Stricter rules and pay for tax collectors
Tax collectors must deposit collections with the treasurer monthly and give an account at least every two months. Each neglect costs the collector a $100 forfeiture to the municipality. When pay is a percent of collections, it is calculated only on cash taxes actually collected. The town must set a deadline to perfect collections of at least one year after commitment; if none is set, the default is two years. A collector who refuses or fails to perform legal duties can be fined up to $100.
Gas installations taxed as business property
Liquefied petroleum, industrial, and medical gas installations, with their tanks, are taxed as business personal property where they are used. Owners owe local personal property tax on this equipment.
Annual check of special land status
If your land has a special classification, the assessor checks each year to see if it still qualifies. The assessor may recertify, remove, or allow a provisional classification.
Camper trailers taxed where located
Camper trailers are taxed where they sit. Your tax bill follows the camper’s location, not your home address.
Homeowner rules: homestead, forms, and deferral
A homestead is your owner‑occupied main home and up to 10 contiguous acres. A home in a revocable trust or part of a multi‑unit building can qualify, with value prorated for your portion. Towns must make state exemption forms available and give notice; first‑time applicants must file by April 1. When a tax deferral ends, the State Tax Assessor must demand payment by the due date and record a lien within 30 days if unpaid. In some cases, deferred taxes are due five days before the State removes the property from deferral.
Notice and jail rules for tax debts
Before a tax warrant is served, the officer must give or leave a 10‑day written notice showing the tax due. If you are jailed for unpaid taxes, the jailer holds you until you pay the tax, charges, and $0.33 for the warrant copy. Towns must record a tax collector’s bond, and a collector is usually not released from liability unless the town votes to do so.
Who pays tax for estates and wards
A minor’s personal property is taxed to the guardian where the guardian lives. For other guardianships, the property is taxed to the guardian where the ward lives. A town may stop taxing undivided real estate to a personal representative who certifies the estate has no funds and provides heir names and shares. Whether to stop taxing the personal representative is up to the municipality.
Cargo trailers taxed where based
Cargo trailers are taxed in the town where they are mainly based on April 1. “Mainly based” means where the trailer usually returns for repairs, supplies, or use. This can change which town sends the tax bill to your business.
Unorganized Territory funds and records
The law creates the Unorganized Territory Education and Services Fund for taxes the State Tax Assessor collects. Counties and agencies must keep written service contracts on file and share them with the unorganized territory fiscal administrator. State officials must share land‑value and timber‑sale records with the State Tax Assessor to help set values. These steps support services but may raise or lower some property assessments.
Towns must report excise collections
Town collectors must deposit excise receipts monthly and give year‑end reports to town officers and county commissioners showing totals by year. This tightens local accounting for excise taxes.
Insurance tax return instructions updated
Insurance companies must file the required insurance tax return as the State Tax Assessor prescribes. The law removes a prior reference to filing a separate return. This is a filing instruction change and does not change the tax in the text provided.
Some old Maine tax laws repealed
The law repeals several tax code provisions: an entire chapter and specific sections and paragraphs in Title 36. The real‑world impact depends on what those repealed provisions previously did. Agencies and taxpayers who relied on them must now follow the remaining law.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Kristen Cloutier
Democratic • House
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
Actions Timeline
Signed by Governor, ACTPUB Chapter 113
5/23/2025PASSED TO BE ENACTED, in concurrence.
5/22/2025SenatePASSED TO BE ENACTED. Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
5/22/2025HouseReports ReadOn motion by Senator GROHOSKI of Hancock the Majority Ought to Pass as Amended Report ACCEPTED. Bill READ ONCE Committee Amendment "A" (H-147) READ and ADOPTED Under suspension of the Rules, READ A SECOND TIME and PASSED TO BE ENGROSSED AS AMENDED by Committee Amendment "A" (H-147) in concurrence
5/20/2025SenateReports READ.On motion of Representative CLOUTIER of Lewiston, the Majority Ought to Pass as Amended Report was ACCEPTED.The Bill was READ ONCE.Committee Amendment "A" (H-147) was READ and ADOPTED.Under suspension of the rules, the Bill was given its SECOND READING without REFERENCE to the Committee on Bills in the Second Reading.The Bill was PASSED TO BE ENGROSSED as Amended by Committee Amendment "A" (H-147). Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
5/14/2025HouseCarried over, in the same posture, to the next special or regular session of the 132nd Legislature, pursuant to Joint Order SP 519.
3/21/2025HouseReceived by the Clerk of the House on January 30, 2025.The Bill was REFERRED to the Committee on TAXATION pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to Joint Rule 401.
1/30/2025House
Bill Text
Amendment C-A (H-147), adopted by House & Senate
Enacted
Introduced
Related Bills
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LD 1665, An Act to Provide Property Tax Relief to Maine Families
LD 1872, An Act to Reinvest in the Pension Funds of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System
LD 2067, An Act to Include Community Mental Health Workers Under the 1998 Special Plan for Retirement
LD 1611, An Act to Decrease the Retirement Contributions Required for Teachers and State Employees
LD 1294, An Act to Expand the Dependent Exemption Tax Credit