Maine Employer Credit for Volunteer Responders

If you continued paying an employee while they were away from work responding to emergencies as a volunteer firefighter or emergency medical services (EMS) responder, you may qualify for the Maine Employer Credit for Volunteer Responders.

This credit helps employers who support volunteer emergency personnel by allowing a credit for wages paid during qualifying emergency response activities.

The credit cannot be greater than your Maine income tax liability.

Who Qualifies for the Maine Employer Credit for Volunteer Responders?

You may claim this credit if your employee:

• Was an active volunteer firefighter, volunteer municipal firefighter, or volunteer municipal EMS responder recognized by a Maine municipality.
• Responded to a fire or EMS emergency during hours they were scheduled to work.
• Continued receiving their regular rate of pay while away from work performing eligible volunteer duties.

The credit equals the compensation you paid the employee at their regular rate of pay for the time spent performing qualified volunteer emergency response services.

Information You'll Need Before You Start

Gather the following information for each employee who qualifies for the credit:

• Employee’s name
• Employee’s Social Security number
• Volunteer fire association or municipality
• Number of work hours missed while responding to emergencies
• Employee’s regular hourly rate of pay

Having this information ready will make completing the credit worksheet much easier.

Required Verification

Before claiming the credit, obtain written verification from the volunteer fire association, municipal fire department, or emergency response organization.

The verification must include:

• The date and time of each emergency response that occurred during the employee’s scheduled work hours
• Confirmation that the employee was an active volunteer at the time of the response
• Confirmation that the employee met Maine's volunteer service requirements

Keep these records with your tax documents in case the Maine Revenue Services requests support for the credit claimed.

How to Calculate the Credit

Complete the Maine Employer Support for Volunteer Firefighters, Volunteer Municipal Emergency Medical Services Persons, and Volunteer Municipal Firefighters Credit Worksheet.

For each qualifying employee:

1. Enter the number of work hours missed while performing volunteer emergency response duties.
2. Enter the employee's regular rate of pay.
3. Multiply the hours by the regular rate of pay.

This calculation gives you the eligible compensation for that employee.

Add the eligible compensation amounts for all qualifying employees. The total is your allowable credit.

How to Enter the Credit in Your Maine Return

To report the credit in the program:

1. Open your Maine return.
2. Select the three dots (Edit).
3. Select Credits.
4. Select Other Credits.
5. Select Employer Credit for Volunteer Firefighters and Volunteer EMS Persons Employer Credit.

Enter the total credit amount from Line 6 of the completed worksheet.

Adding More Than One Employee

If more than one employee qualifies, select the Add Entry (+) button on the Employer Support for Volunteer Firefighters and Volunteer EMS Persons page.

For each additional employee, enter:

• Employee name
• Volunteer fire association or municipality
• Number of eligible work hours
• Regular rate of pay

Continue adding entries until all qualifying employees have been entered. The program will combine all entries and calculate the total credit reported on your Maine return.

Credit Limitation

Your credit cannot exceed your Maine tax liability. Any amount above your tax liability is not allowable for the current year.

Additional Information 

• Employer Support for Volunteer Firefighters, Volunteer Municipal Emergency Medical Services Persons, and Volunteer Municipal Firefighters Credit Worksheet Instructions