The Maine R&D tax credit, explained
Maine offers a 5% state R&D tax credit on qualified research growth, plus 7.5% on payments to universities, with a 15 year carryforward.
Last verified July 2026 against Maine Revenue Services guidance.
The short answer
Yes, Maine has a state R&D tax credit. The Research Expense Tax Credit, under 36 M.R.S. Section 5219-K, is administered by Maine Revenue Services and rewards companies that grow their in-state research spending.
How the Maine credit works
The credit equals 5% of qualified research expenses above a base amount, plus 7.5% of payments made to Maine colleges, universities, or qualified research organizations for basic research. The base amount is the company's average Maine research spending over the prior three years, so the credit only rewards growth, not total spend.
The credit is nonrefundable. For companies with $25,000 or less in Maine tax liability, the credit can offset all of it. Above that, the credit can only offset 75% of the tax due above $25,000, which limits how much a very profitable company can use in one year.
How it stacks with the federal credit
Maine's credit is smaller than most state R&D credits, but it still adds real money on top of the federal credit. The federal credit is worth roughly 6% to 10% of qualified research spend, and Maine companies can claim both credits on the same research as long as the work happened in Maine.
Startups under $5 million in revenue can use the federal credit against up to $500,000 a year in payroll taxes, even before they owe any income tax. Maine's credit only offsets Maine income tax, so a pre-revenue Maine startup may not see cash value from the state credit until it carries the credit forward to a profitable year.
Example: a Maine biotech startup with 5 scientists and an average salary of $110,000 spends about $550,000 a year on qualified research. If that is $170,000 more than its three year base, the state credit comes to about $8,500. The federal credit on the same spend runs roughly $38,500. Combined, that is about $47,000 in credits for one year of research, on top of any payroll tax savings from the federal side.
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Eligibility and how to claim it
Maine's credit is open to any business, including sole proprietors, partnerships, and corporations, that performs qualified research inside Maine. The research has to meet the same four part test as the federal credit.
The credit is claimed by attaching the Research Expense Tax Credit Worksheet, along with a copy of federal Form 6765, to the company's Maine return, whether that is Form 1120ME, Form 1040ME, or Form 1041ME. There is no separate application or pre-certification step with Maine Revenue Services.
Claimship preps the federal Form 6765 study and the qualified expense documentation the worksheet needs. The company's CPA attaches the worksheet to the Maine return and files it. Maine Revenue Services administers the credit and can be reached through its official site.
Official source: Maine Revenue Services.
Carryforward and deadlines
Unused credit carries forward for 15 years, one of the longer carryforward windows among the states. There is no carryback.
There is no separate application deadline because the credit is self-calculated and claimed directly on the return, alongside the federal Form 6765 filing. The worksheet and its instructions are updated each tax year, so companies should use the current year's version when filing.