Massachusetts program
Check the state tax return for the treatment year
Massachusetts tax credits and medical-expense deductions that a preparer can review for your treatment year.
What it is
Massachusetts tax credits and medical-expense deductions that a preparer can review for your treatment year.
Treatment costs and income changes can affect the year’s tax return. A preparer can check the Child and Family Tax Credit, the separate state earned-income credit and medical expenses. Each uses its own filing-year rules.
Eligibility rules
- Massachusetts taxpayers must meet the credit’s filing and dependency conditions. Qualifying disabled dependents are included.
- The preparer can confirm whether federal itemization is required for the state medical deduction and which expense threshold applies to your filing year.
- The credit depends on the year’s return, not this month’s pay, so bring last year’s return as well.
What you get
- A refundable Child and Family Tax Credit of $440 per qualifying individual under the statutory rate.
- Possible help through the separate earned-income credit or eligible medical-expense deduction.
What the help covers
- The $440 credit rate applies from January 1, 2024. A refundable balance can be paid even when no state tax remains due.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your treatment-year tax preparer to review the Child and Family Tax Credit, earned-income credit and medical deduction.
- Have the prior return and medical, dental and treatment-travel receipts ready.
The Massachusetts Department of Revenue, through the return · Official page ↗
After you ask
- Your tax preparer works out the qualifying individuals and deductible expenses on the return for the treatment year.
- The verified deadline for tax year 2025 was April 15, 2026. That is not the deadline for 2026 treatment expenses. The preparer can confirm the actual filing deadline and any extension or amendment rules for the relevant year.
Good to know
The credit and the medical deduction have different rules. A qualifying credit does not require you to qualify for the deduction.
Other details
- Receipts support the expense review, but the preparer decides which costs meet the tax rules.
- Refund and amendment deadlines can depend on when a return was filed, tax was assessed and payment was made. State abatement and federal amendment rules are separate. A preparer can check the actual dates and exceptions.
Official sources
- M.G.L. c. 62 §§ 3, 6 — state income tax
- Acts of 2023, c. 50 §§ 22, 45
- Massachusetts Child and Family Tax Credit — filing-year guidance
- Massachusetts medical-related deductions — filing-year guidance
- Massachusetts earned-income tax credit — filing-year guidance
- Winter 2026 health-care learning series — tax-year-2025 filing deadline
“Could the dependent credit or medical deduction change our treatment-year return? What conditions or tradeoffs matter, and could you help us find tax-preparation support if needed?”
Why I’m asking: I want to make sure the return reflects eligible dependents and medical expenses.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Keep receipts and raise both items with the preparer.
Your social worker
The tax preparer applies them.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The Department of Revenue, on the return.
- Ask the agency
- “For the year my child was in treatment, can we look at the medical expense deduction and the refundable $440 dependent credit?”
How to apply
First step: Keep the medical receipts and raise both items when the return for this year is prepared.
- Keep the medical receipts through the year.
- Ask the preparer about the dependent credit and the medical deduction for the treatment year.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Raise both with whoever prepares the return for the treatment year.
What to gather
- Medical and travel receipts for the year
- Last year’s return
How long: Handled with the return in the spring.
What a yes looks like
A larger refund on the state return.
What a no looks like, and the next move
If the preparer says the deduction does not apply, ask whether federal itemization is the reason.
Watch out
- The credit is refundable, so claim it even with little or no tax to pay.
- The medical deduction needs federal itemization.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
A refundable credit of $440 for each qualifying dependent, and the federal medical expense deduction carried into the state return where the taxpayer itemizes federally.
- $440/year — Credit for each qualifying dependent or qualifying individual
Legal protection: The credit is refundable: the excess over the tax is paid to the taxpayer · Qualifying disabled dependents are included
What it costs the family: None.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Tax
- the medical deduction needs federal itemization; the dependent credit has its own filing and dependency conditions
- Residency
- Massachusetts taxpayers
The trap: The $440 credit is refundable, so it is worth claiming even for a household with little or no tax to pay.
Where I read this
- M.G.L. c. 62 §§ 3, 6 — state income tax — Massachusetts General Court, read September 10, 2026
- Acts of 2023, c. 50 §§ 22, 45 — Massachusetts General Court, read September 10, 2026