The Opportunity Maine Program provides a state income tax credit for student loan payments made by graduates of Maine colleges who live, work and pay taxes in Maine.
Initially established by an act of the Maine State Legislature in 2007, the Opportunity Maine Program provides reimbursement of education-related loans through a tax credit available for qualified Maine taxpayers. The tax credit is available for payments that graduates make on student loans, not payments made by parents on parent loans. Businesses that pay employees’ student loans as an employee benefit will also be able to claim the tax credit.
Because the Maine Educational Opportunity https://worldpaydayloans.com/payday-loans-tx/lakeway/ Tax Credit is a credit available to Maine income tax filers, the following guidelines apply at the time the taxpayer claims the credit:
- The taxpayer is a Maine resident.
- The taxpayer attended and obtained an associate’s or bachelor’s degree from an accredited Maine community college, college or university, and that all degree-related coursework was performed at an accredited Maine community college, college or university. (Off-campus study programs count as credits from the home institution.)
- As an undergraduate student, the taxpayer lived in Maine (living at the College qualifies) while pursuing the above-mentioned degree, except during periods when the student was not taking classes, or when it was reasonably necessary to live outside Maine to perform academic work as part of a Maine institution’s academic programs (such as study abroad and transfer programs). Continue reading “Because this is a newly established program, it applies only to loans associated with coursework completed after”