If a portion of your expenses was reimbursed by your employer, the total paid amount that you claim must be reduced by the reimbursement amount.
The total amount can’t exceed $750 per person. You can deduct any expenses that exceed $150 taxpayers who are married and filing jointly can deduct expenses above $150 for each person. If you commute to work, you can deduct certain transportation costs such as tolls paid through an E-Z Pass MA account and the costs of weekly or monthly passes to the Massachusetts public transit system. Deductions for any associated costs -such as room and board, books, or personal living expenses -aren’t allowed. Notably, only the cost to attend the institution can be deducted from your taxable income. However, the amount of any scholarships, grants or financial aid that the student receives needs to be subtracted from the total tuition. If you, your spouse or your dependent attend a qualifying two- or four-year college to earn a degree, diploma or certificate, you may deduct any tuition costs that exceed 25% of your Massachusetts AGI. Likewise, if your rent is paid by a third party, such as a parent, you aren’t eligible for this deduction. If you split the rent with someone else, each taxpayer is entitled to the deduction for the portion of the rent that they pay. If your principal residence is in Massachusetts and you paid rent to a landlord in the past year, you can deduct 50% of the rent paid, up to $4,000 (up to $2,000 for married people filing separately). Massachusetts doesn’t offer a standard deduction. Income Tax Deductions for Massachusetts Standard Deduction However, you may choose to do so if you want to claim certain tax credits, such as the earned income tax credit. If you earned less than $8,000 during the 2023 tax year, you don’t have to file a Massachusetts tax return. The state of Massachusetts has a personal income flat tax rate of 5% for everyone who made over $8,000 in 2023, regardless of their filing or residency status.
Massachusetts Income Tax Brackets and Rates Massachusetts offers tax deductions and credits to reduce your tax liability, including a rent and commuter deduction and a tax credit for taking care of a child or other dependent. The sales tax is charged at a rate of 6.25%. The state income tax is charged at a flat rate of 5%, though certain capital gains income is taxed up to 8.5%. Massachusetts requires you to pay taxes if you’re a resident or nonresident who receives income from a Massachusetts source. On Intuit's Website What You Need To Know About Massachusetts State Taxes Here is a list of our partners who offer products that we have affiliate links for. While we work hard to provide accurate and up to date information that we think you will find relevant, Forbes Advisor does not and cannot guarantee that any information provided is complete and makes no representations or warranties in connection thereto, nor to the accuracy or applicability thereof. The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impact any of the editorial content on Forbes Advisor. Second, we also include links to advertisers' offers in some of our articles these “affiliate links” may generate income for our site when you click on them.
This site does not include all companies or products available within the market. The compensation we receive for those placements affects how and where advertisers' offers appear on the site. First, we provide paid placements to advertisers to present their offers. This compensation comes from two main sources. To help support our reporting work, and to continue our ability to provide this content for free to our readers, we receive compensation from the companies that advertise on the Forbes Advisor site. The Forbes Advisor editorial team is independent and objective.