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Payments, assistance & taxes

Life Partner and Transgender Care Health Benefits Tax Credits

The Life Partner Health Benefits Tax Credit is available to businesses that offer health insurance coverage to their employees’ life partners and the children of those life partners.

The Transgender Care Health Benefits Tax Credit is for businesses that make insurance coverage available for transgender care at the same level they offer coverage for other medically necessary treatment.

Eligibility

To receive the Life Partner Health Benefits Tax Credit, a business must:

  • Make health insurance coverage available for its employees’ life partners, and the children of their life partners.
  • Offer health insurance coverage to life partners and their children at the same levels that it offers coverage for employees’ spouses and the children of their spouses.
  • Not have offered equal life partner health benefits for three years prior to the year for which it first claims a credit.

A business must meet all of the above criteria to be eligible.

To receive the Transgender Care Health Benefits Tax Credit, a business must:

  • Make health insurance coverage available for transgender care* at the same level it offers coverage for other medically necessary treatment.
  • Not have offered equal transgender care health benefits for three years prior to the year for which it first claims a credit.

*Transgender care is defined as medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria and gender identity disorder, including office visits, laboratory tests, prescription drugs, hormone treatments, counseling, and transitional surgeries necessary for the treatment of either.

A business must meet all of the above criteria to be eligible.

Credit amounts

For any full tax year in which your business continuously meets the eligibility criteria, it is eligible to claim a non-refundable tax credit against its Business Income and Receipts Tax (BIRT) liability for that tax year, as follows:

For the Life Partner Health Benefits Tax Credit: The lesser of $4,000 or 25% of the amount your business spends during the tax year to purchase health benefits for the life partners of its employees and the children of these life partners.

For the Transgender Care Health Benefits Tax Credit: The lesser of $4,000 or 25% of the amount your business spends during the tax year to include transgender care coverage in the health insurance coverage you provide to employees.

Restrictions

You can’t claim a tax credit in any year other than the tax year in which the health benefits are provided by your business.

You can’t claim either of the tax credits in more than two years. With respect to each credit, such years must be consecutive.

Applying for the credit(s)

To apply for the Life Partner Health Benefits Tax Credit, you need to submit:

  • A statement showing that your business meets all of the eligibility criteria. You’ll also need to confirm that your business has received verification of life partner registration from employees who receive the related health benefits. This statement must be signed by an authorized representative.
  • The date that health insurance coverage became available for employees’ life partners and the children of these life partners.
  • The amount your business spent during the tax year to purchase life partner health benefits.
  • Calculation of the Life Partner Health Benefits Tax Credit, on a form provided by the City.
  • Any other documentation or information the Department of Revenue may require.

To apply for the Transgender Care Health Benefits Tax Credit, you need to submit:

  • A statement showing that your business meets all of the eligibility criteria. This statement must be signed by an authorized representative.
  • The date that health insurance coverage became available for transgender care at your business.
  • The amount your business spent during the tax year to include transgender care coverage in the health insurance coverage provided to employees.
  • Calculation of the Transgender Care Health Benefits Tax Credit, on a form provided by the City.
  • Any other documentation or information the Department of Revenue may require.

Using the credit

Before you can claim the tax credits, your application must be approved and your business must have continuously met the eligibility criteria for a full tax year. Once these conditions are met, you can claim the Life Partner or Transgender Care Health Benefits Tax Credit against the BIRT liability for your business.

To claim one or both credits, send the following to the Department of Revenue:

  • File your BIRT return using the Philadelphia Tax Center with Schedule SC,
  • Whether you’re claiming the Life Partner or Transgender Care Health Benefits Tax Credit (or both).

Cash refunds will not be issued for unused credits.

Repayment of credits if benefits end

If your business stops making equal life partner health benefits available within three years from the end of the tax year you claim the credit, you will be required to repay any Life Partner Health Benefits Tax Credits you claimed.


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