About Maine > Business Incentives & Programs

Business Incentives

Workforce Training Programs

  • Maine Quality Centers Program – provides new and expanding businesses with a pre-trained, competitive workforce. 100% state financed education.
  • Governor’s Training Initiative – is a reimbursement program for training costs that Maine companies incur related to expansions, retentions, or upgrading.
  • Maine Apprenticeship Program – provides customized training and professional credentials to new, present, as well as future workers.
  • Safety Education and Training Program – provides, at no cost to the company, a Maine Bureau of Labor Standards customized health and safety training program, site evaluation and technical support to reduce injuries, illness and worker’s compensation costs.
  • Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership – provides affordable, innovative solutions to the problems encountered by today’s manufacturing enterprise by facilitating interaction between industry, government and academia.

Tax Reimbursement, Credit & Exemption Programs

  • Pine Tree Development Zone Program (PTDZ) – encourages and rewards the creation of new qualified business activity with a menu of incentives available in addition to existing incentive programs. Qualified new and expanding businesses may be eligible for:
  • Employment Tax Increment Financing (ETIF) (80% of employee income taxes returned to the company for up to 10 years)
  • Tax Increment Financing (Up to 100% for 30 Years)
  • Reduced Electricity Rates
  • Corporate Income Tax Credit (100%, Years 1-5; 50%, Years 6-10)
    Sales and Use Tax Exemption (100% real and personal property, Years 1-10)
  • High-Technology Investment Tax Credit – is available to businesses primarily engaged in high-tech activities that purchase and use eligible equipment.
  • Jobs and Investment Tax Credit – provides a 10% credit against Maine income taxes for investment in most types of personal property that generates at least 100 new jobs within two years of the date the investment is placed in service, as long as the investment is at least $5 million for the taxable year.
  • Research Expense Tax Credit – provides an income tax credit for qualifying research and development activities, including in-house and contract research expenses if the expenses related to discovering information that is technological in nature and is intended for use in developing a new or improved business component of the taxpayer.
  • Super R&D Credit – is equal to the amount of qualified research expenses conducted in Maine for the taxable year that exceeds 150% of the average research expenses for the three years prior to September 1997. The credit is limited to 50% of the net tax due and cannot reduce the taxpayer’s tax due to less than the net tax due in the preceding taxable year.
  • Sale Tax Exemption – Qualifying businesses include biotechnology, custom computer programming, manufacturing and research and development.

Finance Programs

  • Tax-Exempt Bond Program – provides credit enhanced tax exempt financing for any person or business to use loan proceeds to acquire hard assets used in manufacturing operations.
  • Taxable Bond Program – provides credit enhanced taxable bond financing for the construction or acquisition of real estate and the purchase of new or existing machinery and equipment.
  • Commercial Loan Insurance – provides a business owner the opportunity to secure credit for an eligible project by providing a commercial lender with loan insurance.
  • Major Business Expansion Program – provides a powerful incentive for a business whose borrowing need falls in the $1,000,000 to $25,000,000 range. The Authority may issue a bond for up to 100% of a project’s cost.

First Park Only Incentive!

  • Job Enhancement Credit
  • Provides reimbursement for creation and maintenance of jobs in FirstPark for up to 10 years. Click here for full description-Job Enhancement Credit
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