Taxpayers who pay premiums for qualified long-term care insurance may claim a credit against their personal income tax for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2002. The credit is equal to 10% of the premiums paid during the tax year for the purchase of or for continuing coverage under a qualifying long-term care insurance policy. A qualifying long-term care insurance policy is one that:

is approved by the New York State Superintendent of Insurance under section 1117 (g) of the Insurance Law; and

is a qualified long-term care insurance contract under section 7702B of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). (Note that section 7702B relates to policies for which a federal itemized deduction is allowed.)

or

is a group contract delivered or issued for delivery outside New York State; and

the group contract is a qualified long-term care insurance contract under section 7702B of the IRC. The premiums paid for this insurance qualify for the credit even if the policy is not approved by the New York State Superintendent of Insurance.

A qualified long-term care insurance contract under section 7702B of the IRC is an insurance contract that provides only coverage of qualified long-term care services. The contract must:

1. Be guaranteed renewable;

2. Not provide for cash surrender value or other money that can be paid, assigned, pledged, or borrowed;

3. Provide that refunds, other than refunds on the death of the insured or complete surrender or cancellation of the contract, and dividends under the contract must be used only to reduce future premiums or increase future benefits; and

4. Generally not pay or reimburse expenses incurred for services or items that would be reimbursed under Medicare, except where Medicare is a secondary payer, or the contract makes per diem or other periodic payments without regard to expenses.

The insurance company that issued your policy should be able to tell you if the policy qualifies under section 7702B of the IRC. This credit is not refundable. If the amount of credit exceeds the taxpayers tax for the year, the excess may be carried over to the following year or years.

Who is eligible to claim this credit:

individuals;

estates or trusts;

partners in a partnership (including members of an LLC treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes);

shareholders of a New York S corporation; and

beneficiaries of an estate or trust.

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