Why incorporate in Massachusetts?

Business Information & Rankings

• Massachusetts ranked 3rd in the Top States for Biotech Growth Index. (Laboratories of Innovation: State Bioscience Initiatives 2004)
• Massachusetts ranked 1st for both the number of high-technology companies per capita and the level of venture capital investment. (Development Report Card for the States: 2004, Corporation for Enterprise Development)
• Massachusetts offers one of the nation’s largest R&D tax credits. (2004 Index of the Massachusetts Economy)
• Massachusetts has produced half of all the Nobel Prize winners in the country.

Cost of Living Index

Crime Rate

Massachusetts has the 13th lowest crime ranking in the U.S. (FBI, 2004)

Fees & Taxes

Business Inventory Tax
Business inventory is exempt.

Corporate Income Tax
Massachusetts’ corporate tax structure consists of a flat rate of 9.5% on all corporate income. This rate includes a 14% surtax, as does the following: an additional tax of $7.00 per $1,000 on taxable tangible property (or net worth allocable to state, for intangible property corporations); and a minimum tax of $456.

Personal Income Tax
Massachusetts’ personal income tax system consists of a flat tax of 5.3% on all personal income.

Personal Property Tax
Taxable. All real and tangible personal property located within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute.
Massachusetts imposes a 5.3% tax on any gains from the sale or exchange of capital assets held for more than one year. There is an exception for collectibles. The state’s long-term gains rate on collectibles is 12%.
The state also collects a 12% tax on interest (except interest from Massachusetts banks), dividends, and gains from the sale or exchange of capital assets held for one year or less (short-term capital gains).
Massachusetts is one of the 38 states that collect property taxes at both the state and local levels.

State Sales and Use Tax
Base Rate: 5.0%
Machinery Rate: None

There is a exemption for sales of machinery or replacement parts thereof used directly in farming, fishing, the actual manufacturing of tangible personal property to be sold, utilities, or research and development by a manufacturing constitution or a research and development corporation.

Unemployment Insurance
Massachusetts’ new employers’ rate is 2.53% for 2 years.