Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
S 1
SENATE BILL 781

Short Title: Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit. (Public)
Sponsors: Senator Bradley (Primary Sponsor).
Referred to: Rules and Operations of the Senate
April 22, 2026
*S781-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO CREATE A TAX CREDIT FOR BUSINESSES THAT PROVIDE WAGES FOR 2
EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS. 3
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4
SECTION 1. Part 2 of Article 4 of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes is amended 5
by adding a new section to read: 6
"§ 105-153.13. Tax credit for businesses that provide wages for employee health insurance 7
premiums. 8
(a) Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this section: 9
(1) Eligible business. – A business with a physical presence in the State that has 10
eligible expenses. 11
(2) Eligible expenses. – Wages paid by an eligible busines s to a qualifying 12
employee for the payment of an employee's health insurance premiums. 13
(3) Qualifying employee. – An individual employed (i) for consideration fo r at 14
least 35 hours a week and whose wages are subject to withholding under 15
Article 4A of this Chapter and (ii) by an eligible business. 16
(b) Credit. – A taxpayer who is an eligible business is allowed a credit against the tax 17
imposed by this Part in an amount not to exceed four hundred dollars ($400 .00) per qualifying 18
employee. 19
(c) Aggregate Limitation. – The total amount of credits allowed pur suant to this section 20
may not exceed in the aggregate five million dollars ($5,000,000) for all taxpayers for any one 21
calendar year. 22
(d) Application. – An eligible business seeking to claim a tax credit provided for under 23
this section shall submit an application to the Department of Revenue for tentative approval for 24
the tax credit in the year for which the tax credit is claimed or allowed. Applications shall be 25
accepted on a first -come, first-served basis. The Department of Revenue shall provide for the 26
manner in which the application is to be submitted and the information required in the application 27
which shall include, at a minimum, proof of the applicant business's eligible expenses. The 28
Department of Revenue shall review the application and tentatively shall approve the application 29
upon determining that it meets the requirements of this section by January 31 of the year after 30
the application was submitted. If the credit amounts on the tax credit applications filed with the 31
Department of Revenue exceed the maximum aggregate limit of tax credits, then the tax credit 32
must be allocated among the eligible business entities who filed a timely application on a 33
first-come, first-served basis based upon the amounts otherwise allowed by this section. Once 34
the tax credit application has been approved and the amount has been communicated to the 35
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 Senate Bill 781-First Edition
applicant, the eligible business then may apply the amount of the approved tax credit to its tax 1
liability for the tax year of which the approved application applies. 2
(e) Report. – By March 31 of each year, the Department of Revenue shall report to the 3
Joint Legislative Committee on Governmental Operations by county, the number of eligible 4
business tax credit applications the Department has received, the number of tax credi t 5
applications approved, and the tax credits approved. This report must be made available in a 6
conspicuous place on the Department's website." 7
SECTION 2. This act is effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 8
2026. 9