Form IT-249: Claim for Long-Term Care Insurance Credit (Tax Year 2025)

Form IT-249 is how New York State residents claim the Long-Term Care Insurance Credit against their state personal income tax. If you paid premiums for a qualifying long-term care insurance policy during 2025, this form lets you recover a portion of those costs directly on your New York return. It’s issued by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and is one of several credit forms taxpayers attach when filing Form IT-201 or IT-203.

The credit itself equals 20% of the premiums paid during the tax year for a qualifying long-term care insurance policy covering yourself, your spouse, or a dependent. There’s no dollar cap written into the statute in a way that changes year to year for most filers, but the credit can’t exceed your tax liability, and unused amounts can be carried forward to future years if the credit is larger than what you owe. That carryforward feature makes IT-249 different from some one-time credits — you don’t lose the benefit just because your tax bill was lower than expected in a given year.

Who Needs Form IT-249

Anyone who purchased a long-term care insurance policy that meets New York’s definition of a qualifying policy, and paid premiums on it during 2025, should look at this form. The policy has to be approved under New York Insurance Law, meaning not every long-term care product sold nationally will automatically qualify. If you’re unsure, checking with your insurance provider about whether the policy is New York State qualified is worth doing before you file, since claiming a non-qualifying policy can trigger a notice from the department later.

This credit is available to full-year residents, part-year residents, and even nonresidents in certain cases, though the calculation differs depending on your residency status for the year. Part-year and nonresident filers typically need to prorate the credit based on the New York source income percentage used elsewhere on their return.

When and How the Form Is Used

Form IT-249 gets filed alongside your annual New York income tax return, not separately. You calculate the credit amount on the form itself, then transfer that figure to the appropriate credit line on Form IT-201 (for residents) or IT-203 (for part-year and nonresidents). Keep your premium payment records — statements from the insurer showing amounts paid during the tax year — because the department can request documentation to verify the credit if your return is selected for review.

The form asks for basic identifying information, the name of the insurance company, the policy number, and the total premiums paid during the year. From there, the 20% calculation is straightforward, though you’ll need to account for any carryforward amount from a prior year if you had one, since that gets added into the total credit available.

Taxpayers who are also claiming other New York credits in the same filing season often find themselves filling out several similar forms. If you’re a volunteer firefighter or ambulance worker, for example, you might also be reviewing Form IT-245 in the same session. Businesses involved in film or commercial production work in the state should also be aware of Form IT-246, which covers a separate credit entirely but follows a similar attachment process.

Getting the Form and Filling It Out

Form IT-249 is a fillable PDF, so you can enter your information directly on a computer before printing or submitting it with your e-filed return, depending on which method you use. Since it’s an AcroForm, tax software that supports New York state forms should also be able to populate it automatically if you enter your long-term care premium information into the relevant section of your return.

Double-check the policy qualifies before submitting, and hold onto your premium statements for at least three years in case of an audit request. If you’re comparing this credit against other health-related insurance documentation, it’s worth noting that not every state handles these credits the same way — reviewing something like the California FTB 3895 marketplace statement shows how differently states can structure health insurance tax paperwork compared to New York’s credit-based approach.