Save Lives & Save Taxes!

Quality pre-natal and post-natal care and support ensures healthy outcomes for Louisiana mothers and their children. Maternal wellness centers assist mothers with essential services such as pre-natal and parenting classes, counseling, medical resources, and assistance with material needs. The goal of Maternal Wellness Tax Credit is to provide incentives for entities and individuals to donate to eligible maternal wellness centers that improve the quality of life for Louisiana mothers and families.

A “maternal wellness center” (MWC) is defined under the law as a 501c3 organization that does not refer for abortion and provides the services listed below.  MWC must be certified by the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH). Click here to see the list of qualified pregnancy centers at LDH’s website.

The following are services provided by MWCs:

• pre-natal infant care, breastfeeding, and parenting education, peer or professional counseling, and pregnancy tests administered by a registered nurse.
• resources including how a person can apply for government assistance, a list of local doctors who accept Medicaid, and a list of community resources addressing the needs of women and children.
• adoption education and referrals.
• material needs through direct assistance and referrals throughout pregnancy and for a minimum of two years after delivery.

Click here to see the list of registered pregnancy centers designated as a MWC (scroll down once on the webpage).

All types of taxpayers are eligible for the MWC tax credit, including businesses and individuals, including corporation, individual, fiduciary and partnership composite income tax for the year in which the donation is made.

A taxpayer’s maternal wellness tax credit cannot exceed 50% of a taxpayer’s tax liability in a given year. For example, if you owe $2,000 in taxes, the Maternal Wellness Tax Credit can reduce your taxes by $1,000. Since the tax credit is nonrefundable, it cannot increase a taxpayer’s refund.

The tax credit is equal to 50% of your donation. If you make a $10,000 donation to a qualified center, only $5,000 of your donation can be eligible for a tax credit.

No. The tax credit is “nonrefundable,” meaning that it can only reduce your tax liability, not increase a tax refund. Once your tax liability is 0, the tax credit does not apply.

Yes. The total amount of all the tax credits shall not exceed $5,000,000 in a single year. The credits shall be given on a first-come, first-served basis.

Yes. State law does not allow more than 20% of the total credits available to go to a single maternal wellness center. Therefore, a given pregnancy center cannot receive more than $2 Million in eligible donations (since 50% of $2 Million would be $1 Million, or 20% of the total cap of $5 Million).

The Louisiana Department of Revenue is the sole decision making entity when it comes to determining a taxpayer’s eligibility for this tax credit. Qualified pregnancy centers are only responsible for issuing a form to a donor for the donor to complete and submit to LDR. All determinations of tax credits are made by LDR.

Please refer to LDR’s official guidance on the maternal wellness tax credit for more information.

Yes!

Many donors may want additional comfort to know they have reserved their MWC credit instead of just waiting to complete their taxes.  Remember, there is a $5,000,000 statewide cap and a 20% per center cap that could impact whether a donor’s receives a MWC credit or not.

The Louisiana Department of Revenue has established a system to allow you to “reserve” your MWC credit during the year you make the donation.

For example, if you make your donation on January 1 of 2025, you can submit a form (provided to you by the qualified pregnancy center following your donation) to LDR immediately after you make the donation. You can email your form to mwc@la.gov. LDR will send the form back to you informing your about your reservation for the MWC credit. Since you submitted the form early in 2025, you are likely to be near the front of the line for receiving the MWC credit.

When you complete your taxes for 2025 in the calendar year of 2026, you would include the form with your taxes. See above on this site for a step-by-step guide.

In the end, the reservation will just ensure that you are “in line” for a MWC credit. Final determination of securing the credit will depend on your tax liability and whether the two caps have been met or not.

Please refer to LDR’s official guidance on the maternal wellness tax credit for more information.

If you did not reserve your credit during the calendar year you made the donation (see question above), you still can submit the necessary completed form provided by the maternal wellness center when filing your state taxes and potentially receive the credit. Your eligibility will depend on…

• If the state cap of $5,000,000 in MWC credits has been reached.
• If the center to which you donated has reached 20% of the cap (or $1,000,000).
• And, of course, your tax liability.

We encourage donors to complete and submit the necessary LDR forms in the calendar year so their credit can be “reserved.”

In general, the answer is no. If any amount of the eligible donation exceeds your tax liability, the excess amount cannot be carried forward to a subsequent year’s income tax liability.

However, if you are unable to receive a MWC tax credit because the state has reached the $5,000,000 cap for the year, your credit will be eligible for the following tax year.

No. Your ability to take a federal tax deduction for a donation to a 501c3 organization only relates to your federal taxes.  The MWC tax credit only applies to state taxes.  Your same donation can give you a MWC state tax credit and a federal tax deduction!