Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: every figure Clear Money Guide holds about Massachusetts, on one page, each one copied from a dataset that cites its own statute or agency. Built for reporters on deadline — take any line, follow the link for the source.
What stands out about Massachusetts
These are the figures where Massachusetts differs most from the rest of the country — selected by counting how many jurisdictions share each value, not by editorial preference.
- Formation fee: $500 (certificate of organization); $520 if filed electronically or by fax — the only jurisdiction of the 48 we have data for
- Contested: yes — the only jurisdiction of the 47 we have data for
- Free look days: 10 days, but ONLY for individual life policies with a face amount of less than $25,000 — the only jurisdiction of the 31 we have data for
- Authorized: limited — one of only 2 of 50
What dying costs here
- Small estate limit: 25000
- Small estate scope: personal_only
- State estate tax exemption: 2000000
Source and full detail: the cost-of-dying index. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Estate and property law status
- Authorized: limited
- Statute or act: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 222, 28, enacted Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023
- Effective date: 2024-01-01
- Conditions: ENACTED BUT NOT OPERATIONAL. Per the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s own page fetched live: the required notary training program and online registration form have not been published and notaries ‘shouldn’t use online remote platforms at this time.’ Technology-provider protocol responses (due 2024…
- Association name: Massachusetts Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association
- Death benefit limit: $300,000
- Cash surrender limit: $100,000
- Annuity limit: $250,000
- Aggregate limit: $300,000
- Statute citation: M.G.L. c. 175, § 146B(3), (4) (Massachusetts Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association Act)
- Free look days: 10 days, but ONLY for individual life policies with a face amount of less than $25,000
- Trigger: delivery of the policy by the insurer
- Refund basis: full refund of any premium paid; the policy is void from the beginning
- Grace period days: 30 days
- Coverage during grace: the policy continues in full force; if it becomes a claim during grace, unpaid and deferred premiums plus interest may be taken from the face of the policy in settlement
Source and full detail: notary rules by state · guaranty association limits · life insurance free-look periods · life insurance grace periods. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Working and earning here
- Quit deadline: Next regular payday (or the following Saturday if there is no regular payday)
- Fired deadline: Same day as discharge
- Statute citation: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, §§ 148, 150 (see also § 27C)
- Has law: Yes
- Disclosure trigger: in the job posting
- Employer threshold: 25 or more employees in the commonwealth
- Effective date: 2025-10-29
- Salary history ban: Yes
- Wage replacement: Progressive two-tier: 80% of the portion of the worker’s average weekly wage at or below 50% of the state average weekly wage, plus 50% of the portion above that, capped at a maximum weekly benefit set annually at 64% of the state average weekly wage
- Max weeks family: 12
- Max weeks medical: 20
- Funding: Both employer and employee, via a payroll contribution set annually by the department; employers with fewer than 25 employees in the commonwealth pay no employer share
- Benefits effective date: 2021-01-01 (paying benefits since then; family leave to care for a family member since 2021-07-01)
- Mandatory: Yes
- Authority: regulation
- Contested: yes
Source and full detail: final paycheck laws by state · pay transparency laws by state · paid family leave by state · the convenience-of-the-employer rule. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Renting here
- Deposit cap: 1 month’s rent
- Return deadline: 30 days
- Interest required: conditional
- Statute citation: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 186, § 15B
Source and full detail: security deposit law by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Starting a business here
- Formation fee: $500 (certificate of organization); $520 if filed electronically or by fax
- Annual report: $500 annually ($520 if filed electronically or by fax)
- Franchise tax: not verified
- Publication requirement: none found
- Expedite options: Electronic/fax surcharge scaled to the filing fee: $3.00 on fees of $0.01-$14.99; $3.50 on $15-$24.99; $6.00 on $25-$84.99; $10.00 on $85-$149.99; $15.00 on $150-$499; $20.00 on a $500 filing
- Statute citation: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156C, s. 12(c)-(d); Secretary of the Commonwealth Corporations Division fee schedule
- Five year total: at least $3,000
Source and full detail: LLC cost by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Tax treatment here
- Has law: Yes
- Treatment: ordinary income
- Rate: 5% long-term; 8.5% short-term; 12% Part A capital gains; 3% qualifying small-business stock; plus a 4% surtax over the threshold
- Preferential mechanism: lower rate
- Tax year: 2026
- Statute citation: MGL c.62 § 4(a)-(d); Mass. Const. Amendments art. XLIV (as amended, the 4% surtax)
Source and full detail: capital gains tax by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
For journalists: how to cite this
Clear Money Guide, Massachusetts Money Statistics 2026. https://clearmoneyguide.com/state-money-statistics/massachusetts/. Every figure on this page is copied from a Clear Money Guide dataset that states its own primary source and the date it was read — follow the section links for the statute or agency behind any number. Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0.
What this sheet does and does not contain
This sheet aggregates; it does not research. Every figure is copied from the owning page linked in each section, and a figure we do not own is simply absent — not estimated, not inferred from a neighbouring state. That is why sheets differ in length: this one states 51 figures, and a state where we hold less will show fewer. A short sheet means we have less, not that the state has less.
Statutory law changes. Each linked owner page carries the date its figures were read; check there before relying on anything here. See also Massachusetts financial adviser statistics and all 51 state money sheets.
General information about published law and public data, not legal, tax or investment advice. No advertising appears on this page and we earn nothing from it.