The 2005 Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 31, which grants up to $250 in personal income tax credit beginning with tax year 2006, to eligible Emergency Medical Services Providers who volunteer their services to eligible Oregon communities. This credit (ORS 315.622) is due to sunset effective December 31, 2020.

Once your initial application has been reviewed, you will receive a response (either a confirmation or denial of eligibility) from the Oregon Office of Rural Health.

The ORH also offers a map of all Rural Volunteer EMSP Tax Credit Recipients throughout the state.

Eligibility Requirements

Following are the eligibility guidelines:

• You must be an Emergency Medical Services Provider (Emergency Medical Responder, EMT Basic, Advanced EMT, EMT-Intermediate or Paramedic) licensed by the State of Oregon, providing some services on a volunteer basis. 
• Your EMS Provider volunteer service must meet the following definition: A “volunteer” is a person properly trained under Oregon law who either operates an ambulance to and from the scene of an emergency or renders emergency medical treatment on a volunteer basis so long as the total reimbursement received for such volunteer services does not represent more than 25% of his or her gross annual income and does not exceed $3,000 per calendar year.
• The time you spend providing EMS Provider services as a volunteer must be 20% or more of your total EMS Provider time (paid and volunteer combined). In addition, your volunteer time must be spent with a station or agency located in a qualifying area, which is 25 miles from a city of 30,000 or more. All Stand By, Response and Training time spent as an EMT counts.

If you provided volunteer services in a qualifying area for only a portion of the year and then relocated, you may be eligible for a pro-rated credit.

Please check to see if the station/agency you volunteer for qualifies as eligible. You can also find a map that displays the 25 mile buffers cast by populations of 30,000 or more.

Application Process

To receive the credit you will need to complete an application to determine eligibility.

If your service has been determined eligible, you will be sent a renewal form automatically every December to your home address. Please inform our office if you change your home address. If you claim the credit on your tax return without submitting an application or renewal, the Oregon Department of Revenue will deny the credit.

New applicant forms and renewal forms (for previously qualified eligible EMS Providers) can be found to the right.

Questions?

Contact Eric Jordan: jordane@ohsu.edu, or (503) 494-4451, but remember that we cannot make a determination on your application until we receive and review it.

How soon after I submit my application or renewal can I expect a response?

You can expect to receive confirmation of your eligibility within four weeks during the months of December, January, and February, and within two weeks the rest of the year.