Chapter 62 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 6P, the following section:

Section 6O. Historic Building Fire Prevention Tax Credits.

(a) There is hereby established a historic building fire prevention tax credit. A person, firm, partnership, trust, estate, limited liability company, or other entity subject to the income tax imposed by the provisions of this chapter or chapter 63 of the General Laws shall be allowed a credit, to be computed as hereinafter provided, against taxes owed to the commonwealth under chapter 62 or chapter 63 toward the cost of the installation of a fire protection sprinkler system, as defined in section 81 of chapter 146 of the General Laws, in a qualified historic structure, as defined in section 6J of chapter 62 of the General Laws.

(b) The credit allowed under this section shall be equal to 50 percent of the costs incurred installing said system, with a maximum credit of $10,000 per taxpayer in any fiscal year. The Massachusetts fire Prevention regulations board shall determine the criteria for eligibility for the credit, the criteria to be set forth in regulations promulgated under this section. The credit allowable under this section shall be allowed for any taxable year until 2031.

(c) Tax credits allowed under this section shall be allowed for the taxable year in which the costs are incurred; provided, however, that a tax credit allowed under this section shall not reduce the tax owed below $0. A taxpayer allowed a credit under this section for a taxable year may carry over and apply against such taxpayer’s tax liability in any of the succeeding 5 taxable years, the portion, as reduced from year to year, of those credits which exceed the tax for the taxable year.