The IRS adds New Mexico: 31 states have now elected into the §25F credit for 2027

New Mexico's election is on file. On November 13, 2026, the IRS updated its list of states participating in the federal scholarship tax credit for 2027, and New Mexico is on it, nine days after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the state would take part. That makes 31 states, up from 30 on the October 22 version of the page. New Mexico is the first state added since Kentucky in July. The page names the states that “have elected to participate under Section 25F for 2027,” and under Treasury's temporary regulations it is the IRS's published list of states that have made an advance election (§ 1.25F-5T(c)(3)(iii)). So the name on the page means New Mexico's Form 15714 is in. The governor's office hasn't put out a release on the filing.

Filed before the handoff. When Lujan Grisham announced the decision on November 4, the open question was timing. Deb Haaland, elected governor on November 3, takes office on January 1, 2027, the same day the advance election was due. The outgoing administration has filed it with at least seven weeks to spare, so the first of the two federal steps is done. The second is the state's list of qualifying SGOs, which completes (“perfects”) the election. For 2027 it's due at the IRS by February 15, 2027 (§ 1.25F-5T(c)(3)(ii)(B)), and an advance election that is never perfected leaves the state out for the year: no New Mexico organization would qualify as an SGO (§ 1.25F-5T(c)(3)(ii)(C)). A list can go in any time from October 1, 2026, and a state that has sent one can still add organizations until the February 15 deadline (§ 1.25F-5T(d)(7)(i)). Once an election is complete, Treasury reads §25F as allowing no revocation for that year.

What's left, and who does it. The New Mexico Public Education Department builds the list. The governor's November 4 release said the department “will establish a process for certification of SGOs in the coming weeks” and that the state “will certify all SGOs that meet the criteria, as required by law.” A department spokesperson told the Santa Fe New Mexican on November 5 that the agency had already reached out to education organizations and leaders in the state and would release the application process once it's ready. As of November 13 it hadn't posted one. If the department certifies organizations and sends the list before January 1, New Mexico is in for 2027 on Lujan Grisham's watch. If it goes in later, sending it falls to Haaland's administration, the position Virginia is in, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin filed the election and Gov. Abigail Spanberger decides on the list. Haaland hasn't spoken publicly about the credit; her spokesperson didn't respond to the Santa Fe New Mexican for its November 5 story.

What the IRS page now tells donors. The IRS also rewrote the page's introduction on November 13. It now says individual taxpayers may claim the credit “for contributions to any SGO which, at the time of the contribution, appears on a State's list of approved SGOs in that State,” and “regardless of the taxpayer's own state of residence.” It calls the credit nonrefundable and says married couples filing jointly “may each be able to claim a $1,700 credit, for a total credit of $3,400 on the joint return.” All of that matches Treasury's proposed rules, which may be relied on for 2027: a donor can give to any SGO on any state's list, whatever their home state (prop. § 1.25F-2(a)(1)), spouses on a joint return are separate taxpayers (§ 1.25F-2(a)(2)), and a donor may rely on an organization's presence on the IRS's published SGO list at the time of the gift (§ 1.25F-2(b)). That IRS SGO list isn't posted yet; it will be built from the states' lists.

What changes for New Mexicans. New Mexico donors could always claim the credit for gifts to SGOs in other participating states. What the filing changes is where the money can work. Once the state's list is in, a gift to a New Mexico SGO funds New Mexico students, since under the proposed rules scholarships follow the student's state. A scholarship can go to any K-12 student who is eligible to enroll in a public school and lives in a household at or below 300% of area median gross income, at a public, charter, private or religious school, and can pay for tuition, tutoring, special needs services, books, computers and internet access, and before- and after-school programs a school provides. The governor's office pitched it as new support for public school students first: literacy and math help, after-school programs and computer resources.

For organizations. With the election filed, the work left is on the state side. Two things make an organization “located in” New Mexico under the temporary regulations, and both can be done now: authorization to do business in the state (a certificate of authority from the Secretary of State if you're incorporated elsewhere) and registration with the New Mexico Department of Justice's charities unit before you solicit there (New Mexico costs and steps). Then watch the Public Education Department for its certification guidelines. The state must list every qualifying organization located in New Mexico that asks, and it can't add rules stricter than §25F (one national standard). The federal groundwork doesn't wait: governing documents that require the §25F operating rules, a segregated §25F account, and a scholarship process that funds at least 10 students who don't all attend the same school. Our free SGO builder walks through each step, and the New Mexico SGO page tracks the state's process.

Where the count stands. The IRS list now names 31 states. Our participation map counts 32: those 31 plus New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on October 9 that the state will take part but whose advance election isn't on the IRS list yet. Every state that wants in for 2027 has until January 1 to file Form 15714, and fifteen jurisdictions are still deciding, among them Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington and California (where the undecided governors stand). For all 31, the next date is the same: SGO lists to the IRS by February 15, 2027 (the full calendar).