SB 999 - This act modifies provisions of the enhanced enterprise zone program by creating a tax credit which will be available to taxpayers that establish a new business facility in a certified industrial zone approved or designated as an enhanced enterprise zone by the Department of Economic Development. Certified industrial zones are defined as any area of real property that encompasses at least one hundred acres which has been approved by the department as a certified site; has been found by ordinance of the governing body to be blighted; and is located in a census tract which has a poverty rate of at least twenty percent or for which the median income is less than the greater of eighty percent of the statewide median income or eighty percent of the metropolitan median income for the metropolitan statistical area in which the zone is located. A taxpayer who receives tax credits for establishing a new business facility in a certified industrial zone cannot also receive tax credits from the new or expanded business facilities, enterprise zones, relocating a business to a distressed community, or Missouri Quality Jobs programs. To receive the tax credit, a taxpayer must employ at least two new individuals at the new business facility and invest at least one million during the taxable year in which the credit is claimed or at least ten million dollars in the aggregate for the new business facility. Tax credits may be issued over a period of up to ten years and will be equal to ten percent of the gross wages of each new employee at the facility and five percent of the investment made in the new business facility within an enhanced enterprise zone.
Taxpayers may receive the tax credit for an existing facility which expands if they invest at least one hundred thousand dollars and hire at least two additional employees during the tax year in which the credits are claimed. The tax credits must be claimed for the taxable year in which commencement of commercial operations occurs at the new business facility and for each of the following nine years in which the credit is issued. The credits cannot be carried forward, but are refundable and transferable provided that the sale price of such credits cannot be less than seventy-five percent of par value.
The Department of Economic Development must verify that an applicant does not owe any delinquent taxes penalties, fees, assessments, or insurance taxes prior to the issuance of any tax credits. Taxpayers who are delinquent between June 15th and July 1st will be given thirty days to satisfy such delinquency. Available credits will be applied to delinquencies and any remaining credits will be issued to the applicant.
JASON ZAMKUS