SS/SB 190 - This act modifies provisions relating to tax credits.
ENGINEERING DEGREE TAX CREDIT
For all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, this act authorizes three tax credits to qualified employers and qualified workers. Qualified employers are defined as a business entity registered to do business in this state and whose principal business activity involves the engineering sector. Qualified workers are defined as a person newly-employed on a full-time basis with a qualified employer on or after January 1, 2026, and who has been awarded an engineering degree or certificate from a qualified program from a qualified institution, as such terms are defined in the act.
A qualified employer shall be allowed a tax credit for tuition reimbursed to a qualified worker who has received his or her degree or certificate within one year prior to or following the commencement of employment with the qualified employer. The tax credit shall be equal to 50% of the amount of tuition reimbursed and may be claimed for the first four years of the qualified worker's employment or contract. Such tax credits shall not be transferred, sold, or assigned, and shall not be refundable or carried forward to any other tax year.
A qualified employer shall also be allowed a tax credit for compensation paid to a qualified worker for the first five years of such worker's employment. The tax credit shall be equal to 10% of compensation paid to a qualified worker. Such tax credits shall not exceed $15,000 for a qualified worker in a tax year, and shall not exceed a total of $75,000 for any given qualified worker. Such tax credits shall not be transferred, sold, or assigned, and shall not be refundable or carried forward to any other tax year.
A taxpayer who becomes a qualified worker shall be allowed a tax credit in an amount equal to $2,500. The tax credit may be claimed for five consecutive tax years beginning with the tax year in which the taxpayer becomes a qualified worker. No taxpayer shall claim a total of more than $12,500 in tax credits. Such tax credits shall not be transferred, sold, or assigned, and shall not be refundable, but may be carried forward to subsequent tax years, provided that a tax credit shall not be carried forward beyond the fourth tax year succeeding the tax year in which the taxpayer initially claimed the tax credit.
This provision shall sunset on December 31, 2031, unless reauthorized by the General Assembly. (Sections 135.005 and 135.800)
This provision is substantially similar to SCS/SB 849 (2024) and to a provision in HCS/HBs 2034 & 2081 (2024).
RAILROAD INFRASTRUCTURE TAX CREDIT
For all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, this act authorizes a tax credit in the amount of fifty percent of an eligible taxpayer's qualified railroad expenditures and qualified new rail infrastructure expenditures. "Qualified railroad expenditures" are defined as gross expenditures for maintenance, reconstruction, or replacement of railroad infrastructure, as described in the act. "Qualified new rail infrastructure expenditures" are defined as gross expenditures for new rail infrastructure, as described in the act.
A tax credit for qualified railroad expenditures shall not exceed $5,000 multiplied by the number of miles of railroad track owned or leased in the state by a railroad, and the total amount of tax credits for qualified railroad expenditures authorized in a calendar year shall not exceed $4.5 million. A tax credit for qualified new rail infrastructure expenditures shall not exceed $1 million for each new rail-served customer project, and the total amount of tax credits for qualified new rail infrastructure expenditures authorized in a calendar year shall not exceed $10 million.
An eligible taxpayer shall submit a certificate of eligibility to the Department of Economic Development after the completion of the qualified railroad expenditures or qualified new rail infrastructure expenditures.
Tax credits authorized by the act shall not be refundable, but may be carried forward for five subsequent tax years. Tax credits may be transferred as described in the act.
This act shall sunset on December 31, 2031, unless reauthorized by the General Assembly. (Section 135.1210)
This act is substantially similar to SS/SCS/SB 876 (2024), HB 1824 (2024), SB 385 (2023), and HCS/HB 657 (2023), and to a provision in HCS/HB 1935 (2024) and HCS/HB 939 (2023).
MISSOURI ANGEL INVESTMENT INCENTIVE ACT
This act establishes the Missouri Angel Investment Incentive Act.
For all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, this act allows an investor, as defined in the act, to claim a tax credit in an amount equal to forty percent of the investor’s investment in the qualified securities of a qualified Missouri business, as defined in the act, or fifty percent of the investor's investment if the qualified Missouri business is located in a rural county, as defined in the act. If the amount of the tax credit exceeds the investor's tax liability in any one tax year, the credit may be carried forward for up to five subsequent tax years. No investor shall receive more than seventy-five thousand dollars in tax credits in a single year for contributions to a single qualified Missouri business, and shall not receive more than three hundred thousand dollars in tax credits in total in a single tax year. A tax credit may be transferred by a qualified investor. The total amount of tax credits authorized in a single tax year by the Missouri Technology Corporation (MTC) shall not exceed six million dollars for the 2026 and 2027 calendar years. Thereafter, the maximum amount of tax credits that may be authorized shall be increased annually by 20%, provided that the maximum amount of tax credits was authorized in the previous year.
To be designated as a qualified Missouri business, a business shall apply to the MTC, as described in the act. The designation of a business as a qualified Missouri business shall be made annually by the MTC. In addition to other requirements described in the act, a qualified Missouri business shall not have had annual gross revenues of more than five million dollars in the most recent tax year of the business, and the business shall not have been in operation longer than five years if the business is not a bioscience business, or longer than ten years if the business is a bioscience business.
Each business that has been allocated tax credits by the MTC shall submit a report containing certain information, as described in the act, to the MTC before such tax credits are issued.
The state of Missouri shall not be held liable for any damages to an investor that makes an investment in any qualified security of a qualified Missouri business, any business that applies to be a qualified Missouri business but is turned down, or any investor that makes an investment in a business that applies to be a qualified Missouri business but is turned down.
The MTC shall annually review the activities undertaken by this act to ensure they are in compliance with the provisions of the act. If the MTC determines that a business is not in substantial compliance, it may inform the business that such business will lose its designation if it does not come into compliance within one hundred twenty days. If the business does not come into compliance, the MTC may revoke its designation. If a business loses its designation as a qualified Missouri business, it shall be precluded from being allocated any additional tax credits. However, investors in such a business shall be entitled to keep all of the tax credits properly issued prior to the loss of designation by the business.
The MTC shall report certain information annually, as described in the act, to the Department of Economic Development, the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
This provision shall sunset on December 31, 2032, unless reauthorized by the General Assembly. (Sections 348.273 and 348.274)
This provision is identical to SB 461 (2025), SCS/SB 1178 (2024), HCS/HB 2226 (2024), and SS/SCS/SB 413 (2023), and to provisions in HCS/SS/SCS/SB 92 (2023), as amended, and is substantially similar to HB 727 (2023), SB 78 (2017), and HB 2302 (2016).
JOSH NORBERG