SB0151

SENATE BILL 151

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

INTRODUCED BY

Daniel A. Ivey-Soto

AN ACT

RELATING TO TAXATION; DECREASING THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF WAGES A TAXPAYER MUST PAY AN EMPLOYEE TO QUALIFY FOR A HIGH-WAGE JOBS TAX CREDIT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1. Section 7-9G-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2004, Chapter 15, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

"7-9G-1. HIGH-WAGE JOBS TAX CREDIT--QUALIFYING

HIGH-WAGE JOBS.--

A. A taxpayer who is an eligible employer may apply for, and the taxation and revenue department may allow, a tax credit for each new high-wage economic-based job. The credit provided in this section may be referred to as the "high-wage jobs tax credit".

B. The purpose of the high-wage jobs tax credit is to provide an incentive for urban and rural businesses to create and fill new high-wage jobs in New Mexico.

C. The high-wage jobs tax credit may be claimed and allowed in an amount equal to ten percent of the wages and benefits distributed to an eligible employee in a new high-wage economic-based job, but shall not exceed twelve thousand dollars ($12,000) per job per qualifying period.

D. The high-wage jobs tax credit may be claimed by an eligible employer for each new high-wage economic-based job performed for the year in which the new high-wage economic-based job is created and for the three consecutive qualifying periods. A taxpayer shall apply for approval of the credit after the close of a qualifying period, but not later than twelve months following the end of the calendar year in which the taxpayer's final qualifying period closes.

E. A new high-wage economic-based job shall not be eligible for a credit pursuant to this section unless the eligible employer's total number of employees with high-wage economic-based jobs on the last day of the qualifying period at the location at which the job is performed or based is at least one more than the number on the day prior to the date the new high-wage economic-based job was created.

F. A new high-wage economic-based job shall not be eligible for a credit pursuant to this section if:

(1) the new high-wage economic-based job is created due to a business merger or acquisition or other change in business organization;

(2) the eligible employee was terminated from employment in New Mexico by another employer involved in the business merger or acquisition or other change in business organization with the taxpayer; and

(3) the new high-wage economic-based job is performed by:

(a) the person who performed the job or its functional equivalent prior to the business merger or acquisition or other change in business organization; or

(b) a person replacing the person who performed the job or its functional equivalent prior to a business merger or acquisition or other change in business organization.

G. Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection F of this section, a new high-wage economic-based job that was created by another employer and for which an application for the high-wage jobs tax credit was received and is under review by the taxation and revenue department prior to the time of the business merger or acquisition or other change in business organization shall remain eligible for the high-wage jobs tax credit for the balance of the qualifying periods. The new employer that results from a business merger or acquisition or other change in business organization may only claim the high-wage jobs tax credit for the balance of the qualifying period for which the qualifying job is otherwise eligible.

H. A job shall not be eligible for a credit pursuant to this section if the job is created due to an eligible employer entering into a contract or becoming a subcontractor to a contract with a governmental entity that replaces one or more entities performing functionally equivalent services for the governmental entity unless the job is a new high-wage economic-based job that was not being performed by an employee of the replaced entity.

I. With respect to each new high-wage economic-based job for which an eligible employer seeks the high-wage jobs tax credit, the employer shall certify:

(1) the amount of wages and benefits paid to each eligible employee in a new high-wage economic-based job during each qualifying period;

(2) the number of weeks the position was occupied during the qualifying period;

(3) whether the new high-wage economic-based job was in a municipality with a population of sixty thousand or more or with a population of less than sixty thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census and whether the job was in the unincorporated area of a county; and

(4) the total number of employees employed by the employer at the job location on the day prior to the qualifying period and on the last day of the qualifying period.

J. To receive a high-wage jobs tax credit with respect to any qualifying period, an eligible employer shall apply to the taxation and revenue department on forms and in the manner prescribed by the department. The application shall include a certification made pursuant to Subsection I of this section.

K. The credit provided in this section may be deducted from the modified combined tax liability of a taxpayer. If the credit exceeds the modified combined tax liability of the taxpayer, the excess shall be refunded to the taxpayer.

L. The economic development department shall report to the appropriate interim legislative committee before November 1 of each year the cost of this tax credit to the state and its impact on company recruitment and job creation.

M. As used in this section:

(1) "benefits" means all remuneration for work performed that is provided to an employee in whole or in part by the employer, other than wages, including insurance programs, health care, medical, dental and vision plans, life insurance, employer contributions to pensions, such as a 401(k), and employer-provided services, such as child care, offered by an employer to the employee. "Benefits" does not include the employer's share of payroll taxes, social security or medicare contributions, federal or state unemployment insurance contributions or workers' compensation;

(2) "eligible employee" means an individual who is employed in New Mexico by an eligible employer and who is a resident of New Mexico; "eligible employee" does not include an individual who:

(a) bears any of the relationships described in Paragraphs (1) through (8) of 26 U.S.C. Section 152(a) to the employer or, if the employer is a corporation, to an individual who owns, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent in value of the outstanding stock of the corporation or, if the employer is an entity other than a corporation, to an individual who owns, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent of the capital and profits interest in the entity;

(b) if the employer is an estate or trust, is a grantor, beneficiary or fiduciary of the estate or trust or is an individual who bears any of the relationships described in Paragraphs (1) through (8) of 26 U.S.C. Section 152(a) to a grantor, beneficiary or fiduciary of the estate or trust;

(c) is a dependent, as that term is described in 26 U.S.C. Section 152(a)(9), of the employer or, if the taxpayer is a corporation, of an individual who owns, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent in value of the outstanding stock of the corporation or, if the employer is an entity other than a corporation, of an individual who owns, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent of the capital and profits interest in the entity or, if the employer is an estate or trust, of a grantor, beneficiary or fiduciary of the estate or trust; or

(d) is working or has worked as an employee or as an independent contractor for an entity that directly or indirectly owns stock in a corporation of the eligible employer or other interest of the eligible employer that represents fifty percent or more of the total voting power of that entity or has a value equal to fifty percent or more of the capital and profits interest in the entity;

(3) "eligible employer" means an employer that:

(a) made more than fifty percent of its sales of goods or services produced in New Mexico to persons outside New Mexico during the applicable qualifying period; or

(b) is certified by the economic development department to be eligible for development training program assistance pursuant to Section 21-19-7 NMSA 1978;

(4) "modified combined tax liability" means the total liability for the reporting period for the gross receipts tax imposed by Section 7-9-4 NMSA 1978 together with any tax collected at the same time and in the same manner as the gross receipts tax, such as the compensating tax, the withholding tax, the interstate telecommunications gross receipts tax, the surcharges imposed by Section 63-9D-5 NMSA 1978 and the surcharge imposed by Section 63-9F-11 NMSA 1978, minus the amount of any credit other than the high-wage jobs tax credit applied against any or all of these taxes or surcharges; but "modified combined tax liability" excludes all amounts collected with respect to local option gross receipts taxes;

(5) "new high-wage economic-based job" means a new job created in New Mexico by an eligible employer on or after July 1, 2004 and prior to July 1, 2020 that is occupied for at least forty-eight weeks of a qualifying period by an eligible employee who is paid wages calculated for the qualifying period to be at least:

(a) for a new high-wage economic-based job created prior to July 1, 2015: 1) forty thousand dollars ($40,000) if the job is performed or based in or within ten miles of the external boundaries of a municipality with a population of sixty thousand or more according to the most recent federal decennial census or in a class H county; and 2) twenty-eight thousand dollars ($28,000) if the job is performed or based in a municipality with a population of less than sixty thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census or in the unincorporated area, that is not within ten miles of the external boundaries of a municipality with a population of sixty thousand or more, of a county other than a class H county; [and]

(b) for a new high-wage economic-based

job created on or after July 1, 2015 and prior to July 1, 2016: 1) sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) if the job is performed or based in or within ten miles of the external boundaries of a municipality with a population of sixty thousand or more according to the most recent federal decennial census or in a class H county; and 2) forty thousand dollars ($40,000) if the job is performed or based in a municipality with a population of less than sixty thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census or in the unincorporated area, that is not within ten miles of the external boundaries of a municipality with a population of sixty thousand or more, of a county other than a class H county; and

job created on or after July 1, 2016: 1) forty-five thousand dollars ($45,000) if the job is performed or based in or within ten miles of the external boundaries of a municipality with a population of sixty thousand or more according to the most recent federal decennial census or in a class H county; and 2) thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) if the job is performed or based in a municipality with a population of less than sixty thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census or in the unincorporated area, that is not within ten miles of the external boundaries of a municipality with a population of sixty thousand or more, of a county other than a class H county;

(6) "qualifying period" means the period of twelve months beginning on the day an eligible employee begins working in a new high-wage economic-based job or the period of twelve months beginning on the anniversary of the day an eligible employee began working in a new high-wage economic-based job; and

(7) "wages" means all compensation paid by an eligible employer to an eligible employee through the employer's payroll system, including those wages that the employee elects to defer or redirect or the employee's contribution to a 401(k) or cafeteria plan program, but "wages" does not include benefits or the employer's share of payroll taxes."

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