SENATE BILL 473

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Carrie Hamblen and Leo Jaramillo

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO INCOME TAX; CREATING THE VOLUNTEER SEARCH AND RESCUE INCOME TAX CREDIT.

 

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

     SECTION 1. A new section of the Income Tax Act is enacted

to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] VOLUNTEER SEARCH AND RESCUE INCOME TAX CREDIT.--

          A. Prior to taxable year 2035, a taxpayer who is not a dependent of another individual and volunteers in New Mexico at least six times or for at least sixty hours in a taxable year may claim a tax credit against the taxpayer's tax liability for that taxable year imposed pursuant to the Income Tax Act. The tax credit provided in this section may be referred to as the "volunteer search and rescue income tax credit".

          B. The volunteer search and rescue income tax credit shall be in an amount equal to:

                (1) five hundred dollars ($500) if the taxpayer volunteers between six and eleven times or volunteers for a total of between sixty and one hundred twenty hours; or

                (2) one thousand dollars ($1,000) if the taxpayer volunteers twelve times or more or volunteers for a total of at least one hundred twenty hours.

          C. A taxpayer who seeks to claim the tax credit provided by this section shall apply for certification of eligibility from the resource officer on forms and in the manner prescribed by the resource officer. The aggregate amount of tax credits that may be certified pursuant to this subsection for any taxable year is three million dollars ($3,000,000). Applications for certification received after the limitation on the aggregate amount of credits has been met in a calendar year shall not be approved. Completed applications shall be considered in the order received.

          D. If the resource officer determines that a taxpayer meets the requirements to claim the tax credit, the resource officer shall issue to the taxpayer a dated certificate of eligibility providing the amount of the tax credit for which the taxpayer is eligible and the taxable year in which the credit may be claimed. The resource officer shall provide the department with the certificates of eligibility issued pursuant to this subsection in an electronic format at regularly agreed-upon intervals.

          E. To receive the tax credit provided by this section, a taxpayer shall claim the credit on forms and in the manner prescribed by the department.

          F. That portion of the tax credit that exceeds a taxpayer's tax liability in the taxable year in which the tax credit is claimed shall be refunded.

          G. Married individuals filing separate returns for a taxable year for which they could have filed a joint return may each claim only one-half of the volunteer search and rescue income tax credit that would have been claimed on a joint return.

          H. The department shall include the tax credit in the tax expenditure budget compiled pursuant to Section 7-1-84 NMSA 1978.

          I. As used in this section:

                (1) "mission" means each separate group effort of search and rescue that is approved and issued a mission number by the New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety;

                (2) "resource officer" means the state search and rescue resource officer in the department of public safety;

                (3) "search and rescue" means the employment, coordination and utilization of available resources and personnel in searching for, rendering aid to and preserving the lives of people lost, stranded, entrapped, injured or in distress and removing these people from the site of a disaster, emergency or hazard to a place of safety; and

                (4) "volunteer" means participating in a search and rescue mission as a nonsalaried volunteer."

     SECTION 2. DELAYED REPEAL.--Section 1 of this act is repealed effective January 1, 2036.

     SECTION 3. APPLICABILITY.--The provisions of this act apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025.

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