Bill Text: NJ A1300 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides CBT credit for construction or retrofitting of warehouse to meet certain green building standards.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee [A1300 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A1300-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Provides CBT credit for construction or retrofitting of warehouses to meet certain green building standards.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act providing corporation business tax credits for the construction or retrofitting of warehouses to meet certain green building standards, and supplementing P.L.1945, c.162 (C.54:10A-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Allowable costs" means amounts properly chargeable to capital account other than for purchase of land or any remediation costs, which are: paid or incurred for construction or rehabilitation; commissioning costs; interest paid during the construction or rehabilitation period; legal, architectural, engineering, and other professional fees allocable to construction or rehabilitation; closing costs for construction or mortgage loans; recording taxes and filing fees incurred with respect to construction or rehabilitation; site costs, such as temporary electrical wiring, scaffolding, demolition costs, and fencing and security facilities; and costs of carpeting, partitions, walls and wall coverings, ceilings, lighting, plumbing, electrical wiring, and ventilation; provided that such costs shall not include the cost of telephone systems and computers other than electrical wiring costs and shall not include the cost of fuel cells, including installation.
"Green warehouse" means a warehouse that is a high performance green building.
"High performance green building" means a solar-ready building that is designed and constructed in a manner that achieves at least: a silver rating according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System as adopted by the United States Green Building Council; a two globe rating according to the Green Globes Program as adopted by the Green Building Initiative; or a comparable numeric rating according to a nationally recognized, accepted, and appropriate numeric sustainable development rating system, guideline, or standard as the Commissioner of Community Affairs, in consultation with the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and the Board of Public Utilities, may designate by regulation.
"Solar panel" means an elevated panel or plate, or a canopy or array thereof, that captures and converts solar radiation to produce power, and includes flat plate, focusing solar collectors, or photovoltaic solar cells.
"Solar-ready building" means a building that incorporates design elements, as specified by the Department of Community Affairs, which allow for the installation of rooftop solar panels and, if the structure or building is intended to use hot water, a solar water heating system.
"Solar water heating system" means a system which uses solar energy as the primary means of heating water.
"Warehouse" "means a building that stores cargo, goods, or products of any type on a short-term or long-term basis for later distribution to wholesale or retail customers, and includes, but is not limited to, a distribution center, flex-warehouse, or any other type of warehouse..
2. A taxpayer shall be allowed a credit against the tax imposed under the "Corporation Business Tax Act (1945)," P.L.1945, c.162 (C.54:10A-1 et seq.), in an amount equal to 25 percent of the allowable costs paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the privilege period in connection with the construction of a green warehouse in the State or the retrofitting of an existing warehouse in the State to qualify as a green warehouse pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
3. a. For the first privilege period for which a taxpayer intends to apply a credit allowed pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), a taxpayer shall obtain an eligibility certificate from the Department of Community Affairs. The Department of Community Affairs shall issue an eligibility certificate to a taxpayer if the taxpayer has provided:
(1) a certification from an architect or professional engineer, licensed to practice in New Jersey, that the warehouse with respect to which the credit is applied qualifies as a green warehouse pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill);
(2) a certificate of occupancy for the warehouse or warehouses that are the subject of the credit;
(3) a statement that the warehouse or warehouses shall remain in service during the privilege period; and
(4) any other information the Department of Community Affairs deems necessary to properly effectuate the intent of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
The eligibility certificate shall include sufficient information to identify each warehouse, the amount of the credit for which the taxpayer is eligible, and any other information that the Department of Community Affairs may prescribe. Upon certification, the Commissioner of Community Affairs shall submit a copy of the eligibility certificate to the taxpayer and the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury.
The Department of Community Affairs shall not issue an eligibility certificate pursuant to this section to a taxpayer for any warehouse that received the required permit authorizing the construction or retrofitting of the warehouse, as appropriate, prior to the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
b. If the Department of Community Affairs has reason to believe that an architect or professional engineer, in making any certification under this section, engaged in professional misconduct, the department shall so inform the New Jersey State Board of Architects, or the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, as appropriate, in the Division of Consumer Affairs of the Department of Law and Public Safety.
4. a. When filing a return that includes a claim for a credit pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the taxpayer shall include a copy of the eligibility certificate obtained pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). The Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury shall allow a credit for each taxpayer who is eligible pursuant to section 3 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
b. The amount of the credit applied under this section against the tax imposed pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1945, c.162 (C.54:10A-5), for a privilege period, when taken together with any other credits allowed against the tax imposed pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1945, c.162 (C.54:10-5), shall not exceed 50 percent of the tax liability otherwise due and shall not reduce the tax liability to an amount less than the statutory minimum provided in subsection (e) of section 5 of P.L.1945, c.162 (C.54:10A-1 et seq.). The priority in which credits allowed pursuant to this section and any other credits shall be taken shall be determined by the Director of the Division of Taxation. The amount of the credit otherwise allowable under this section that cannot be applied for the privilege period due to the limitations of this subsection or under other provisions of P.L.1945, c.162 may be carried over, if necessary, to the seven privilege periods following the privilege period for which the credit was allowed.
c. If a credit is owed to a warehouse owner under P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) with respect to property, and the property, or an interest therein, is sold, the credit for the period after the sale that would have been allowed under P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) to the prior owner had the property not been sold shall be allowed to the successor owner if that right is specified in the deed transferring the property and the Department of Community Affairs and the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury are notified of the transaction and intended distribution of the credit. If the credit is not transferred pursuant to this subsection, then the remaining credit shall remain with the prior building owner.
d. The amount of credit granted under P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) to a New Jersey S corporation or an entity classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes shall be passed through to the partners, members, shareholders, or owners respectively, either in proportion to their ownership interest in the equity or as the partners, members, shareholders, or owners mutually agree as provided in an executed document detailing the alternate distribution method. The entity shall notify the Department of Community Affairs and the Division of Taxation of the relevant ownership interests and the intended distribution method in the taxpayer's application for the tax credit.
e. Each taxpayer shall, for any tax year for which a credit is claimed pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), maintain records of such information as the Department of Community Affairs and the Division of Taxation shall determine, and report that information to the Department of Community Affairs and the Division of Taxation in the form and at the time that the two agencies shall determine.
5. The Department of Community Affairs and the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury shall adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
6. This act shall take effect 180 days after enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides a corporation business tax credit to taxpayers who construct a green warehouse or retrofit a warehouse to qualify as a green warehouse pursuant to the requirements of the bill. The tax credit would be administered by the Department of Community Affairs and the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury.
The bill defines a "green warehouse" as a warehouse that is a high performance green building. The bill defines "high performance green building" as a solar-ready building that is designed and constructed in a manner that achieves at least: a silver rating according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System as adopted by the United States Green Building Council; a two globe rating according to the Green Globes Program as adopted by the Green Building Initiative; or a comparable numeric rating according to a nationally recognized, accepted, and appropriate numeric sustainable development rating system, guideline, or standard as the Commissioner of Community Affairs, in consultation with the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and the Board of Public Utilities, may designate by regulation.
