S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 7664 I N S E N A T E June 12, 2012 ___________ Introduced by Sen. RANZENHOFER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to establishing a hire-now tax credit THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. The tax law is amended by adding a new section 37 to read 2 as follows: 3 S 37. HIRE-NOW TAX CREDIT. (A) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT. A TAXPAYER, WHICH 4 IS SUBJECT TO TAX UNDER ARTICLE NINE-A OR TWENTY-TWO OF THIS CHAPTER AND 5 WHICH CREATES A NEW JOB, SHALL BE ALLOWED A CREDIT AGAINST SUCH TAX. THE 6 AMOUNT OF THE CREDIT ALLOWED UNDER THIS SECTION SHALL BE EQUAL TO THE 7 PRODUCT OF 6.85 PERCENT AND THE GROSS WAGES PAID FOR EACH NEW EMPLOYEE. 8 THE CREDIT SHALL NOT BE MORE THAN FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR ANY NEW 9 EMPLOYEE FOR ONE FULL YEAR OF EMPLOYMENT; IF A NEW EMPLOYEE HAS BEEN 10 HIRED FOR LESS THAN A FULL TAX YEAR THIS AMOUNT SHALL BE PRORATED AND 11 APPORTIONED TO EACH TAX YEAR BUT SHALL IN NO WAY DECREASE THE FULL THREE 12 CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF CREDIT ELIGIBILITY. THE TAXPAYER MAY CLAIM THIS 13 CREDIT FOR EACH NEW EMPLOYEE FOR A PERIOD OF THREE CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF 14 EMPLOYMENT. THE TAXPAYER MAY OFFSET QUARTERLY ESTIMATED TAX RETURNS 15 WITH THE AMOUNT OF THIS CREDIT EARNED IN ANY PREVIOUS QUARTER. 16 (B) UNEMPLOYMENT ENHANCEMENT. FOR CALENDAR YEARS TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN 17 AND TWO THOUSAND FOURTEEN IF A NEW EMPLOYEE WAS RECEIVING UNEMPLOYMENT 18 INSURANCE BENEFITS AT THE TIME OF HIRE, AN ADDITIONAL THREE THOUSAND 19 DOLLAR CREDIT WILL BE ALLOWED FOR THE FIRST FULL YEAR OF EMPLOYMENT. 20 (C) DEFINITIONS. AS USED IN THIS SECTION, THE FOLLOWING TERMS SHALL 21 HAVE THE FOLLOWING MEANINGS: 22 (1) "NEW EMPLOYEE" SHALL MEAN ANY FULL TIME EMPLOYEE THAT IS HIRED BY 23 THE TAXPAYER AFTER JULY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWELVE AND BEFORE APRIL 24 FIRST, TWO THOUSAND THIRTEEN, THAT CAUSES THE TOTAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 25 TO INCREASE ABOVE BASE EMPLOYMENT OR CREDIT EMPLOYMENT, WHICHEVER IS 26 HIGHER. 27 (2) "BASE YEAR" SHALL MEAN CALENDAR YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWELVE. EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD14994-08-2 S. 7664 2 1 (3) "BASE EMPLOYMENT" SHALL MEAN THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF FULL TIME 2 EMPLOYEES OR FULL TIME EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES DURING THE BASE YEAR. FOR A 3 NEW BUSINESS, BASE EMPLOYMENT SHALL BEGIN AT ZERO. 4 (4) "CREDIT EMPLOYMENT" SHALL MEAN BASE EMPLOYMENT PLUS THE NUMBER OF 5 NEW EMPLOYEES FOR WHICH A CREDIT IS EARNED FOR THE PRIOR TAX YEARS. 6 (D) REPLACEMENT EMPLOYEES. IF A NEW EMPLOYEE FOR WHICH A CREDIT WAS 7 EARNED LEAVES THE PAYROLL AND AN EMPLOYEE IS HIRED WHICH BRINGS TOTAL 8 EMPLOYMENT ABOVE BASE EMPLOYMENT BUT AT OR BELOW CREDIT EMPLOYMENT 9 LEVEL, THE CREDIT ELIGIBILITY PERIOD FOR SUCH EMPLOYEE SHALL BE THREE 10 YEARS MINUS THE AMOUNT OF TIME (ROUNDED TO THE NEXT FULL MONTH) THE 11 EMPLOYER RECEIVED THE CREDIT FOR THE DEPARTING EMPLOYEE. 12 (E) NO CREDIT SHALL BE ALLOWED UNDER THIS SECTION TO A TAXPAYER FOR 13 ANY NEW EMPLOYEE IF THE TAXPAYER CLAIMS ANY OTHER CREDIT UNDER THIS 14 ARTICLE FOR SUCH NEW EMPLOYEE WHERE THE BASIS OF SUCH OTHER CREDIT IS AN 15 INCREASE IN EMPLOYMENT. 16 S 2. Section 210 of the tax law is amended by adding a new subdivision 17 45 to read as follows: 18 45. HIRE-NOW TAX CREDIT. (A) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT. A TAXPAYER WILL BE 19 ALLOWED A CREDIT, TO BE COMPUTED AS PROVIDED IN SECTION THIRTY-SEVEN OF 20 THIS CHAPTER, AGAINST THE TAX IMPOSED BY THIS ARTICLE. 21 (B) APPLICATION OF CREDIT. THE CREDIT ALLOWED UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION 22 FOR ANY TAXABLE YEAR MAY NOT REDUCE THE TAX DUE FOR SUCH YEAR TO LESS 23 THAN THE HIGHER OF THE AMOUNTS PRESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPHS (C) AND (D) OF 24 SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION. HOWEVER, IF THE AMOUNT OF CREDIT 25 ALLOWED UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION FOR ANY TAXABLE YEAR REDUCES THE TAX TO 26 SUCH AMOUNT, ANY AMOUNT OF CREDIT THUS NOT DEDUCTIBLE IN SUCH TAXABLE 27 YEAR WILL BE TREATED AS AN OVERPAYMENT OF TAX TO BE CREDITED OR REFUNDED 28 IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION ONE THOUSAND EIGHTY-SIX OF 29 THIS CHAPTER. PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THE PROVISIONS OF SUBSECTION (C) OF 30 SECTION ONE THOUSAND EIGHTY-EIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER NOTWITHSTANDING, NO 31 INTEREST WILL BE PAID THEREON. 32 S 3. Section 606 of the tax law is amended by adding a new subsection 33 (uu) to read as follows: 34 (UU) HIRE-NOW TAX CREDIT. (1) A TAXPAYER WILL BE ALLOWED A CREDIT, TO 35 THE EXTENT ALLOWED UNDER SECTION THIRTY-SEVEN OF THIS CHAPTER, AGAINST 36 THE TAX IMPOSED BY THIS ARTICLE. 37 (2) APPLICATION OF CREDIT. IF THE AMOUNT OF THE CREDIT ALLOWED UNDER 38 THIS SUBSECTION FOR ANY TAXABLE YEAR EXCEEDS THE TAXPAYER'S TAX FOR SUCH 39 YEAR, THE EXCESS WILL BE TREATED AS AN OVERPAYMENT OF TAX TO BE CREDITED 40 OR REFUNDED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION SIX HUNDRED 41 EIGHTY-SIX OF THIS ARTICLE, PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT NO INTEREST WILL BE 42 PAID THEREON. 43 S 4. Subparagraph (B) of paragraph 1 of subsection (i) of section 606 44 of the tax law is amended by adding a new clause (xxxiv) to read as 45 follows: 46 (XXXIV) HIRE-NOW TAX CREDIT AMOUNT OF CREDIT UNDER 47 UNDER SUBSECTION (UU) SUBDIVISION FORTY-FIVE OF SECTION 48 TWO HUNDRED TEN 49 S 5. This act shall take effect immediately.