SCS/SB 849 - For all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, 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, 2025, 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 $5,000. 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 $25,000 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 act shall sunset on December 31, 2030, unless reauthorized by the General Assembly.
JOSH NORBERG