Tax Time!

Ahh, the wonders of this time of year, as the inlet unfreezes, the daffodils start to poke up, and the thoughts of upstate residents turns to 1040s, 1065s, and K-1s.

This is a good time to link to my previous blog post, “What’s a Hot Spot, and what does it mean for my company?“. It contains information on two different New York State tax incentive programs, START-UP NY (otherwise known as SUNY Tax-Free Areas to Revitalize and Transform Upstate New York) and the Innovation Hot Spot benefit, otherwise known as 16-V. This is the first tax season for companies eligible under those programs in 2014. Now is the time to start thinking about whether or not getting these benefits makes sense for 2015.

New York State has another potentially valuable benefit, under the title of Qualified Emerging Technology Company. It provides refundable tax credits – this means you could get money back from the state even if you don’t have a tax liability for that year – for job growth, and it also provides tax incentives for private investors to invest in qualified QETC companies. The process for getting approved as a QETC is fairly straightforward – there’s a form here and more info about the program here. If your company meets the standard of being a QETC (details here) it probably makes sense for you to apply for certification – that way, if you create jobs or attract a private investor, you can access the credits.

Happy tax season!