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New York Tax Law Section 20 - Credit For Transportation Improvement Contributions.

Legal Research Home > New York Lawyer > Tax > New York Tax Law Section 20 - Credit For Transportation Improvement Contributions.

    § 20.  Credit  for  transportation  improvement  contributions.  (a)
  Allowance of credit. A taxpayer  subject  to  tax  under  article  nine,
  nine-A,  twenty-two, thirty-two or thirty-three of this chapter shall be
  allowed a credit against such tax, pursuant to the provisions referenced
  in subdivision (d) of this section. The credit shall be allowed where  a
  taxpayer  has  made  a  certified  contribution  of at least ten million
  dollars to a qualified transportation improvement  project  in  a  prior
  taxable year. The credit shall be equal to six percent of the taxpayer's
  increased  qualified business facility payroll for the taxable year. The
  aggregate of all credit amounts allowed to the taxpayer pursuant to this
  section with respect to a certified contribution shall  not  exceed  the
  amount of such certified contribution.
    (b)  Definitions.  As  used in this section, the following terms shall
  have the following meanings:
    (1) Qualified business  facility  ("QBF").  A  business  facility  the
  construction  or  expansion  of  which  is  intended to be enhanced by a
  qualified transportation improvement project, as described in  paragraph
  three of this subdivision.
    (2)  Certified contribution. The term "certified contribution" means a
  contribution certified jointly by the commissioner of transportation and
  the  commissioner  of  economic  development  as  a  contribution  to  a
  qualified   transportation   improvement   project,  such  certification
  indicating the date and amount of such contribution by the taxpayer, and
  including a description of  the  associated  QBF.  The  commissioner  of
  transportation  and  the comptroller are authorized to accept, hold and,
  notwithstanding section four of the state finance law, to disburse  such
  contributions,  in  the  same  manner  as  is  authorized  for municipal
  contributions in section ten of the highway law.
    (3) Qualified transportation improvement project. The term  "qualified
  transportation  improvement  project"  means  the  design,  development,
  construction, and/or improvement of  transportation  infrastructure  and
  related  facilities or systems, including, but not limited to, highways,
  roadways, bridges, ramps or lanes; or railroad, port, aviation  or  mass
  transit  facilities;  or  ferry  or  marine  facilities;  or  associated
  right-of-way  and  associated  connections  to   existing   or   planned
  transportation  infrastructure  or  facilities.  Such  project  must  be
  designed in part to enhance the planned construction or expansion  of  a
  QBF.  A  project  for  the  design,  development,  construction,  and/or
  improvement of transportation infrastructure and related  facilities  or
  systems  shall  be  considered  a  "qualified transportation improvement
  project" under this section only if the commissioner  of  transportation
  and the commissioner of economic development jointly determine, in their
  sole  discretion,  that  the  project  would  promote the development of
  employment opportunities in connection with such QBF  by  creating  more
  than  one  thousand new jobs in connection therewith, and is in the best
  interests of the people of the state. The undertaking of said project is
  declared  to  be  for  a  public  purpose,  and  the   commissioner   of
  transportation is authorized to participate in the costs thereof.
    (4)  Increased QBF payroll. The term "increased QBF payroll" means the
  excess, if any, of (A) the taxpayer's total wages,  salaries  and  other
  personal service compensation of employees employed in connection with a
  QBF   other   than   general  executive  officers  (in  the  case  of  a
  corporation), for  the  taxable  year,  over  (B)  the  average  of  the
  taxpayer's total wages, salaries and other personal service compensation
  of  such  employees  for  the taxable year in which the contribution was
  made and for the two immediately preceding taxable years,  if  any,  but
  only to the extent that such excess exists with regard to the state.
    (c)  Recapture.  (1)  If the taxpayer has made a contribution which is
  the basis for a credit allowed under this section, and if  with  respect
  to  the  third  full  taxable  year (the "test year") next following the
  taxable year during which such contribution was made (the  "contribution
  year") the employment increase test described in paragraph three of this
  subdivision  is  not  met,  the  taxpayer  shall add back the sum of the
  amounts of such credit which have been allowed  for  all  prior  taxable
  years,  and  shall  be allowed no further credit under this section with
  respect to such contribution with respect to any other taxable year.
    (2) The amount required to be added back pursuant to this  subdivision
  shall  be augmented by an amount equal to the product of such amount and
  the underpayment rate of interest (without regard to  compounding),  set
  by  the  commissioner pursuant to subsection (e) of section one thousand
  ninety-six of this chapter, in the case of taxpayers which  applied  the
  credit   against   tax   under   article  nine,  nine-A,  thirty-two  or
  thirty-three, or pursuant to  subsection  (j)  of  section  six  hundred
  ninety-seven  of  this chapter, in the case of taxpayers who applied the
  credit against tax under article twenty-two of this chapter,  in  effect
  on the last day of the taxable year.
    (3) The employment increase test shall be deemed met where the average
  number of full-time employees of the taxpayer employed (A) in connection
  with a QBF and (B) in this state, during the test year, exceeds, in each
  case,  such  number determined with respect to the contribution year and
  the two immediately preceding taxable years by one thousand.
    (4) The average number  of  employees  in  a  taxable  year  shall  be
  computed  by  ascertaining  the  number  of  employees,  except  general
  executive officers (in the case  of  a  corporation),  employed  by  the
  taxpayer  on  the  thirty-first day of March, the thirtieth day of June,
  the thirtieth day of September and the thirty-first day of  December  in
  the taxable year, by adding together the number of employees ascertained
  on  each of such dates and dividing the sum so obtained by the number of
  such abovementioned dates occurring within the taxable year.
    (d) Cross-references. For application of the credit  provided  for  in
  this section, see the following provisions of this chapter:
    (1) Article 9: Section 187-e,
    (2) Article 9-A: Section 210: subdivision 32,
    (3) Article 22: Section 606: subsections (i) and (z),
    (4) Article 32: Section 1456: subsection (n),
    (5) Article 33: Section 1511: subdivision (p).

Last modified: September 7, 2006