Business Incentives
The City of Amsterdam has several opportunities for local businesses to renovate and expand their operations as well as incentive programs designed to draw new business to the City. Below are listed some of the incentives available to a business owner looking to relocate here to Amsterdam.
EMPIRE ZONE:
Amsterdam is a member of an Upstate New York Empire Zone designed to encourage business creation, expansion and renovation as well as stimulate increased employment and foster improvement in general living conditions.
Empire ZONE BENEFITS:
Tax Reduction Credit
The Tax Reduction Credit is a credit against business income, and is available for ten years. The tax reduction credit may reduce a firm's tax liability to zero, eliminating the fixed dollar minimum and alternative minimum tax.
Credit for Real Property Taxes
The credit for Real Property Taxes is based on a formula that considers job creation, wages, benefits and investments made in the zone.
The formula is as follows: 25% of wages and benefits paid to Net New Employees during the taxable year (not exceeding $10,000 per employee).
Sales Tax Exemption
The Sales Tax Exemption applies to all tangible personal property predominately used or consumed by the business in the Empire Zone. This exemption applies to the New York State (4%) sales tax and the Montgomery County (4%) sales tax for a total exemption of Sales Tax.
Wage Tax Credit:
This benefit allows businesses to receive a tax credit each year based on the number of full time employees that company is responsible for hiring. This credit can be taken by a new business involved with the Empire Zone for 5 consecutive years with amounts reaching $1,500.00 per employee. This amount is based on the pay scale of each employee. For those employees making 135% of minimum wage or higher a tax credit of $1,500.00 could be available. For those making less the amount received per employee will decrease accordingly.
Investment Tax Credit:
A 10% tax credit is available to any of the following types of businesses built within an Empire Zone: Production property, industrial waste treatment facilities, air pollution control facilities, and research and development property. For partnerships/sole proprietorships the tax credit is only 8%.
Employment Incentive Credit:
Allows for a 3% credit in addition to the Investment Tax Credit received by companies that employ at least 101% of the employees in the current year as they did in the previous year. If this is the case a company would be allowed to claim this credit for three years after initially claiming the Investment Tax Credit. Again, sole proprietorships and partnerships would not have the ability to apply for or receive this credit.
Zone Capital Credit:
This credit is received by companies that make specific qualified investments or contributions to an Empire Zone corporation with 250 employees or less. Qualified investments are defined by the Commissioner of Economic Development as:
- The contribution of property to a corporation for original issue capital stock or other ownership interest.
- The contribution of property to a partnership for a partnership interest
- The contribution of property to any other type of business entity for an ownership interest.
Sales Tax Refund:
This benefit states that any business located in an Empire Zone may be exempt from paying state sales tax when making purchases of building materials used in connection with industrial or commercial property so long as that property will not be used exclusively for retail sales. Although you would have to pay the tax at the time of the purchase, the credit allowed for this benefit would be returned to you. It is worth noting that this credit only precludes you from paying the State sales tax. Any taxes imposed by your local Municipality or School District would still be the responsibility of the organization.
485e Real Property Tax Abatement:
This benefit allows for businesses to avoid increases in real property taxes that result from construction of or improvements to properties located in the Empire Zone for a period of 10 years. For the first seven years the reduction will be 100% and benefits will decrease by 25% annually for the last three years.
The information provided above is drawn from the Amsterdam-Florida-Glen Empire Zone web site. For more information, please visit www.amsterdamedz.com or our Empire Zone page.
Utility Rate Reductions
National Grid offers Certified Businesses a reduction for increases in annual energy usage of at least 25% or 100 kilowatts.