Employee-Owned Business Office & Income Tax Credit

The bill creates the employee ownership office, which was originally created administratively by the governor in 2020, as a statutory entity within the office of economic development and international trade (OEDIT).

The bill also creates an a refundable income tax credit for income tax years 2025 to 2029 for up to 50% of specified costs incurred by new employee-owned businesses, to be not to exceed $50,000. New employee-owned businesses are defined as businesses that have been employee-owned for 7 or fewer years. The tax credits are administered by the employee ownership office, which may allocate up to $1.5 million in tax credits per year. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, $145,847 is appropriated from the general fund to the office of the governor for use by the employee ownership office.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)