2023 New York Laws › LAB - Labor › Article 2 - The Department of Labor › 25-B - Power to Administer the Workers With Disabilties Tax Credit Program.

§  25-b.  Power to administer the workers with disabilities tax credit
program. (a) The commissioner is authorized to establish and  administer
the  workers  with  disabilities  tax  credit  program  to  provide  tax
incentives to employers for  employing  individuals  with  developmental
disabilities.  The  commissioner  is  authorized  to  allocate up to six
million dollars of tax credits annually.
(b) Definitions. (1) The term "qualified employer" means  an  employer
that  has  been  certified  by  the  commissioner  to participate in the
workers with disabilities tax credit program and  that  employs  one  or
more qualified employees.
(2) The term "qualified employee" means an individual:
(i)  who is deemed to have a developmental disability, as that term is
defined in subdivision twenty-two of section 1.03 of the mental  hygiene
law  and  who is certified by the education department or the office for
people with developmental disabilities as a  person  with  a  disability
which  constitutes  or  results in a substantial handicap to employment;
and
(ii) who is a current employee of  a  sheltered  workshop,  which  for
purposes   of   this  subdivision  is  defined  as  an  organization  or
environment  that  employs  people  with  disabilities  segregated  from
others; or who was unemployed for at least three months prior to January
first, two thousand fifteen; and
(iii)  who  has  worked  for  the qualified employer in a full-time or
part-time position that pays wages that are equivalent to the wages paid
for similar  jobs,  with  appropriate  adjustments  for  experience  and
training,  and for which no other employee has been terminated, or where
the employer has not otherwise  reduced  its  workforce  by  involuntary
terminations with the intention of filling the vacancy by creating a new
hire; and
(iv)  who  has  not  worked  for  an  entity  related to the qualified
employer in the past twenty-four months; and
(v) is employed in New York at a location in New York state.
(c) A qualified employer shall be entitled to a tax  credit.  The  tax
credits  shall  be  claimed  by  the  qualified employer as specified in
subdivision forty-eight of section two hundred ten-B and subsection (zz)
of section six hundred six of the tax law.
(d) To  participate  in  the  workers  with  disabilities  tax  credit
program, an employer must submit an application (in a form prescribed by
the  commissioner) to the commissioner. The commissioner shall establish
guidelines that specify requirements for employers to participate in the
program including  criteria  for  certifying  qualified  employees.  Any
regulations  that  the  commissioner  determines  are  necessary  may be
adopted on an emergency basis notwithstanding anything to  the  contrary
in  section  two  hundred two of the state administrative procedure act.
Such requirements may include the types of industries that the employers
are engaged in.
(e) If, after reviewing the application submitted by an employer,  the
commissioner determines that such employer is eligible to participate in
the workers with disabilities tax credit program, the commissioner shall
issue  the  employer  a  preliminary  certificate  of  eligibility  that
establishes the employer as a qualified  employer.  The  certificate  of
eligibility   shall   specify   the   maximum  amount  of  workers  with
disabilities tax credit that the employer will be allowed to  claim.  At
the  end  of  the taxable year, a qualified employer must obtain a final
certificate of eligibility from the commissioner to file with  a  return
claiming   the   credit.   The   final   certificate  must  contain  the
certificate's taxable year to which  the  credit  applies,  the  maximum
amount of the credit allowed, the qualified employer's name and employer

identification number, the employer's business address where the claimed
employees   were  employed,  the  social  security  numbers  of  claimed
employees and their hire and termination dates,  verification  that  the
claimed  employees  have  met  the  statutory  definition  of "qualified
employee", and each employee's total hours worked each  quarter,  hourly
wage, and full-time or part-time status.
(f) The tax credits provided under this program shall be applicable to
taxable periods beginning before January first, two thousand twenty-six.