2023 New York Laws › COM - Economic Development Law › Article 21 - Start-Up Ny Program › 433 - Eligibility Criteria for Businesses.

§ 433. Eligibility criteria for businesses. 1. In order to participate
in the START-UP NY program, a business must satisfy all of the following
criteria.
(a)  The  mission  and  activities  of the business must align with or
further the academic  mission  of  the  campus,  college  or  university
sponsoring  the  tax-free  NY  area in which it seeks to locate, and the
business's participation in the START-UP NY program must  have  positive
community and economic benefits.
(b)  The  business must demonstrate that it will, in its first year of
operation, create net new jobs. After its first year of  operation,  the
business  must maintain net new jobs. In addition, the average number of
employees of the business and its related persons in  the  state  during
the  year  must  equal  or  exceed the sum of: (i) the average number of
employees of the business and its related persons in  the  state  during
the  year  immediately  preceding the year in which the business submits
its application to locate in a tax-free NY area; and (ii) net  new  jobs
of  the  business  in  the tax-free NY area during the year. The average
number of employees of the business and its related persons in the state
shall be determined by adding together the total number of employees  of
the business and its related persons in the state on March thirty-first,
June  thirtieth,  September  thirtieth  and  December  thirty-first  and
dividing the total by the number of such  dates  occurring  within  such
year.
(c)  Except as provided in paragraphs (f) and (g) of this subdivision,
at the time it submits its application for the START-UP NY program,  the
business must be a new business to the state.
(d)  The  business  may  be organized as a corporation, a partnership,
limited liability company or a sole proprietorship.
(e) Except as provided in paragraphs (f) and (g) of this  subdivision,
the business must not be engaged in a line of business that is currently
or  was  previously conducted by the business or a related person in the
last five years in New York state.
(f) If a business does not satisfy the eligibility standard set  forth
in  paragraph  (c)  or  (e) of this subdivision, because at one point in
time it operated in New York state but moved its operations out  of  New
York  state  on  or  before  June  first,  two  thousand  thirteen,  the
commissioner  shall  grant  that  business  permission   to   apply   to
participate  in  the  START-UP NY program if the commissioner determines
that the business has demonstrated that it  will  substantially  restore
the jobs in New York state that it previously had moved out of state.
(g)  If  a business seeks to expand its current operations in New York
state into a tax-free NY area but the business does not qualify as a new
business because it does not satisfy the criteria in  paragraph  (c)  of
subdivision  six  of  section four hundred thirty-one of this article or
the business does not satisfy the  eligibility  standard  set  forth  in
paragraph  (e)  of  this  subdivision,  the commissioner shall grant the
business permission to apply to participate in the START-UP  NY  program
if  the  commissioner determines that the business has demonstrated that
it will create net new jobs in the tax-free NY area and that it  or  any
related  person  has  not eliminated any jobs in the state in connection
with this expansion.
2. The following types of businesses are prohibited from participating
in the START-UP NY program.
(a) retail and wholesale businesses;
(b) restaurants;
(c) real estate brokers;
(d) law firms;
(e) medical or dental practices;
(f) real estate management companies;
(g) hospitality;
(h) finance and financial services;
(i) businesses providing personal services;
(j)  businesses providing business administrative or support services,
unless such business has received permission from  the  commissioner  to
apply  to participate in the START-UP NY program upon demonstration that
the business would create no fewer than one hundred net new jobs in  the
tax-free NY area;
(k) accounting firms;
(l) businesses providing utilities; and
(m)   businesses   engaged   in  the  generation  or  distribution  of
electricity, the distribution of natural gas, or the production of steam
associated with the generation of electricity.
2-a. Additional eligibility requirements  in  Nassau  county,  Suffolk
county, Westchester county and New York city. In order to be eligible to
participate in the START-UP NY program in Nassau county, Suffolk county,
Westchester county or New York city, a business must be:
(a) in the formative stage of development; or
(b)  engaged  in  the  design,  development,  and  introduction of new
biotechnology,   information   technology,   remanufacturing,   advanced
materials,  processing,  engineering  or  electronic technology products
and/or  innovative  manufacturing  processes,  and   meet   such   other
requirements for a high-tech business as the commissioner shall develop.
3.  A  business  must  be in compliance with all worker protection and
environmental laws and regulations. In addition, a business may not  owe
past due federal or state taxes or local property taxes.
4.  Any  business  that  has successfully completed residency in a New
York state incubator pursuant to section sixteen-v  of  section  one  of
chapter  one  hundred  seventy-four  of  the  laws  of  nineteen hundred
sixty-eight constituting the urban development corporation act,  subject
to  approval  of  the  commissioner,  may  apply  to  participate in the
START-UP NY program provided that such business locates in a tax-free NY
area, notwithstanding the fact that the business may  not  constitute  a
new business.