I was recently quoted in the September issue of the EnVision Newsletter, written by BoNiha Lee, The article made some excellent points and I wanted to share them with you.  Portions of the article and my quotes are below:

“The primary benefit associated with enterprise zones are tax credits for hiring eligible employees, said Steven Dotan, president and CEO of C&I Tax Consultants of Los Angeles. Dotan and his company work as consultants for both businesses and accountants throughout California.

“It’s a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for every qualified employee they hire,” Dotan said. “Not all employees qualify, but enough of them will. You’re talking about a fair enough money for any company.”

The credit is based on a percentage of the employee’s wages over the first five years of their employment. In the first year of employment, 50 percent of an employee’s wages can be claimed. The amount decreases by 10 percent every year after that for five years.

Another great incentive is the sales or use tax that helps businesses get the sales tax back on purchases of machinery. The credit can be used on items such as computers and telephones.

“It’s a good tool, because it can knock off your taxes,” Dotan said. “You’re still gathering credits and offsetting your income and offsetting costs.”

Many businesses do not take advantage of the credits because they either don’t understand how it works, do not have an accountant who knows enough about it to help, or think there is too much work associated with it to see a benefit, according to Dotan and economic development offices.”

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that the City of Compton would receive a State Enterprise Zone Program on November 3rd 2006. The state awarded the Enterprise Zone designations on a competitive basis. Compton’s application ranked 8th of the 25 applications approved for a California Enterprise Zone.  Compton said that the enterprise zone would enable the following:

1. Business and industrial expansion and growth,
2. New businesses and industry cluster attraction,
3. Jobs and job opportunities for Compton residents ,and an
4. Infusion of new private sector equity capital and financing for Compton businesses.

Below are some of the incentives offered for companies operating in the Compton Enterprise Zone:

Reductions of Fees for Enterprise Zone Businesses:
1. Reduced Expedited Plan Check Fees
2. Reduced Building Plan Check and Permit Fees
3. Reduced Planning Entitlement Permit Fee
4. Reduced Business License Application Fee

Reductions of Administrative Processing Time for Permits and other Applications:
1. Priority Plan Checks
2. Priority Building Inspections

Incentives Related to Neighborhood Transformation Activities:
1. Job Assessments, Outreach, Recruitment, and Training
2. Coordination of Local Schools, Colleges, and Other Training Providers with Enterprise Zone Employers
3. Identification and Intake of Individuals in Targeted Groups Facing Barriers to Employment
4. Integration of Job Development Services with other Local Human Services

Other Incentives for Enterprise Zone Businesses:
1. Infrastructure and Site Assembly Incentives Site Assembly
2. Site Preparation/Clearance Assistance
3. Infrastructure Design and Construction
4. Seismic Rehabilitation
5. Reduced Development Impact Fees
6. Brownfield Remediation

I’m excited to launch this blog, which I hope will become your information source for news and opinions focused on the California Enterprise Zones and tax professionals.  And we’ve launched this blog early this morning, the week directly after National Payroll Week.

National Payroll Week celebrates the hard work by America’s 156 million wage earners and the payroll professionals who pay them. Together, through the payroll withholding system, they contribute, collect, report and deposit approximately $1.7 trillion, or 64.2%, of the annual revenue of the U.S. Treasury.

And it is with the accounting industry in mind I would like to discuss the what we do as a company, C & I Tax helps companies and tax professionals in each of the California Enterprise zones take full advantage of all the available credits for businesses operating in these locations.

Are you a tax professional who has clients in one of these enterprise zones?  See below for a full list of the enterprise zones:

Los Angeles Region

• Antelope Valley (Palmdale, Lancaster)
• Compton
• Gardena
• Hollywood
• Huntington Park
• Long Beach
• Los Angeles – Central Downtown*
• Los Angeles – East Side*
• Los Angeles – Harbor Area
• Los Angeles – Mid Alameda Corridor
• Los Angeles – Northeast Valley
• Lynwood
• Pasadena / Altadena
• Santa Clarita
• Southgate
• Wilmington

Central Valley

• Arvin
• Bakersfield/Kern (SE Bakersfield)
• Barstow
• Delano
• Fresno City*
• Fresno County
• Kings County
• Lindsay
• Madera
• Merced / Atwater
• Porterville
• Shafter
• Stanislaus County (Ceres, Modesto, Turlock)
• Watsonville

Orange County Area

• Santa Ana*

San Diego Area

• San Diego (Includes cities of Chula Vista and National City)*

Inland Empire/Imperial Valley

• Calexico
• Coachella & Indio
• Colton
• Imperial Valley (Brawley, Unincorporated Imperial County)
• Riverside
• San Bernardino

Northern California

• Eureka
• Oroville
• Shasta Metro (includes cities of Redding and Anderson)
• Shasta Valley

Sacramento Area

• Sacramento (Includes North Sacramento, Florin / Perkins and Northgate)
• Stockton
• Yuba Sutter

Bay Area

• Oakland*
• Pittsburg
• Richmond
• San Francisco*
• San Jose

* indicates that Federal credits are also available.

Created by lawyers and CPAs, C & I are the Enterprise Zone tax credit experts. We do all the work for you to capture the Enterprise Zone credits. FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOU CAN SAVE!

With the economy in a down cycle, you can’t afford to pay more in taxes than you should. Let us help you reduce your tax burden and increase your cash flow.

Each of the posts from here will discuss tax news as it happens along with featuring each of the California enterprise zones in detail.