The State of California create the Enterprise Zone initiative in order to assist cities attract businesses, and one of the cities that have championed this opportunity was the City of Palmdale who received designation from the State for the Antelope Valley Enterprise Zone in February 1997.  They encourage businesses both small and large to take advantage of a number of tax incentives through the Antelope Valley Enterprise Zone. Any company located within the boundaries of the 61-square-mile Enterprise Zone may reduce its state business income tax through five tax incentives.

This particular area is experiencing tremendous growth due to its proximity to Los Angeles combined with the low cost of living.  And with the following five tax incentives, this particular enterprise zone is sure to see continued economic growth for years to come:

Hiring Tax Credit:
Firms may earn up to $31,574 in state tax credits for each qualified employee hired over a five-year period.

Sales & Use Tax Credit:
Corporations may earn sales tax credits on purchases of up to $20 million per year on qualified machinery or machinery parts used in the Zone. Partnerships and individuals may annually claim a credit on the first $1 million of qualifying purchases.

Business Expense Deduction:
You may deduct up to $20,000 of the cost of qualifying business equipment, furniture and fixtures or other depreciable personal property.

Net Operating Loss Carryover:
Up to 100 percent of Net Operating Loss may be carried forward for 15 years.

Interest Deduction for Lenders:
Lenders to Zone businesses may deduct direct expenses incurred in making the loan from the interest income. This may mean more favorable rates or terms for the borrower.

So if you have a business or you’re a tax professional who has clients that run their companies in the Antelope Valley Enterprise Zone, contact us and let us help you take advantage of the tax credits available.

Despite a strong effort, the State of California has not given the city of Oxnard its desired Enterprise Zone. This has caused a significant stir in the region, since, from all appearances, Oxnard seemed to be an excellent candidate.  Instead of Oxnard, the state chose to award its new designations to:

• Hesperia
• Taft
• Tulare
• Pittsburg
• Sacramento

The Pacific Coast Business Times showed considerable consternation at the state’s decision:

“Oxnard is the biggest city in the biggest county in the tri-county region. It has a pro-business attitude, plenty of land and utility resources, a large and eager workforce and a desire to lead the state’s economic recovery. But that apparently means nothing in Sacramento, where the California Enterprise Zone Program recently turned down Oxnard’s request to join 41 other enterprise-zone locations in the state.”

If you are like most of the readers of this blog, you follow California tax law very closely, and you will be very interested to know thatAB 1452 describes the new tax code changes that appear like they will be taking effect shortly.   If you want to know how this affects you or your clients, you can call us directly at (314) 550-1666 and we can help navigate you through how we can help you take full advantage of your available tax credits.  The official AB 1452 quote is below:

3. Limit business tax credits in 2008-09 and 2009-10: Limits the amounts of business incentive tax credits that can be used to reduce tax liability in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Use of credits will be limited to 50 percent of the taxpayer’s liability, and this increases General Fund revenue by $890 million in 2008-09 and $415 million in 2009-10. Taxpayers with net business income of less than $500,000 will be exempted from this change. Various tax credits are included in these amendments, including the Research and Development credit, the Enterprise Zone credit, and Low-Income Housing credits. Beginning in 2010, these amendments liberalize the use of credits such that businesses could assign credits to any affiliated corporation. This increases the use of tax credits in 2010, and thereafter, resulting in a loss of General Fund revenues.