New Bill Brings New Rules to the Florida R&D Tax Credit
With the passing of House Bill 33a in 2015, several changes have been made to Florida’s R&D Tax Credit. Florida has changed the annual limit on the research and development corporate tax credit for the March 2016 application period to $23 million from the usual $9 million cap. After 2016, the available credit returns to $9 million. The bill also applies further restrictions on which types of industries can claim the credit, and changes the distribution of credits to eligible applicants from first-come, first-serve to a prorated basis.
The eligible target industries include the following:
- Manufacturing
- Life Sciences
- Information Technology
- Aviation and Aerospace
- Homeland Security and Defense
- Cloud Information Technology
- Marine Sciences
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
A business applying for the Florida R&D tax credit must include a letter from the Department of Economic Opportunity confirming its eligibility.
Applications must be filed on or after March 20th and before March 27th for R&D expenses incurred during the previous year. The $23 million cap for the 2016 application period will be granted for R&D expenses incurred in calendar year 2015. If total credits for all applicants surpass the maximum allowed, credits are granted on a prorated basis.
If you are interested in claiming the R&D tax credit in Florida, please contact a Swanson Reed specialist for more information.
