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New York State’s EMPIRE ZONE PROGRAM Business Annual Reports

New York State’s EMPIRE ZONE PROGRAM Business Annual Reports. Empire Zone Program Business Annual Report ● As required by Law, all empire zone certified businesses must submit a Business Annual Report (BAR) each year.

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New York State’s EMPIRE ZONE PROGRAM Business Annual Reports

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  1. New York State’s EMPIRE ZONE PROGRAM Business Annual Reports

  2. Empire Zone Program Business Annual Report ●As required by Law, all empire zone certified businesses must submit a Business Annual Report (BAR) each year. ●BAR forms will be sent to each certified business by their respective zone coordinator each year (in April). ●BAR forms will be pre-filled with contact information related to each certified business. ●Businesses certified in more than one zone must submit a separate BAR form for each zone.

  3. Empire Zone Program Business Annual Report Includes the following Sections: A. Business Certification Information. B. Employment Data. C. Capital Investments. D. Use of Tax Credits. E. Voluntary Decertification ONLY. F. Signature.

  4. Empire Zone Program Section A: BUSINESS CERTIFICATION INFORMATION Business should review data of pre-filled fields and update if necessary. ●If a business changes its FEIN: It must be decertified by submitting a BAR form - the zone coordinator will check the “X-CO” box for decertification, and The new entity must reapply using the EZ-1 for zone certification. ●If a business changes its name or address within the Zone, they must complete an EZ-4 in addition to submitting a BAR form. ●If a business moves out of the zone, it must submit a BAR form and voluntarily decertify. ● Note any other changes, such as contact information. ●Circle NO if there are no changes.

  5. Empire Zone Program Section B : EMPLOYMENT DATA Provide FT, PT, FTE employment data for the reporting year. Please review instructions on how to calculate employment. Full Time – Number of employees working at least 35 hrs per wk Part Time – Number of employees working less than 35 hrs per wk FTE(Full Time Equivalent) – Any combination of two or more part time employees whose combined hours per week equal 35. QUESTIONS ON CALCULATING FTE JOBS SHOULD BE REFERRED TO NYS DEPT OF TAX & FINANCE AT 1-888-372-0020

  6. Empire Zone Program Section B : EXAMPLES OF FTE CALCULATION Company XYZ has 10 employees, of which 5 work at least 35 hours per week - the remaining 5 are part-time workers: 3 work 15 hours per week; 1 works 20 hours per week; and 1 works 10 hours per week. Full-Time = 5 Part-Time = 5 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) = 2 FTE calculation: Combine 2 workers with 15 hours per week plus 1 worker with 10 hours per week = 40 hours per week = 1 FTE (balance over 35 is not carried forward or added to another FTE). Combine 1 worker with 20 hours per week with 1 worker with 15 hours per week = 35 hours per week = 1 FTE.

  7. Empire Zone Program • SECTION B: EMPLOYMENT DATA • ●NET NEW JOBS CREATED IN THE ZONE DURING • REPORTING YEAR - Calculate as follows: • Jobs created during reporting year less jobs lost during report year. • ● The answer may be a negative number. Ex. 10 jobs created • but 15 were lost = -5. • ● Do not include jobs created at other facilities or existing jobs • that were part of a business acquisition or merger. • ●AVERAGE STARTING HOURLY WAGE: • Provide the average hourly wage for new jobs created in this zone during the reporting year. Include all new jobs created – not the net new jobs. In the example above, you would provide average hourly wage for 10 jobs created.

  8. Empire Zone Program SECTION B: EMPLOYMENT DATA REPORT TOTAL # OF FT AND PT COVERED EMPLOYEES FOR EACH QUARTER OF REPORTING YEAR AS SHOWN ON BUSINESS’ NYS 45 FILED WITH DOL. ●Enter the information as it appears on the NYS-45 filed with DOL. (required by Law) ●This data may vary greatly from the answers to previous questions about employment. ●Will include all NYS employees not just for this zone location.

  9. Empire Zone Program SECTION B: EMPLOYMENT DATA GROSS ANNUAL WAGES AND BENEFITS: Provide the gross annual payroll AND BENEFITS (excluding executive officers) for all four quarters ending on March 31, June 30, Sept. 30, and Dec. 31, for: a. all locations within this zone only; and b. for all zone locations – if there is only one, answer will be same as above; and c. for all NYS locations. Note: If your company was not in business for all four quarters of the taxable year, add the payroll amount of actual quarters you were in business.

  10. Empire Zone Program SECTION B: EMPLOYMENT DATA CALCULATING BENEFITS: Benefits should include the following four categories of non-wage compensation provided to employees: ●paid leave (vacations, holidays, sick leave); ●supplementary pay (premium pay for overtime and work on holidays and weekends, shift differentials, non-production bonuses); ●retirement (defined benefit and defined contribution plans); and ●insurance (life insurance, health benefits, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance). DO NOT INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING LEGALLY REQUIRED BENEFITS  Social Security, Medicare, Federal and State unemployment insurance taxes, and workers’ compensation

  11. Empire Zone ProgramSECTION C: CAPITAL INVESTMENTS For each of the categories listed, enter the capital investment your business made in this zone during the reporting year. ● Do not include investments made in previous years or investments made in another zone or anywhere else in NYS. ● Do not include operating expenses such as office supplies, utilities, rent, inventory which are not subject to IRS depreciation rules, or any other recurring expenses.

  12. Empire Zone Program SECTION D: USE OF TAX CREDITS ● Confer with your tax adviser when filling out this section. ● Estimates can be used if actual tax information is not available. ● Refer to the appropriate tax forms when entering the amount of each tax credit or refund taken. Refer to the BAR form for the tax form number that coordinates with each tax credit. ● Businesses that have not yet filed taxes for the reporting year must provide an estimate for each tax credit. The BAR form must be completed and submitted by the due date regardless of a tax extension.

  13. Empire Zone ProgramSECTION D: USE OF TAX CREDITS ●Fiscal year taxpayers should use the tax year from that includes the most months in the BAR year filing. Example: Fiscal year October 1st –September 30 would use the information from their 2006-2007 tax return. Fiscal year June 1st – May 31 would use the information from 2007-2008 tax return. ●LLCs, Partnerships, S. Corporations NOTE: The tax forms and line numbers reference credits used by the certified entity. If the amount indicated on the line number of the tax form for that certified entity is zero AND the entity is structured as an LLC, Partnership or S Corporation, business must estimate the amount of the credit based upon the tax liabilities and tax returns of the individual partners, members, or shareholders of the parent corporation to whom the tax credits ultimately flow.

  14. Empire Zone ProgramSECTION D: USE OF TAX CREDITS● Do not include "carry forward" amounts from previous taxable years. ● Credits entered should be for all locations within this zone only. If your business entity is certified in more than one zone, you must pro-rate the amount of credit attributable to this zone location. ● If your business did not take a certain credit, enter "0".

  15. Empire Zone ProgramSECTION E: VOLUNTARY DECERTIFICATION • Check this box if the business wants to voluntarily decertify. ● Businesses moving out of this zone into another zone, must voluntarily decertify in this zone and re-apply for certification in the new zone. ●Businesses that changed their taxpayer ID (FEIN) during the reporting year, must be decertified and reapply for certification under the new FEIN. ●Businesses wishing to decertify for any other reason, must check this box. Please note, even if the business is voluntarily decertifying, the BAR for this reporting year must be filled out to maintain accurate job and investment records in this zone.

  16. Empire Zone Program SECTION F: SIGNATURE A completed BAR form must be signed by the responsible officer of the business and notarized. REMINDER:If A business is Certified in more than one zone, a separate BAR must be completed for each location and submitted to the respective local zone coordinator.

  17. Empire Zone Program Send the completed BAR form to your zone coordinator

  18. Empire Zone Program FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS REPORTING REQUIREMENT WILL RESULT IN REVOCATION OF YOUR EMPIRE ZONE CERTIFICATION Please respond in a timely manner so you can maintain your certification status and continue to enjoy the benefits of the Program

  19. Empire Zone Program QUESTIONS?

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