Bill Text: NJ A1234 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows corporation business tax credit and gross income tax credit for employer expenditures to provide certain physical fitness benefits to employees.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-12 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee [A1234 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A1234-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman LINDA STENDER
District 22 (Middlesex, Somerset and Union)
Assemblywoman LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Allows corporation business tax credit and gross income tax credit for employer expenditures to provide certain physical fitness benefits to employees.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act providing a credit against the corporation business tax and the New Jersey gross income tax for certain taxpayer expenditures to promote employee fitness, supplementing P.L.1945, c.162 (C.54:10A-1 et seq.) and Title 54A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Subject to the provisions of subsection b. of this section, a taxpayer shall be allowed a credit against the tax imposed pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1945, c.162 (C.54:10-5), in an amount equal to 10% of the taxpayer's expenses for the privilege period to pay for:
(1) The costs of equipping, operating and maintaining a facility owned by the taxpayer and used exclusively for the purpose of promoting the physical fitness of the taxpayer's employees, including but not limited to a gymnasium, weight training room, aerobics workout space, swimming pool, running track, or any indoor or outdoor court, field, or other site used for competitive sports events or games;
(2) The costs, to the extent not covered under paragraph (1) of this subsection, of equipping and providing any related financial support for an athletic team under the sponsorship of the taxpayer, either alone or jointly with one or more other employers, provided that the membership of the team consists entirely of employees of the taxpayer or the taxpayer and such other employer or employers, as appropriate;
(3) All or part of the cost of individual memberships or a group membership for the taxpayer's employees at a health club, as defined by subsection b. of section 1 of P.L.1987, c.238 (C.56:8-39);
(4) The cost of employing a qualified person to conduct, on the taxpayer's business premises, a class or classes offering (a) information and guidance on subjects relating to personal and family health, such as nutrition, hygiene, and methods of preventing, recognizing and combating substance addiction, or (b) instruction in and opportunity for fitness enhancement activity, including but not limited to dance or other aerobic exercise, yoga, muscle stretching, or martial arts routines; and
(5) Incentive awards to employees for their regular engagement in physical activity in such forms as bicycling between home and work.
No expenditure by a taxpayer to provide any of the employee fitness benefits described in paragraphs (1) through (5) of this subsection shall qualify the taxpayer for a credit under this subsection if the benefit is extended on terms that discriminate, among full-time employees of the taxpayer, in favor of highly compensated employees.
The amounts allowed as a credit under this subsection shall not, for any privilege period, exceed $50 multiplied by the average of the number of persons employed as full-time employees of the taxpayer as of the last day of the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth months of that privilege period.
b. The priority in which credits allowed pursuant to this section and any other credits shall be taken against the tax imposed pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1945, c.162 shall be determined by the director. Credits allowable pursuant to this section shall be applied in the order of the credits' privilege periods. The amount of the credits applied under this section against the tax imposed pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1945, c.162, for a privilege period shall not, in combination with any other credits applied, exceed 50% of the tax liability otherwise due and shall not reduce the tax liability to an amount less than the statutory minimum provided in subsection (e) of section 5 of P.L.1945, c.162.
c. The amount of any credit otherwise allowable under this section that cannot be applied for the privilege period due to the limitations of subsection b. of this section may be carried over, if necessary, to the five privilege periods following the period for which the amount was allowed.
2. a. Subject to the provisions of subsection b. of this section, a taxpayer shall be allowed a credit against the tax imposed pursuant to the "New Jersey Gross Income Tax Act," N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq., in an amount equal to 10% of the taxpayer's expenses for the taxable year to pay for:
(1) The costs of equipping, operating and maintaining a facility owned by the taxpayer and used exclusively for the purpose of promoting the physical fitness of the taxpayer's employees, including but not limited to a gymnasium, weight training room, aerobics workout space, swimming pool, running track, or any indoor or outdoor court, field, or other site used for competitive sports events or games;
(2) The costs, to the extent not covered under paragraph (1) of this subsection, of equipping and providing any related financial support for an athletic team under the sponsorship of the taxpayer, either alone or jointly with one or more other employers, provided that the membership of the team consists entirely of employees of the taxpayer or the taxpayer and such other employer or employers, as appropriate;
(3) All or part of the cost of individual memberships or a group membership for the taxpayer's employees at a health club, as defined by subsection b. of section 1 of P.L.1987, c.238 (C.56:8-39);
(4) The cost of employing a qualified person to conduct, on the taxpayer's business premises, a class or classes offering (a) information and guidance on subjects relating to personal and family health, such as nutrition, hygiene, and methods of preventing, recognizing and combating substance addiction, or (b) instruction in and opportunity for fitness enhancement activity, including but not limited to dance or other aerobic exercise, yoga, muscle stretching, or martial arts routines; and
(5) Incentive awards to employees for their regular engagement in physical activity in such forms as bicycling between home and work.
No expenditure by a taxpayer to provide any of the employee fitness benefits described in paragraphs (1) through (5) of this subsection shall qualify the taxpayer for a credit under this subsection if the benefit is extended on terms that discriminate, among full-time employees of the taxpayer, in favor of highly compensated employees.
b. The amounts allowed as a credit under this subsection shall not, for any taxable year, exceed $50 multiplied by the average of the number of persons employed as full-time employees of the taxpayer as of the last day of the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth months of that taxable year. The priority in which credits allowed pursuant to this section and any other credits shall be taken against the tax imposed pursuant to N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq. shall be determined by the director. The amount of the credits applied under this section against the tax otherwise due for a taxable year shall not, in combination with any other credits applied, exceed 50% of the tax liability otherwise due under N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq.
c. A partnership shall not be allowed a credit under this section directly, but the amount of credit of a taxpayer in respect of a distributive share of partnership income under the "New Jersey Gross Income Tax Act," N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq., shall be determined by allocating to the taxpayer that proportion of the credit acquired by the partnership that is equal to the taxpayer's share, whether or not distributed, of the total distributive income or gain of the partnership for its taxable year ending within or with the taxpayer's taxable year. For the purposes of subsection b. of this section, the amount of tax liability which would be otherwise due of a taxpayer is that proportion of the total liability of the taxpayer that the taxpayer's share of the partnership income or gain included in gross income bears to the total gross income of the taxpayer.
d. The amount of any credit otherwise allowable under this section that cannot be applied for the taxable year due to the limitations of subsection b. of this section may be carried over, if necessary, to the five taxable years following the taxable year for which the amount was allowed.
3. This act shall take effect
immediately; section 1 shall apply with respect to privilege periods ending on
or after the July 1 next following enactment, and section 2 shall apply with
respect to
taxable years beginning on or after January 1 next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill extends a credit against the corporation business tax and the New Jersey gross income tax equal to 10% of a taxpayer's expenditures to provide its employees with any of various benefits that promote their physical fitness and well-being. Expenditures qualifying for the credit would include those for the cost of (1) equipping, operating and maintaining a facility owned by the taxpayer and used exclusively for the purpose of promoting the employees' physical fitness, (2) sponsoring, alone or jointly with another employer or employers, an athletic team made up exclusively of the employees of the taxpayer or the taxpayer and other employer or employers, (3) purchasing or subsidizing individual memberships or a group membership for the employees at a health club, (4) employing a qualified person to provide personal health instruction or to conduct exercise classes for the employees, or (5) incentive awards to employees for their regular engagement in physical activity.
The bill provides that a taxpayer's expenditures for employee fitness benefits would qualify the taxpayer for a credit under the legislation only if the benefits are extended on terms that do not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees. It limits the amount allowable as a credit with respect to fitness benefit expenditures in any particular tax year to $50 times the average number of persons employed that year as full-time employees of the taxpayer.
