Sponsored by:
Senator BOB SMITH
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
Senator CHRISTOPHER "KIP" BATEMAN
District 16 (Morris and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Provides sales and use tax exemption for wind energy equipment.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act providing a sales and use tax exemption for wind energy equipment and amending P.L.1980, c.105.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 45 of P.L.1980, c.105 (C.54:32B-8.33) is amended to read as follows:
45. Receipts from sales of solar and wind energy devices or systems designed to provide heating or cooling, or electrical or mechanical power, as applicable, by collecting and transferring solar-generated or wind-generated energy and including mechanical or chemical devices for storing solar [generated] or wind-generated energy are exempt from the tax imposed under the [Sales and Use Tax Act] "Sales and Use Tax Act," P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.). The [Director of the Division of Energy Planning and Conservation in the Department of Energy] Board of Public Utilities shall establish standards with respect to the technical sufficiency of solar and wind energy systems for purposes of qualification for exemption.
(cf: P.L.1980, c.105, s.45)
2. (New section) A business or other person that shall have purchased and installed a wind energy device or system after June 30, 1977 on which this section shall have become operative, which device or system is in use on that operative date and otherwise meets the requirements of section 1 of this act, may, not later than the 180th day after that operative date, file an application for a rebate on the amount of sales and use tax paid on such wind energy device or system with the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury. The director shall promulgate regulations and forms for that purpose, including in such regulations a provision that an applicant shall provide proof of such purchase and installation and the amount of such tax paid. The director shall process an application submitted under this section within 20 business days of receipt thereof. A rebate shall be paid to an applicant upon notice of the director's approval of the application.
3. This act shall take effect immediately. Sections 1 and 2 shall be inoperative until the 60th day after the date of enactment, but the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act. Section 2 shall expire one year after the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides a sales and use tax exemption on the receipts from sales of any wind energy device or system, as described in the bill. Current law since July 1, 1977, has provided for a sales and use tax exemption on solar energy devices and systems.
The bill allows a person to file an application for a sales and use tax rebate reflecting the amount of the tax paid on a wind energy device or system with the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury that was purchased and installed after June 30, 1977 and prior to the operative date of the bill. Further, in order for the purchaser to qualify for the rebate, the device or system must still be in use on the operative date of the bill and otherwise meet the requirements of section 1 of the bill. The bill requires the director to promulgate regulations and forms for that purpose, including a provision that an applicant shall provide proof of such purchase and installation and the amount of such tax paid.