Florida Senate - 2016 SB 1456 By Senator Bullard 39-01612-16 20161456__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to the internship tax credit program; 3 creating s. 220.198, F.S.; providing a short title; 4 providing definitions; providing a corporate income 5 tax credit of up to a specified amount for a qualified 6 business hiring a degree-seeking student after a 7 completed internship by the degree-seeking student; 8 providing eligibility criteria; limiting the amount of 9 the tax credit a qualified business may claim; 10 authorizing the Department of Revenue to adopt rules 11 governing applications and establish qualification 12 requirements; authorizing a qualified business to 13 carry forward the tax credit for a specified period; 14 providing an effective date. 15 16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 17 18 Section 1. Section 220.198, Florida Statutes, is created to 19 read: 20 220.198 Internship tax credit program.— 21 (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Internship 22 Tax Credit Program.” 23 (2) As used in this section, the term: 24 (a) “Degree-seeking student” means a person who is a senior 25 at a state university, a Florida College System institution, a 26 career center operated by a school district under s. 1001.44, or 27 a charter technical career center, or any graduate student 28 enrolled at a state university. 29 (b) “Qualified business” means a business that has been in 30 existence and continuously operating for at least 3 years. 31 (3) For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 32 2017, a qualified business shall receive a tax credit for 33 previously paid corporate income taxes imposed under this 34 chapter equal to the lesser of $2,000 or the amount of wages 35 previously paid by the qualified business to a degree-seeking 36 student during the student’s internship, if: 37 (a) The degree-seeking student, during his or her 38 internship, worked full-time for at least 9 consecutive weeks. 39 (b) The qualified business provides documentation to show, 40 that for the current tax year, it employs on a full-time basis 41 at least 20 percent of the degree-seeking students who were 42 previously employed as interns by that qualified business. 43 (c) The degree-seeking student had a minimum grade point 44 average of 2.0 at the start of the internship. 45 (d) The state university, Florida College System 46 institution, career center operated by a school district under 47 s. 1001.44, or charter technical career center has provided 48 documentation attesting to the degree-seeking student’s 49 enrollment status. 50 (4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3)(b), a qualified business 51 that for the prior 3 years on average employed 10 full-time 52 employees or fewer, shall receive the tax credit if it provides 53 documentation that it previously hired at least one intern and, 54 for the current tax year, it employs on a full-time basis at 55 least one of the degree-seeking students who was previously 56 employed as an intern by that qualified business. 57 (5) A qualified business may not claim a tax credit of more 58 than $10,000 for previously paid corporate income taxes in any 59 one tax year. 60 (6) The department may adopt rules governing the manner and 61 form of applications for the tax credit and establish 62 qualification requirements for the tax credit. 63 (7) A qualified business awarded a tax credit of previously 64 paid corporate income taxes under this section may carry forward 65 any unused portion of a tax credit for up to 2 years. 66 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.