A. To encourage New Mexico businesses to hire youth participating in career preparation education programs, a taxpayer who files an individual New Mexico income tax return, who is not a dependent of another individual and who is an owner of a New Mexico business may claim a credit in an amount equal to fifty percent of gross wages paid to qualified students who are employed by the business during the taxable year for which the return is filed. The tax credit provided by this section may be referred to as the "job mentorship tax credit".

B. A taxpayer who is an owner of a New Mexico business may claim the job mentorship tax credit for each taxable year in which the business employs one or more qualified students. The maximum aggregate credit allowable shall not exceed fifty percent of the gross wages paid to not more than ten qualified students employed by the business for up to three hundred twenty hours of employment of each qualified student in each taxable year for a maximum of three taxable years for each qualified student. In no event shall a taxpayer claim a credit in excess of twelve thousand dollars ($12,000) in any taxable year. The taxpayer shall certify that hiring the qualified student does not displace or replace a current employee.

C. The department shall issue job mentorship tax credit certificates upon request to any accredited New Mexico secondary school that has a school-sanctioned career preparation education program. The maximum number of certificates that may be issued in a school year to any one school is equal to the number of qualified students in the school-sanctioned career preparation education program on October 15 of that school year, as certified by the school principal.

D. A job mentorship tax credit certificate may be executed by a school principal with respect to a qualified student, and the executed certificate may be transferred to a New Mexico business that employs that student. By executing the certificate with respect to a student, the school principal certifies that the school has a school-sanctioned career preparation education program and the student is a qualified student.

E. To claim the job mentorship tax credit, the taxpayer must submit with respect to each employee for whom the credit is claimed:

(1) a properly executed job mentorship tax credit certificate;

(2) information required by the secretary with respect to the employee's employment by the business during the taxable year for which the credit is claimed; and

(3) information required by the secretary that the employee was not also employed in the same taxable year by another New Mexico business qualifying for and claiming a job mentorship tax credit for that employee pursuant to this section or the Corporate Income and Franchise Tax Act [Chapter 7, Article 2A NMSA 1978].

F. The job mentorship tax credit may only be deducted from the taxpayer's New Mexico income tax liability for the taxable year. Any portion of the maximum credit provided by this section that remains unused at the end of the taxpayer's taxable year may be carried forward for three consecutive taxable years; provided the total credits claimed under this section shall not exceed the maximum allowable pursuant to Subsection B of this section.

G. A husband and wife who file separate returns for a taxable year in which they could have filed a joint return may each claim only one-half of the credit that would have been allowed on a joint return.

H. A taxpayer who otherwise qualifies for and claims a job mentorship tax credit for employment of qualified students by a partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, S corporation or other business association of which the taxpayer is a member may claim a credit only in proportion to his interest in the partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, S corporation or association. The total credit claimed by all members of the business shall not exceed the maximum credit allowable pursuant to Subsection B of this section.

I. As used in this section:

(1) "career preparation education program" means a work-based learning or school-to-career program designed for secondary school students to create academic and career goals and objectives and find employment in a job meeting those goals and objectives;

(2) "New Mexico business" means a partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, S corporation or sole proprietorship that carries on a trade or business in New Mexico and that employs in New Mexico fewer than three hundred full-time employees at any one time during the taxable year; and

(3) "qualified student" means an individual who is at least fourteen years of age but not more than twenty-one years of age who is attending full time an accredited New Mexico secondary school and who is a participant in a career preparation education program sanctioned by the secondary school.

History: Laws 2003, ch. 400, § 1.

Effective dates. — Laws 2003, ch. 400 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 20, 2003, 90 days after adjournment of the legislature.