(A)(1) An employer who employs a person who received Family Independence payments within this State for three months immediately preceding the month the person becomes employed is eligible for an income tax credit of:

(a) twenty percent of the wages paid to the employee for each full month of employment for the first twelve months of employment;

(b) fifteen percent of the wages paid to the employee for each full month of employment during the second twelve months of employment;

(c) ten percent of the wages paid to the employee for each full month during the third twelve months of employment.

(2) Except for employees employed in distressed counties, the maximum aggregate credit that may be claimed in a tax year for a single employee pursuant to this subsection and Section 12-6-3360 is five thousand five hundred dollars.

(B) In addition to the credits provided for in subsection (A) and Section 12-6-3360, an employer who employs a person who received Family Independence payments within this State for three months immediately preceding the month the person becomes employed and employs that person to work full time in a distressed county or a least developed county, as defined in Section 12-6-3360, is allowed a credit in an amount equal to one hundred seventy-five dollars for each full month during the first thirty-six months of employment.

(C) In order to claim the credit provided in subsection (A) an employer must make health insurance available to the qualified employee. All conditions including employer contributions and employer imposed waiting periods for the qualified employee must be on the same basis and under the same conditions as that of any other employee employed by the employer claiming the credit. The credit is allowed from the date of hire for each full month of employment notwithstanding an employer imposed waiting period which must not exceed twelve months.

Nothing in this section may be construed to require employers to pay for all or part of any health insurance coverage for a qualified employee in order to claim the credit if an employer does not pay for all or part of health insurance coverage for his other employees.

(D) The Department of Social Services and the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce must make information available to employers interested in hiring Family Independence recipients. An employer shall submit an employee release and shall request in writing certification of Family Independence eligibility from the Department of Social Services by the fifteenth day of the first month after the end of the taxable year in which the employer hires the Family Independence recipient. The department has thirty days from the date the employer submits the employee release and request in which to approve or deny in writing certification of Family Independence eligibility.

(E) No income tax credit provided for in subsection (A) may be taken under this section if the position filled by the former AFDC recipient was made available due to the termination or forced resignation of an employee for the purpose of obtaining the tax credit. Nothing in this section creates a private cause of action which does not otherwise exist at law.

(F) A credit claimed under this section but not used in a taxable year may be carried forward fifteen years from the taxable year in which the credit is earned.

(G) For purposes of this section, "Family Independence payments" means financial assistance provided under Title IV, Part A of the Social Security Act.

HISTORY: 1995 Act No. 102, Part III, Section 6; 1996 Act No. 462, Section 11A; 1997 Act No. 109, Section 2A; 1997 Act No. 133, Section 2; 2002 Act No. 332, Section 5, eff June 18, 2002; 2003 Act No. 69, Section 3.M.3, eff June 18, 2003, applicable to tax years beginning after 2003.