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Alpha-Mail                                               logo web sm 12mb
 A Tax Professional's Guide to Credits and Incentives, Courtesy of Alpharesults
 Vol. VIII No. 8 August 2014
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In this issue
Looking Forward to Tax Credits!
Spotlight on Pennsylvania Credits and Incentives

Hello!

Welcome to Alpha-Mail, the monthly newsletter about tax credits and incentives for tax professionals.

This month, learn how you can help your clients "look forward" to getting tax credits!  Also, some of you may have clients with operations in Pennsylvania, so be sure to see our overview of Pennsylvania credits and incentives.  We hope you can use this information to strengthen your client relationships! 

 

Thank you for reading Alpha-Mail -- please click reply to tell us what you think.

 

All the best, 

Dale&JimSigsSM1     

 Dale Stapler    Jim Tinsley
     Alpharesults, LLC 

 

 

 


Looking Forward to Tax Credits!                
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As part of your tax filing for extended returns and preparation for year-end planning, make sure you help your clients look forward as they plan for 2015. Many of their planned business activities could qualify for tax credits and incentives. Your early advice could make the difference between qualifying and not qualifying. For example, if they plan to add jobs, make sure they know the minimum required for a job tax credit. Most states require advance notice and approval before tax credits and incentives can be utilized.

So reach out to your clients and discuss their plans for expansion, relocation, employment growth, new software and capital expenditures. Any of these could be signals for potential benefits.
Then you and your clients can look forward to tax credits!

 

 

JimSig  

 

 


Pennsylvania Credits and Incentives            
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As we've mentioned before, our Georgia clients frequently ask us to investigate potential credits and incentives in other states where they have operations, potential acquisitions or strong relationships with customers or vendors. In addition, private equity groups ask us about potential $$ for their portfolio companies.

 

We were recently asked about credits and incentives in Pennsylvania. I was able to speak with some Pennsylvania economic development professionals and learned some of their details (Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) click here).

 

Pennsylvania is in the middle range for corporate tax burdens and incentives when compared with other states.  Pennsylvania ranks 24th in the The Tax Foundation's 2014 Business Tax Climate Index (click here).

It takes a while to sort through them, but Pennsylvania has a wide selection (ok, hodgepodge) of incentives, credits, loans, and programs to assist businesses for increasing and retaining Pennsylvania jobs and increasing business investments.  Job Creation Tax Credits (JCTC) provide a $1,000-per-job tax credit to create new jobs in the state within three years (click here).  Several Keystone Innovation Zone programs provide tax credits to certain businesses in specific geographic zones.  Other incentives include R&D credits and various sales tax and energy tax exemptions.  The Pennsylvania First program (PA First) provides comprehensive discretionary assistance to businesses (click here). Specific requirements depend on business type, size, wages, location, and other factors.

Another big consideration -- an application and approval process is required for all of Pennsylvania's DCED incentives.  And, Pennsylvania's credits and incentives are somewhat more complicated than other states.
 
Compared to Georgia, Pennsylvania has:
  • Higher and lower taxes:  Much higher corporate income tax rate.  Lower personal income tax rate.  Similar sales taxes and higher property taxes.
  • A similar range of industries eligible for incentives if adding jobs and capital investments, and a far narrower range for training incentives.     
  • NO opportunities for incentives unless pre-approved.
  • Location, location, location -- if that's what is important to the business
To summarize, Pennsylvania is not as competitive as leading states for new and expanding businesses, unless those businesses really need Pennsylvania's prime East Coast location.
 
Do any of your clients have Pennsylvania connections?  Make sure you review their potential qualifying activities early to maximize their $$ benefits!!

 
DaleSig

   

 


About Us
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Alpharesults has assembled a team with the specialized knowledge and approach required to obtain state tax credits and incentives.  We are not a public accounting firm.  Rather, our business services complement those of public accounting firms and do not create conflicted loyalties, because our professionals do not perform attestation work or other external audit functions.

   

We focus on small to medium-sized businesses and work with a wide variety of accounting firms.  For more information on our services, follow this link

 

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Contact Information
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email:  alpha-mail@alpharesults.com                   phone: 770-667-1332
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