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 A Tax Professional's Guide to Credits and Incentives, Courtesy of Alpharesults
 Vol. IX No. 11 November 2015
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In this issue
"Professional" Tax Credits
Spotlight on Maine Credits and Incentives

Hello!

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

This month, learn more about how your professional service firm clients (including your own firm!) could qualify for tax credits!  Also, some of you may have clients who own businesses in Maine, so be sure to see our overview of Maine 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 
 
 
 

"Professional" Tax Credits!                       
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Did you know that your professional service firm clients could get Georgia tax credits?  Here's why -- more than ever, professional service firms are continually updating and adding new technologies. Your clients that provide Advertising, Architectural, Consulting, Accounting (including yours!), Engineering, Insurance Agency, Law, Marketing, Public Relations, Software Development, Training, Wealth Management, and others, could be eligible:
  • Job Tax Credits - For firms adding employees and located in Opportunity Zones, Military Zones, or Tier 1/Lower 40 counties.
  • Retraining Tax Credits - For training existing employees on new technologies that include new software, upgrades, additional modules, customized systems and business process changes.
 
The following areas offer great potential for Retraining Tax Credits:
  • Business management systems - main business systems for operating the firm, such as Deltek Vision, SAGE, Aderant, Epic, or other software, including annual updates
  • Customer relationship management systems (CRM) - for business development, lead generation, prospective client tracking, and new client intake such as Salesforce.com
  • Document management systems - for paperless operations and workflow
  • Specialized systems - CAD, design, project management, engineering analysis, tax, audit, case management, time & material tracking, portfolio analysis and other software
  • Lean Office - similar to Lean Manufacturing initiatives for quality, cost and customer service improvements.
  • Marketing systems - website, social media, LinkedIn, Twitter and other e-commerce systems
Reach out to your professional service firm clients to let them know about the potential $$ waiting for them! 

 
JimSig  

Maine 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 Maine, and their state economic development professionals gave us some details (Maine Economic and Community Development site click here).
 
Maine offers a good mix of tax credits and reimbursements for new and existing businesses, but other factors hurt their overall competitive position for business.  CNBC ranked Maine #44 in their 2015 America's Top States for Business survey (Georgia was #5 in the same survey).    
 
Credits and reimbursements include:  

Employment Tax Increment Financing -- new or growing Maine businesses can save up to 80% of withholding taxes for new employees for as long as 10 years depending on location and industry.

Pine Tree Development Zone -- For businesses involved in Biotechnology, Aquaculture and Marine Technology, Composite Materials Technology, Environmental Technology, Advanced Technologies for Forestry and Agriculture, Manufacturing and Precision Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Financial Services.  Significant corporate income tax credits for hiring new employees.

Business Equipment Tax Relief -- 100% tax exemption from personal property taxes on eligible business equipment.

Technology Tax Credits -- allow companies involved in manufacturing and certain research-driven activities to take advantage of significant credits and tax exemptions for everything from electricity cost to specialized equipment purchases and other expenses involved in R & D.
 
Compared to Georgia, Maine has:
  • Higher corporate and personal income tax rates.
  • A narrower range of incentives.
  • Pre-approvals required for all incentives
To summarize, Maine is below average for business tax incentives, but their upper Eastern Seaboard location could provide advantages, depending on logistical needs.  
 
Do any of your clients have Maine connections?  If so, you will need to start collecting information and planning early!
 
 
DaleSig
   
 

About Us
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Alpharesults has assembled a team with the specialized knowledge and approach required to obtain Georgia income tax credits.  We are not a public accounting firm.  Rather, our 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 exclusively in Georgia with a wide variety of in-state and out-of-state accounting firms.  For more information on our services, follow this link. 

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