Bill > S865

Introduced Session

This bill provides credits against the New Jersey alcoholic beverage tax to manufacturers of brewed beverages in the amount of qualified capital expenses paid by the brewer during the tax year. The bill defines "brewer" to mean a properly licensed individual or business engaged in the brewing or manufacturing of beer, lager beer, ale, stout, porter, and all similar fermented malt beverages having an alcoholic content of one-half of one percent or more by volume. The term " qualified capital expense" means amounts paid by a brewer for the purchase of items of plant, machinery, equipment, or any other item as approved by the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury (the "director"), for use by the taxpayer within the State in the manufacture, sale, or both, of brewed beverages. The annual total value of the grants of tax credits approved by the director to be applied against an alcoholic beverage tax liability for a tax year is not to exceed an aggregate annual limit of $5 million. Each individual taxpayer is allowed an annual total of up to $200,000 in tax credits, which can be applied in a tax year or carried forward up to the next three tax years. However, if the amount of tax credits applied for and eligible to be approved in a given year exceeds the aggregate annual limit of $5 million, then a taxpayer who has applied for but has not been allowed a tax credit amount because the annual limit has been reached is then allowed, in the order in which the applications have been submitted, their approved amount of tax credits on the first day of the next succeeding year in which tax credits are issued and are not in excess of the amount of credits available. The director is to establish an application process and prescribe the form and manner through which a taxpayer may make and file an application to obtain the director's written authorization for the allowance of a credit. A taxpayer may not receive any credits pursuant to this bill unless the taxpayer has first obtained such prior written authorization from the director. The application is required to include, at minimum, the following information: (1) the nature, amounts, and dates of the qualifying capital expenses made by the taxpayer; (2) the number of employees employed by the taxpayer; (3) the total production of brewed beverages produced by the taxpayer in the current and prior tax year; (4) the amount of capital expenses made by the taxpayer at each location operated by the taxpayer or a parent corporation, subsidiary, joint venture, or affiliate; (5) any contracts for production held by the taxpayer with another brewer; and (6) an affirmation that the business for which the taxpayer is seeking the director's written authorization for the allowance of a credit is unrelated to the conduct or operation of any other business that was, or is currently, conducted or operated by the taxpayer. Finally, the director is required to prepare an annual report, to be filed with the Legislature, that describes the employment, production, expenditures, and tax credits authorized pursuant to the program established by the bill. The credit program applies to qualified capital expenses incurred by taxpayers on or after the January 1st next following the date of enactment.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Mike Testa (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document