Bill > A1757

Introduced Session

This bill provides a corporation business tax credit and gross income tax credit for qualified wages for employing formerly incarcerated individuals. The two credits established by this bill provide an employer with a credit in the amount of 10 percent of the wages paid to a formerly incarcerated individual. The credits may not exceed $1,200 for each formerly incarcerated individual. The bill defines a formerly incarcerated individual as an individual who previously spent time in the custody of law enforcement authorities, including the Department of Corrections, following conviction of a criminal offense or following the entry of a guilty plea to a criminal charge by the person before a court of competent jurisdiction, who is no longer subject to incarceration. To be creditable, wages must also arise from employment of a formerly incarcerated individual for at least 185 business days of the applicable tax year or privilege period. To qualify for a credit, the bill imposes a series of conditions on a taxpayer as an employer. For a tax year or privilege period that the credit is claimed, the bill requires that 25 percent of the taxpayer's new employees be formerly incarcerated individuals. For tax years or privilege periods immediately subsequent to a prior credit year, the bill further requires that 50 percent of the qualified veterans hired during that time must remain employed by the taxpayer. Additionally, the bill requires the taxpayer to make efforts to recruit formerly incarcerated individuals and members of the immediately family of formerly incarcerated individuals. In addition to providing the terms of credit qualification, the bill contains provisions aimed at preventing potential misuse of the credit. The bill prohibits taxpayers from simultaneously using the wages or employment of the formerly incarcerated individual to qualify for the credit and any other generally available employment incentive that comes in the form of a State tax credit. The bill also empowers the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury to recapture the credit, plus an additional 50 percent penalty, if the director determines that the employer displaced employees to replace them with formerly incarcerated individuals for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the credit.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D)*,  William Sampson (D)*,  Anthony Verrelli (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Labor Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document