New Mexico Tax Incentives
Page Contents
- Apprenticeships
- Assistive Technology Fund
- Assistive Technology Loan Bank
- Business Loans for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities
- Business Loans for Women Entrepreneurs
- High Wage Jobs Tax Credit
- Industrial Revenue Bonds
- Job Training Incentive Program
- Rural Job Tax Credit
- Santa Fe Small Business Development Loan Fund
- Services for Employers - New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR)
- The Loan Funds
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeship is a relationship between an employer and an employee during which the worker, or apprentice, learns a trade. The training lasts a specified length of time. An apprenticeship program covers all aspects of the trade and includes both on-the-job training and related instruction. Related instruction generally takes place in a classroom. The teaching covers the techniques of the trade and also the theory behind the techniques. It includes detailed discussion of how typical tasks are preformed and the safety precautions that must be taken. Apprenticeship usually lasts about (4) four years, but range from one to five years. During this time apprentice’s work under experienced workers known as journey workers, the status they will attain after successfully completing their apprenticeships.
An apprentice's pay starts out at about 45% to 50% of a journey workers' wages and increases periodically throughout the apprenticeship. Many programs are cosponsored by trade unions. Sponsors can also be the apprentice’s employer or the employer’s associations.
The person hired as the apprentice could be someone with a disability who needs specialized on-the-job training to obtain employment.
Assistive Technology Fund
The Assistive Technology Fund gives eligible individuals and families a way to purchase Assistive Technology. Assistive Technology devices and tools are those aids that support a person with a disability to perform tasks that might otherwise not be possible.
Any New Mexican with a developmental disability may apply for a grant that meets the criteria for functional participation. The yearly funding cycle starts July 1 and ends June 30 of the next year. Funds are distributed each year on a first come, first serve basis until the funds are exhausted.
These grants allow participants, therapists and other interdisciplinary team members to acquire equipment that enables nearly immediate active participation. The areas of focus for active participation are communicative and physical as they support interaction with others, mobility, environmental control, recreation, work, volunteerism and community integration.
Individual grants are approved based on a functional plan for the use of appropriate Assistive Technologies. The intent of the fund is to encourage the development of low-tech and light-tech augmentative communication, environmental access, mobility systems and other functional Assistive Technology that are not covered by other funding sources and cannot be funded by other means.
Assistive technology is any device that enables a person with a disability to be more functional. Using the proper technology at work will allow a disabled person to be more productive, and in turn, a better worker.
Assistive Technology Loan Bank
The Assistive Technology Loan Bank Program offers therapists the opportunity to borrow equipment for evaluation and trial purposes free of charge. Equipment may be borrowed and tested for 30 days. This allows therapists to determine which devices work best for individuals with developmental disabilities. The items in the Loan Banks are for evaluation purposes only and are not to be loaned to individuals for daily use.
Business Loans for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities
ACCION New Mexico, WESST Corp and The Loan Fund have received $25,000 from Wells Fargo New Mexico to support their groundbreaking partnership to better serve entrepreneurs with disabilities.
The project among three of New Mexico’s premier small business development agencies is helping ensure greater access to information and services for New Mexicans with disabilities who want to start or grow a business. The $25,000 contribution provides operational support to assist the agencies’ work with the New Mexico Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and support ongoing education and training efforts among the organizations’ staff about the issues entrepreneurs with disabilities face in securing capital and growing their businesses.
Business Loans for Women Entrepreneurs
State Farm and ACCION New Mexico are expanding their partnership to support New Mexico women who want to start or expand a small business.
State Farm is increasing its financial support to the nonprofit small business lender with a $12,500 contribution for the ACCION Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (WELead).
The program provides mentorship opportunities to ACCION’s women clients who are working toward entrepreneurial success.
High Wage Jobs Tax Credit
An employer may be eligible to receive a tax credit for each new high-wage, economic-based job. The credit amount equals 10 percent of the wages and benefits paid for each new economic-base job created.
Employers can use this tax credit as an incentive to create new high-wage jobs for people with disabilities who have the appropriate educational background and employment history for such a position.
The following website has information on High Wage Jobs Tax Credit.
Industrial Revenue Bonds
New Mexico communities can issue Industrial Revenue Bonds to exempt companies from property taxes on land, buildings, and equipment. Companies creating new business facilities can receive a property tax exemption for up to 20 years.
These bonds can be used as an incentive to purchase ADA compliant property or Assistive Technology to make a disabled employee more productive.
Job Training Incentive Program
New Mexico has one of the most aggressive training incentive packages in the country. The Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) funds classroom and on-the-job-training for newly created jobs in expanding or relocating businesses for up to six months. The program reimburses 50 to 70 percent of employee wages and required travel expenses
Employees who receive training can be new workers with disabilities who sometimes need a skills upgrade to obtain employment.
The following website has additional information on JTIP:
Rural Job Tax Credit
Eligible employers may earn the Rural Job Tax Credit for each qualifying job created after July 1, 2000, applying it to taxes due on the CRS return or to corporate or personal income tax. An “eligible employer” is one whom the Economic Development Department has approved for Job Training Incentive Program assistance.
Rural New Mexico is defined as any part of the state other than Los Alamos County, certain municipalities (Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe) and a ten-mile zone around those select municipalities.
Employers can use this tax credit as an incentive to hire people with disabilities who live in rural areas of New Mexico.
Santa Fe Small Business Development Loan Fund
The Santa Fe Small Business Development Loan Fund (SFSBDLF) provides loans, business training and consulting to entrepreneurs and small businesses that have difficulty in securing traditional commercial credit. The purpose of the program is to encourage small business development in Santa Fe to create or retain jobs for low- to moderate-income persons. For-profit small businesses, corporations and non-profits located within the City of Santa Fe are eligible for these loans.
Services for Employers – New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR)
The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation offers the following services to employers who hire people with disabilities:
- Placement Services – Low-cost matching qualified candidates to employer’s work environment.
- ADA Consultation – Provides knowledge about the ADA and its implementations.
- On-The-Job Training - Provides actual skill development on an individual basis at little or no cost to an employer of a person with a disability.
- Tax Incentive – Provides information to employers on business tax credits and other incentives relevant to employing people with disabilities.
The Loan Funds
The Loan Funds assist businesses and nonprofits that provide positive social benefits, meet other special requirements, and are unable to access loans from traditional sources such as banks. We place particular emphasis on helping low-income people, women and minorities.
“Positive social benefits” can be defined as the following:
- Creating and preserving jobs
- Providing services and affordable housing in disadvantaged communities
- Advancing traditional communities and cultures
- Revitalizing urban and rural communities
These loans can be used to purchase ADA compliant property or Assistive Technology to make a disabled employee more productive. Job creation, especially for people with disabilities, is another appropriate use of these loans.
Non-profit organizations can use these loans to develop affordable, accessible housing for people with disabilities.
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