Florida Senate - 2021 SB 258
By Senator Jones
35-00585-21 2021258__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to an internship tax credit program;
3 creating s. 220.198, F.S.; providing a short title;
4 defining terms; providing a corporate income tax
5 credit for qualified businesses employing degree
6 seeking student interns if certain criteria are met;
7 specifying the amount of the credit a qualified
8 business may claim per student intern; specifying a
9 limit on the credit claimed per taxable year;
10 authorizing the Department of Revenue to adopt certain
11 rules; authorizing a qualified business to carry
12 forward unused credit for a certain time; providing an
13 effective date.
14
15
16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
17
18 Section 1. Section 220.198, Florida Statutes, is created to
19 read:
20 220.198 Internship tax credit program.—
21 (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Internship
22 Tax Credit Program.”
23 (2) As used in this section, the term:
24 (a) “Degree-seeking student intern” means a person who is a
25 junior or senior at a state university, a Florida College System
26 institution, a career center operated by a school district under
27 s. 1001.44, or a charter technical career center, or any
28 graduate student enrolled at a state university.
29 (b) “Full time” means at least 30 hours per week.
30 (c) “Qualified business” means a business that is in
31 existence and has been continuously operating for at least 3
32 years.
33 (3) For taxable years beginning on or after January 1,
34 2022, a qualified business may receive a tax credit for
35 previously paid corporate income taxes imposed under this
36 chapter in the amount of $2,000 per student intern if:
37 (a) The qualified business employed a degree-seeking
38 student in an internship in which the student worked full time
39 for at least 9 consecutive weeks;
40 (b) The qualified business provides documentation for the
41 current taxable year to show that at least 20 percent of the
42 business’s full-time employees were previously employed by that
43 business as degree-seeking student interns;
44 (c) A degree-seeking student intern working for a qualified
45 business had a minimum grade point average of 2.0 at the start
46 of the internship; and
47 (d) The state university, Florida College System
48 institution, career center operated by a school district under
49 s. 1001.44, or charter technical career center has provided
50 documentation attesting to the degree-seeking student intern’s
51 enrollment status.
52 (4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3)(b), a qualified business
53 that, for the 3 prior years on average, employed 10 or fewer
54 full-time employees may receive the tax credit if it provides
55 documentation that it previously hired at least one degree
56 seeking student intern and, for the current taxable year, that
57 it employs on a full-time basis at least one employee who was
58 previously employed by that qualified business as a degree
59 seeking student intern.
60 (5) A qualified business may not claim a tax credit of more
61 than $10,000 for previously paid corporate income taxes in any
62 one taxable year.
63 (6) The department may adopt rules governing the manner and
64 form of applications for the tax credit and establishing
65 qualification requirements for the tax credit.
66 (7) A qualified business awarded a tax credit for
67 previously paid corporate income taxes under this section may
68 carry forward any unused portion of a tax credit for up to 2
69 taxable years.
70 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.