The Empire State Jobs Retention Program was created to provide financial incentives to retain strategic businesses and jobs that are at risk of leaving the state due to the impact on business operations from a natural disaster. 

The Empire State Jobs Retention Program provides tax credits to eligible businesses that retain jobs after an event leading to a Governor's emergency declaration. A "business entity" is defined as a for-profit business duly authorized to do business in and in good standing in the state of New York. "Impacted jobs" are jobs existing the day before an event leading to an emergency declaration by the governor at a location or locations which demonstrate substantial physical damage and economic harm caused by the event for which the emergency declaration was made. For the purposes of this program, "employees" shall mean those employed at least 10 hours per week by a business entity.

The Empire State Jobs Retention Program offers a refundable tax credit. The amount of the credit depends on the number of employees:

• For businesses with 3 to 49 employees: The credit is 15% of the gross wages for impacted jobs.
• For businesses with 50 to 100 employees: The credit is 7.5% of the gross wages paid for impacted jobs.
• For businesses with over 100 employees: The credit is 3.75% of the gross wages paid for impacted jobs.

Businesses can receive a maximum of $500,000 in tax credits for each event that triggers an emergency declaration by the governor.

 To be a participant in the Empire State Jobs Retention Program, a business entity must:

• Be located in a county in which an emergency has been declared by the governor on or after June 1, 2025.
• Demonstrate evidence of substantial physical damage and economic harm at a location or locations within a county for which the governor has issued an emergency declaration and directly resulting from the event leading to the emergency declaration by the governor. "Substantial physical damage and economic harm" means the loss of ability to continue operations at the location(s) within the county in which an emergency was declared by the Governor for a period of at least five business days, and incurring specific damage amounts: $20,000 if a business entity employing three to forty-nine employees; $50,000 if a business entity employing fifty to one hundred employees; and $100,000 if a business entity employing over one hundred employees.
• At the time of application, submit to the department a plan to retain, restore or increase staffing levels within one year from the date of application to at least the staffing levels that existed at the site the day prior to the date of the applicable declaration of the state of emergency. 

 An applicant must submit a complete application as prescribed by the Commissioner. This completed application must be submitted to the commissioner within one hundred eighty days of the declaration of an emergency by the governor in the county in which the business enterprise is located. The eligibility period for the credit shall begin upon the date of declaration of an emergency by the governor covering the county in which the business entity is located.

As part of the application, an applicant must:

• Allow the Department and its agents access to any and all books and records deemed relevant by the Department to monitor compliance.
• Provide, upon request by the Department, a plan outlining the schedule for meeting the jobs retention requirements (including details on job titles and expected salaries).
• Provide the prior three years of federal and state income or franchise tax returns, unemployment insurance quarterly returns, real property tax bills and audited financial statements.
• Provide the employer identification or social security numbers for all related persons to the applicant, including those of any members of a limited liability company or partners in a partnership.
• Provide a clear and detailed presentation of all related persons to the applicant to assure the Department that jobs are not being shifted within the state.
• Certify, under penalty of perjury, that it is in substantial compliance with all environmental, worker protection, and local, state, and federal tax laws.

Upon receipt of a complete application, the Commissioner will determine whether the applicant meets the eligibility criteria. If an application is complete and the applicant meets the criteria, the Department may admit the applicant into the program and issue a certificate of eligibility and a preliminary schedule of benefits.

Claiming Credits

To receive tax credits, participants must submit evidence to the Department showing they have retained impacted jobs for the six months. 

This evidence could include forms like the NYS-45 or other requested documentation. Once sufficient evidence is reviewed, the Department calculates and issues the tax credit certificate.

Contact Information

To contact ESD and request information on when the application will be available, please email [email protected].

Please see updated draft Job Retention program regulations. If you would like to comment on these regulations, please send written email comments to Thomas Regan, Associate Counsel at [email protected] by Monday, December 8 at 5pm.

Draft Regulations