15-30-2361. (Temporary) Grow Montana jobs -- annual job growth incentive tax credit. (1) Subject to the provisions of 39-11-404, a taxpayer is allowed an annual job growth incentive tax credit against the tax imposed by chapter 31 or this chapter for creating qualifying net employee growth in the state.

(2) The amount of the credit is equal to 50% of the taxpayer's total estimated taxes imposed on the taxpayer each year for the Montana source wages paid to qualifying new employees in the credit certificate under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, 26 U.S.C. 3111(a) and (b).

(3) The credit allowed by this section may not be refunded if the taxpayer has a tax liability less than the amount of the credit. If the sum of credit carryovers from the credit, if any, and the amount of credit allowed by this section for the tax year exceeds the taxpayer's tax liability for the current tax year, the excess attributable to the current tax year's credit is a credit carryover to succeeding tax years for a period not to exceed 10 years from the tax year the credit was claimed. The entire amount of unused credit must be carried forward to the earliest of the succeeding years, and the oldest available unused credit must be used first. Any credit remaining 10 years after the tax year for which the credit is based may not be refunded or credited to the taxpayer.

(4) The credit may be claimed for up to 7 years, but only in a tax year in which the department of labor and industry approved the credit by issuing the taxpayer with a credit certificate as provided in 39-11-404. If a taxpayer claims the credit but was not approved by the department of labor and industry, the taxpayer's return will be processed without regard to the credit.

(5) For fiscal year filers, the credit available to claim in the current fiscal year is the credit allowed for the calendar year that ends within the taxpayer's fiscal period.

(6) The department shall, after consultation with the department of labor and industry, prescribe a form for a taxpayer to claim the tax credit. The form must provide the department with sufficient information for the proper administration of the credit.

(7) The department shall provide the department of labor and industry with an annual report detailing the tax credit provided to taxpayers for the previous year. The information provided to the department of labor and industry is subject to the provisions of 15-30-2618 and 15-31-511.

(8) A taxpayer claiming this credit may not claim the apprenticeship tax credit pursuant to sections 15-30-2357, 15-31-173, and 39-6-109 in the same tax year that this credit is claimed. This subsection does not prevent a credit carryover from this credit from being used in a tax year in which the apprenticeship tax credit is claimed.

(9) Each biennium, the department shall provide to the revenue interim committee information regarding all approvals granted and credit certificates issued, including the credits claimed, the names of the qualifying employers of the credits, and the amount of tax credits claimed. This information is not subject to the confidentiality requirements of 15-30-2618 or 15-31-511.

(10) For the purposes of this section, the terms "credit certificate", "qualifying employer", "qualifying net employee growth", and "qualifying new employee" have the same meaning as those terms are defined in 39-11-404. (Terminates December 31, 2028--sec. 4, Ch. 391, L. 2023.)