NMSA 7-2-18.41. Local news printer income tax credit

7-2-18.41. Local news printer income tax credit. A. For taxable years prior to January 1, 2032, a taxpayer who is not a dependent of another individual and is an owner of a local news printer that employs a qualified employee may claim a credit against the taxpayer's tax liability imposed pursuant to the Income Tax Act in an amount provided in Subsection B of this section. The tax credit provided by this section may be referred to as the "local news printer income tax credit". B. The amount of tax credit shall be in an amount equal to the wages paid to each qualified employee employed by a local news printer in the taxable year for which the tax credit is claimed, not to exceed: (1) ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for a qualified employee working an average of twenty hours or more per week in the taxable year; and (2) five thousand dollars ($5,000) for a qualified employee working an average of less than twenty hours per week in the taxable year. C. A taxpayer shall apply for certification of eligibility for the tax credit from the department on forms and in the manner prescribed by the department no later than one year following the end of the calendar year in which the wages were paid. A taxpayer shall not be eligible to receive a tax credit for more than one hundred qualified employees whom the taxpayer employs as a local news printer and, except as provided in Subsections F and G of this section, only one tax credit shall be certified for each qualified employee employed by a local news printer per taxable year. The total annual aggregate amount of local news printer income tax credits and local news printer corporate income tax credits that may be certified in a calendar year shall not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000). Completed applications shall be considered in the order received. D. If the department determines that the taxpayer meets the requirements of this section, the department shall issue a dated certificate of eligibility to the taxpayer providing the amount of tax credit for which the taxpayer is eligible and the taxable years in which the credit may be claimed. E. That portion of tax credit that exceeds a taxpayer's income tax liability in the taxable year in which the credit is claimed shall be refunded to the taxpayer. F. Married individuals filing separate returns for a taxable year for which they could have filed a joint return may each claim only one-half of the tax credit that would have been claimed on a joint return. G. A taxpayer may be allocated the right to claim the tax credit in proportion to the taxpayer's ownership interest if the taxpayer owns an interest in a business entity that is taxed for federal income tax purposes as a partnership or limited liability company and the business entity has met all requirements to be eligible for the credit. The total credit claimed by all members of the partnership or limited liability company shall not exceed the allowable credit pursuant to this section. H. A taxpayer allowed to claim a tax credit pursuant to this section shall claim the tax credit in a manner required by the department. I. The credit provided by this section shall be included in the tax expenditure budget pursuant to Section 7-1-84 NMSA 1978, including the total annual aggregate cost of the credit. J. As used in this section: (1) "local news organization" means an entity that: (a) provides a print or digital publication that engages professionals who regularly gather, prepare, collect, photograph, record, direct the recording of, produce, write, edit, report or publish news or information that concerns state or local events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the state or a local community through reporting activities, including conducting interviews, observing current events or analyzing documents; (b) pays at least one individual, either through employment or by contract with the entity, as a qualified employee; (c) in the case of print publications, has published at least one print publication per month over the previous thirty-six months and holds a valid United States postal service periodical permit or has at least thirty percent of its content dedicated to state or local news; (d) in the case of digital-only entities, has published at least five originally produced stories about the state or a local community per week over the previous thirty- six months and has at least fifty percent of its digital audience in New Mexico, averaged over a twelve-month period; (e) discloses in the entity's print publication or on the entity's website the entity's beneficial ownership or, in the case of a not-for-profit entity, the entity's board of directors; (f) in the case of an organization that demonstrates to the department that the organization has been granted exemption from the federal income tax by the United States commissioner of internal revenue as organizations described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, has declared the coverage of state or local news as the stated mission in the organization's filings with the federal internal revenue service; (g) has not received more than ten percent of the entity's gross receipts for the previous year from political action committees or other entities described in Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, or from an organization that has been granted exemption from the federal income tax by the United States commissioner of internal revenue as an organization described in Section 501(c)(4) or 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code; and (h) is not a publicly traded entity or is no more than forty-nine percent owned, directly or indirectly, by a publicly traded entity or subsidiary; (2) "local news printer" means an entity that: (a) provides manufacturing, production and printing services using a web press designed and optimized for printing newspapers for a local news organization; (b) has been engaging in the business of manufacturing, producing and printing newspapers for at least five years; (c) employs at least five qualified employees; and (d) is not a publicly traded entity or is no more than forty-nine percent owned, directly or indirectly, by a publicly traded entity or subsidiary; (3) "qualified employee" means a person who: (a) is paid by a local news printer to regularly perform duties related to pre- press, press and post-press newspaper production to prepare newspapers for transition to delivery and distribution personnel; (b) works at a physical location in New Mexico; and (c) works as a qualified employee for the local news printer for at least twenty-five percent of the taxable year in which the credit is claimed; and (4) "wages" means compensation paid by a local news printer to a qualified employee through the organization's payroll system, including those wages that the qualified employee elects to defer or redirect or the qualified employee's contribution to a 401(k) or cafeteria plan program. "Wages" does not mean benefits or the organization's share of payroll taxes, social security or medicare contributions, federal or state unemployment insurance contributions or workers' compensation. History: Laws 2026, ch. 69, § 7.