The Empire Zone Program

Community Development Projects

To qualify as a certified community development activity, a project must be either a child care project serving Zone residents and businesses; a community development project in direct support of economic development and business revitalization activities, such as commercial revitalization projects; or a business development activity of a local development corporation.

The project must advance the Economic Development Zone Plan. It must be clearly demonstrated how the project will benefit Zone residents, promote the development of new business and the expansion of existing business. The project sponsor must be a not for profit entity, and contributions to the project must be in the form of money. Funds raised with credits may not be used to replace existing debt, and in general, the project must be used for non-recurring expenses, such as capital projects (i.e. "bricks and mortar" projects).

The Process

• The not for profit sponsor of the community development project must submit Form Z6-Application for Determination of Eligibility of a Community Development Project to the local Zone Administration Board requesting an allocation of credits to support the fundraising goals of the project.
• The Zone Administration Board approves the project and allocates the credits.
• The Zone Coordinator forwards the application to Empire State Development for final approval.
• Once Empire State Development approval has been granted, the Zone Coordinator will be notified.
• Contributions received prior to State approval are not eligible for credit.

Credit Approval

• As the organization conducts its fundraising, it must provide a copy of Form Z7 to each qualified contributor to the project.
• The contributor must complete and return Form Z7 to the sponsoring organization for further processing.
• The Zone Coordinator will forward the completed Z7s to the State for final approval.
• Once approved by the State, a credit certificate (Form Z10) will be issued for each contributor.
• The Z10s will be sent to the Zone Coordinator who will obtain the signature of the Zone Board Chairperson on each form. The Coordinator will forward the Z10 to each contributor.
• The contributor attaches Form Z10 to the NYS Taxation and Finance DTF-602 form at the time of the contributor's annual tax filing period.
• A taxpayer may carry forward unused credits to the following year or years until exhausted.