Incentives & Financing

The Experiential Learning Tax Credit Program provides an incentive to qualified businesses for employing apprentices, pre-apprentices, and student interns for taxable years that begin within calendar years 2022-2025.

• The tax credit is $2,000 per apprentice, pre-apprentice, or student intern.
• The maximum tax credit per year is $10,000 (five apprentices, pre-apprentices, or student interns x $2,000 each).
• $2.5 million is available for each year of the program.
• The credit may be carried forward up to two taxable years.

The Rural Job Tax Credit Program provides an incentive for eligible businesses, located within designated rural counties, to create new jobs.

• The tax credit can range from $1,000 to $1,500 per qualified employee.
• A business may receive up to $500,000 in tax credits during any one calendar year for its efforts in creating jobs.
• The credit may be carried forward for five years.
• File a Rural Job Tax Credit Program Application for Eligibility (Form RU-J) with the Florida Department of Commerce.

This credit is available to businesses in a designated high-impact sector (e.g., silicon technology, transportation industries, or solar panel manufacturing facilities).

• The business must establish a qualified project which results in a cumulative capital investment of at least $25 million.
• The project must be certified by the Florida Department Commerce. An annual credit may be claimed for up to 20 years in an annual amount up to 5% of the eligible capital costs generated by a qualifying project.

A credit is available against specific Florida taxes, including the corporate income tax, for taxpayers that:

• establish an eligible child care facility for employees;
• operate an eligible child care facility for employees; or
• pay an eligible child care facility in the name and for the benefit of an employee.

(Also Known As the Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit)

This credit is available to taxpayers that voluntarily rehabilitate brownfield sites or sites contaminated with dry-cleaning solvent.

• The credit must be approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
• The credit is for 50% of rehabilitation costs, up to $500,000 per site per year.
• The credit may be carried forward for five years.

This credit is available but must be approved by the Florida Department of Commerce under the guidelines in Section 288.1254, F.S.

• The credit may be carried forward for five years.

A credit equal to 39% of the purchase price of a qualified investment as defined in Section 288.9913(9), F.S. may be taken. The credit may be carried forward for five years.

Florida provides a corporate income tax credit to eligible businesses for certain qualified research expenses. Read the 2024 Allocation Report .

The application process for an allocation of credit related to expenses incurred in the 2024 calendar year will open on March 20, 2025. At that time, qualified target industry businesses subject to the Florida corporate income tax will be able to apply online for an allocation of the Florida research and development tax credit for expenses incurred in the prior calendar year. Only businesses with a letter from the Florida Department of Commerce certifying that the business is a qualified target industry business are eligible to apply.

To participate in this program, the corporation must claim and be allowed a research credit against federal income tax for qualified research expenses under Section 41, Internal Revenue Code, and also meet the definition of a target industry business as defined in Section 288.106, F.S. (2022). Only qualified target industry businesses in the manufacturing; life sciences; information technology; aviation and aerospace; homeland security and defense; cloud information technology; marine sciences; materials science; and nanotechnology industries may qualify for a tax credit. Only businesses with a valid letter at the time of application from the Florida Department of Commerce certifying that the business is a qualified target industry business are eligible to apply. The Florida research and development tax credit taken may not exceed 50% of the Florida corporate income tax liability after all other credits have been applied in the order provided in Section 220.02(8), F.S.

A total of 427 Qualified Opportunity Zones are designated in Florida and located in every county in the state, stretching from the Panhandle through the Keys. Governors could nominate up to 25 percent of their state’s eligible tracts to receive the designation. The nomination process in Florida included reviewing over 1,200 recommendations submitted by local governments, regional planning councils, nonprofits, developers, investors and others. Final nominations were based on a comprehensive review and detailed statistical analysis of relevant population, poverty and unemployment rates and other economic indicators.