NJBIA Time to expand angel investor tax credit program

The New Jersey Business & Industry Association is calling on lawmakers to vote on legislation expanding eligibility under the state’s angel investor tax credit program, which would allow for investments in the holding companies of qualified, “emerging,” New Jersey-based tech businesses.On Monday, the Senate Economic Growth Committee voted to advance the measure, sending it forward to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

“Small and emerging technology companies will help drive New Jersey’s economy today and into the future, and these companies put a high priority on being able to access capital,” said Andrew Musick, NJBIA’s director of taxation and economic development. “Expanding the Angel Investor tax credit program would make it that much easier for companies to raise the capital needed to take an idea from the laboratory to the market.”

The bill would allow for qualified indirect investments in the holding companies and would also mandate that any tax credits due to a corporation as a result of investments will be distributed to its individual owners based upon their proportional ownership shares.

“The Angel Investor Tax Credit was a key component of NJBIA’s plans for improving New Jersey’s innovation ecosystem,” Musick added. “The original law was one of the recommendations of NJPRO (New Jersey Policy Research Organization) Foundation, the Association’s research arm and we think it is a crucial component for the state’s innovation ecosystem.”