HB541 Summary

• Establishes an income tax credit for taxpayers who employ public high school students under age 19 living within a 20-mile radius of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail (spanning Dallas, Lowndes, and Montgomery County) during school breaks, after school, weekends, summer, or official holidays.

• Credit amount equals wages paid to each student worker during the taxable year, capped at $2,500 per student per year, with claims allowed in the year the nine-month employment period ends and the following year.

• Requires employers to retain student workers as employees for at least nine months to qualify for the credit.

• Credit cannot exceed 50 percent of the taxpayer's annual tax liability reduced by other allowable credits, with unused portions carried forward for up to five succeeding years.

• Effective for the 2016 taxable year and subsequent years.