Enterprise Zone Program

Program Objective

The Texas Enterprise Zone Program is an economic development tool for local communities to partner with the State of Texas to promote job creation and capital investment in economically distressed areas of the state.

Participation

Local communities must nominate a company as an Enterprise Project to be eligible to participate in the Enterprise Zone Program. Legislation limits allocations to the state and local communities per biennium. The state accepts applications quarterly with deadlines on the first working day of March, June, September and December.

Benefits to Participation

Designated projects are eligible to apply for state sales and use tax refunds on qualified expenditures. The level and amount of refund is related to the capital investment and jobs created at the qualified business site.

Level of Capital Investment	Maximum number of jobs allocated	Maximum potential refund	Maximum refund per job allocated
$40,000 to $399,999	10	$25,000	$2,500
$400,000 to $999,999	25	$62,500	$2,500
$1,000,000 to $4,999,999	125	$312,500	$2,500
$5,000,000 to $149,999,999	500	$1,250,000	$2,500
Double Jumbo Project $150,000,000 to $249,999,999	500	$2,500,000	$5,000
Triple Jumbo Project $250,000,000 or more	500	$3,750,000	$7,500

In addition, local communities must offer incentives to participants under the enterprise zone program, such as tax abatement, tax increment financing and one-stop permitting.

Participation Requirements

Communities may nominate projects, for a designation period of not less than one year up to five years, non-inclusive of a 90-day window prior to the application deadline. Employment and capital investment commitments must be incurred and met within this timeframe.
Projects may be physically located in or outside of an Enterprise Zone.
- If located within a zone, the company commits that at least 25% of their new employees will meet economically disadvantaged or enterprise zone residence requirements.
- If located outside of a zone, the company commits that at least 35% of their new employees will meet economically disadvantaged or enterprise zone residency requirements.
Under limited statutory provisions, an enterprise project designation may be granted for job retention.

Enterprise Project Designation Dates 2008/2009 Biennium

Quarterly Deadline	90 Day	Expiration Date
09/04/07	04/23/07	09/04/12
12/03/07	07/23/07	12/03/12
03/03/08	10/17/07	03/03/13
06/02/08	01/23/08	06/02/13
09/02/08	04/22/08	09/02/13
12/01/08	07/18/08	12/01/13
03/03/09	10/14/08	03/03/14
06/01/09	01/20/09	06/01/14

Enterprise Project Designation Dates 2010/2011 Biennium

Quarterly Deadline	90-Day Window	Expiration Date
09/01/09	04/23/09	09/01/14
12/01/09	07/20/09	12/01/14
03/01/10	10/13/09	03/01/15
06/01/10	01/20/10	06/01/15
09/01/10	04/26/10	09/02/15
12/01/10	07/20/10	12/01/15
03/01/11	10/15/10	03/01/16
06/01/11	01/20/11	06/01/16

The state is allowed to designated 105 projects during a biennium.

Program Resources

Benefit Documents:

Please contact the Comptroller of Public Accounts: (512) 305-9902

Contact Information

For additional information on the Texas Enterprise Zone Program, call (512) 936-0100.

Sign-up to get Texas Enterprise Zone Program by e-mail