Grants and tax credits are two types of free money that are available to many small businesses. In this article, I go over 11 different types of grants and tax credits that are available to businesses in Florida.
1. Rural job tax credits
Eligible businesses located within one of 36 designated “qualified rural areas” can receive a tax credit of between $1,000 and $1,500 per qualified employee. The tax credit can be applied against either the Florida Corporate Income Tax or the Florida Sales and Use Tax (but not both). If you run an eligible business, apply as soon as possible each year to receive the maximum amount. The law that governs the rural job tax credit program is F.S. 212.098. The Florida state government has a maximum of $5 million to disburse under this program each year.
2. Urban high-crime area job tax credits
Eligible businesses located within a “qualified high-crime area” can receive a tax credit of between $500 and $2,000 per qualified employee. The different tax credit amounts depend on (1) whether the business is in a one-tier, two-tier, or three-tier high-crime area and (2) whether the employee was recently on welfare before being hired. The governing statute for this program is F.S. 212.097. As with the Rural job tax credit program, the Florida government has a maximum budget of $5 million to spend on these credits each year, and the credits are disbursed on a first-come, first-served basis. These tax credits may either be applied against the Florida Corporate Income Tax or the Florida Sales and Use Tax (but not both).
3. Capital gains tax exemption for opportunity zone business startups
If you are starting a new business in Florida and you live near an opportunity zone, you should seriously consider locating your business office within the opportunity zone. That’s because when you eventually sell your business in 10 or 20 years, you won’t have to pay any capital gains tax on that sale. For example, if you sell your business 20 years from now for $1 million, you would ordinarily have to pay $200,000 in capital gains taxes. However, if your business is a qualified opportunity zone business, then you have ZERO capital gains taxes!
4. Sales tax exemption for private landfill operators
Privately owned or operated landfills, as well as construction and demolition debris disposal facilities, do not have to pay sales or use tax on equipment, machinery, or materials they purchase that are required to comply with any condition or permit issued by the Department of Environmental Protection. This exemption must be actively claimed. See Florida Statute 212.051.
5. Grants for marinas to add sewage pumpout services
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection offers grants under the Clean Vessel Act (CVA). These grants are for marinas wishing to upgrade their waste-handling facilities and provide customers with a quick and convenient option for proper waste disposal (as opposed to simply discharging it into the water). Grants cover up to 75% of eligible project costs related to site preparation, equipment purchase, installation, operations, maintenance, sewage hauling, and educational outreach. Grant recipients are allowed to charge up to $5 per vessel for pumpouts, but proceeds from pumpout fees must be used exclusively to defray the cost of operation and maintenance of the pumpout equipment. This means a marina business can’t directly make profit from adding a pumpout service funded by this grant. However, cheap pumpout services ($5 or less) can be a way to make slips into a more “sticky” purchase and therefore may allow marinas to slightly increase slip fees.
6. Down payment grants for Miami small businesses
The “Miami Open for Business” organization offers a program called the “Collective Real Estate Ownership” (CREO) program. To qualify, a collaboration of two or more small businesses or small nonprofits, owned or led by a person who is black, Latino, LGBTQ+, veteran, or disabled, which have each been in operation for at least two years and are located in specific Miami communities, can apply for a fully forgiveable loan to help cover the cost of down payment and closing costs to acquire commercial real estate collectively. As long as the businesses do not sell the property within 5 years, the fully forgiveable loan is essentially the same as a grant because it never has to be paid back.
7. Grants for Exterior Improvement of Historic Buildings
Many cities have special districts which are designated as “CRA districts” or “historic districts”. The cities often have a variety of tax incentives and grants for businesses that help keep buildings in the districts looking good. For example, the city of West Palm Beach offers grants that cover 80% of a facade renovation project (up to $7,500) for buildings in the city’s Downtown/City Center CRA District. In the Historic Northwest portion of that district, renovation grants can be 10 times higher (up to $75,000).
The types of businesses that can typically derive the most benefit from these types of grants include:
- Bars and restaurants
- Hotels and Airbnb rental properties
- Commercial and residential rental properties
- Event venues
- Museums
- Art galleries
- Boutique yoga, pilates, and dance studios
- Photography studios
- Retail stores
8. Grants for event marketing for tech companies in Orlando
The city of Orlando has a program called the Orlando Technology Community Support Grant Program that offers lump-sum matching grants of $10,000 or more to companies that develop “tech-focused events that unite the local tech workforce and community”. Events are a great form of marketing for tech companies. That’s why HubSpot hosts the annual Inbound conference and why Amazon hosts AWS Summits around the world. The application window is only open for a few months each year, so check back regularly if the window is closed for the current year.
9. Orlando new jobs grant
Orlando’s STRIVE program provides companies that relocate to or expand in Orlando with between $500 and $2,500 per qualifying job created. To qualify, the jobs must be in specific communities (opportunity zones automatically qualify) and must be paid at or above 100% of the national median wage. Additionally, the company must make at least 10 hires in an eligible industry such as customer support centers, manufacturing, logistics, or distribution. Company projects that are local and do not export out of market (e.g. retail, restaurants, and hospitality) are not eligible.
10. Grants for woman and minority owned businesses in downtown Orlando
The city of Orlando’s Minority/Women Entrepreneur Business Assistance (MEBA) Program offers 3-year forgiveable loans (essentially the same thing as grants) of up to $40,000 to small businesses in the Parramore area of downtown Orlando. To be eligible, a business must have no more than 20 employees and must be majority owned by women and/or minorities.
11. Grants for training new employees (up to and exceeding $750,000 per company)
Florida’s Quick Response Training (QRT) program offers grants to new and expanding businesses to develop and implement customized training for new, full-time, permanent employees in high-skill industries, including:
- Software
- Computer hardware
- Digital media
- Consulting
- Engineering
- Architecture
- Legal
- Manufacturing
- Energy tech
- Biotech
- Medical & laboratory equipment
- Aircraft maintenance & training
- Space tech
- Military tech
“Career Source Florida” administers the program and has additional information about requirements. A single company can receive over $750,000 from this grant during a given year.