Enterprise Zone
• Enterprise Zone Information Fact Sheet
Florida Enterprise Zone Incentives
Enterprise Zones are areas targeted for economic revitalization. The Florida Enterprise Zone program offers financial incentives to businesses located in designated areas found in urban and rural communities. These incentives are offered to encourage private investment in the zones as well as employment opportunities for the area's residents.
As a result of the Program, nearly 26,000 new jobs have been created in Florida and the State has provided $26.6 million worth of tax incentives to businesses since 1997.
The Tallahassee/Leon County Enterprise Zone's effective date was January 1, 2003. Almost twenty square miles in size, the Enterprise Zone is located in the central, southern and western portions of the community and lies both within the corporate limits of Tallahassee and in portions of unincorporated Leon County.
In the Tallahassee area, both Gadsden and Wakulla counties have designated Rural Enterprise Zones. For additional information on the Enterprise Zone Program in Florida, please visit Enterprise Florida's comprehensive web-site detailing the tax advantages and economic incentives available to businesses located within zone boundaries.
Tallahassee/Leon County Enterprise Zone Map (424 kb)
Wakulla County Enterprise Zone Maps (938 kb)
Governor's Office of Tourism Trade and Economic Development (OTTED)
Leon County Property Appraiser
Eligible Businesses
Tax incentives are offered to all types of businesses that are located within a designated Enterprise Zone who employ zone residents, rehabilitate real property or purchase business equipment to be used in the zone. Tax credits are available to businesses that pay either the Florida Corporate Income Tax or the Florida Sales and Use Tax. Sales Tax refunds and sales tax exemptions are available if eligible purchases are made.
Financial Incentives
- Enterprise Zone Stimulus Tax Credit (Sales and Use Tax) Allows businesses located in an enterprise zone who collect and pay Florida Sales & Use tax, and create a new full-time job, a credit against their tax based on wages paid to new employees (in a full-time job) who have been employed by the business for at least 3 months and are residents of a Florida Enterprise Zone.
- Enterprise Zone Stimulus Tax Credit (Corporate Income Tax) Allows businesses located in an enterprise zone who pay corporate income tax, and create a new full-time job, a corporate income tax credit for the wages paid to new employees (in a full-time job) who have been employed by the business for at least 3 months and are residents of a Florida Enterprise Zone.
- Sales tax refund for business machinery and equipment used in an Enterprise Zone A refund is available for sales taxes paid on the purchase of certain business property, (e.g. tangible personal property such as office equipment, warehouse equipment, and some industrial machinery and equipment), which is used exclusively in an Enterprise Zone for at least three years.
- Sales tax refund for building materials used in an Enterprise Zone A refund is available for sales taxes paid on the purchase of building materials used to rehabilitate real property located in an Enterprise Zone. This incentive is limited to owners, lessors, lessees of the real property that is rehabilitated within an Enterprise Zone.
- Enterprise Zone Property Tax Credit (Corporate Income Tax) New or expanded businesses located in an Enterprise Zone are allowed a credit on Florida corporate income tax equal to 96% of ad valorem taxes paid on the new or improved property (the assessment rate varies by county).
- Community Contribution Tax Credit Program Allows business anywhere in Florida a 50% credit on Florida corporate income tax, insurance premium tax, or sales tax refund for donations to local community development projects. Donations must be made to an eligible sponsor conducting an approved community development project. The annual amount of credit granted is limited to $200,000 per firm and $10,000,000 for the state.
For additional information contact theh Economic Development Council Tallahassee/Leon County, Inc. (850) 521-3106.