Business Incentives
Enterprise Zone
An Enterprise Zone is an economically distressed area of a county, city, or town, designated by the Governor to encourage new and/or expanded business. The Virginia's Enterprise Zone program offers several special state incentives for qualified businesses locating or expanding in a Zone. Local communities also may offer additional incentives to qualified businesses locating in a zone, as long as these incentives conform to the requirements of the Virginia and United States Constitutions. The Martinsville and Henry County community applied for, and was designated, a joint Enterprise Zone effective January 1996, with a 20 year life. For information about incentives available from the Commonwealth of Virginia, City of Martinsville and/or the County of Henry, please contact the MURA office at (276) 632-5688.
Tax Credits
The following is a list of general program guidelines for tax credits. For complete information, you should contact the MURA office at (276) 632-5688.
- Timing of Zone Eligibility Period: Each Enterprise Zone is in effect for a period of 20 years from the date of its designation. A business firm may choose to participate in the program at any time during the existence of a zone.
- Limit on Receiving State Incentives: A business firm may receive state real property tax credits in an amount of $125,000 within a five-year period. Businesses that maximize their benefits under this incentive within a five-year period are eligible to apply for additional property tax credits.
- Tax Credits for Partners or Shareholders of Small Business Corporations Taxed Under Subchapter S of the Federal Internal Revenue Code: When a partnership or small business is eligible for State income tax credits, each partner or shareholder may request the credit on his individual income tax in proportion to the amount of income received by the partner from the partnership or the shareholder from the corporation.
- Required Records: Business firms participating in this incentive should keep careful records of the qualified zone improvements. These records must be kept for a period of six years for tax audit purposes.
- Federal Investment Tax Credit for Certified Historic Rehabilitation: This program is administered by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and offers federal income tax credits for 20% of the cost of rehabilitating a certified historic structure, or 10% of non-certified structures built prior to 1936.
- Virginia Historic Tax Credit Fund: The Virginia Historic Tax Credit fund is a private company, which was formed to provide both an opportunity for all Virginians to share the state income tax credits generated by the program, and a source of equity funding for the developers. For more information, please contact: Virginia Historic Tax Credit Fund, 116 East Franklin Street, Suite 101, Richmond, VA 23219, or call (804) 321-3458 or visit the website www.vataxfund.com.
Additional Links:
Click here for the Facade Grant download application.
Rehabilitation Tax Credits