Bill > S00173

This bill establishes a new tax credit for individuals in New York State who develop open source or free software license programs. Specifically, taxpayers can claim a credit equal to up to 20% of their out-of-pocket expenses for developing such programs, with a maximum credit of $200 per taxable year. To qualify, the software's code must be released under an open source license recognized by the Open Source Initiative or a free software license recognized by the Free Software Foundation. Taxpayers must elect to take this credit for a given taxable year, and this election cannot be made for the same program if it has already been applied in a previous year. If the credit amount exceeds the taxpayer's total tax liability for the year, the unused portion can be carried over to future years. This provision will take effect immediately and apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1st of the year following its enactment.