For purposes of the Nebraska Advantage Microenterprise Tax Credit Act:

(1) Actively engaged in the operation of a microbusiness means personal involvement on a continuous basis in the daily management and operation of the business;

(2) Equivalent employees means the number of employees computed by dividing the total hours paid in a year by the product of forty times the number of weeks in a year;

(3) Microbusiness means any business employing five or fewer equivalent employees at the time of application. Microbusiness does not include a farm or livestock operation unless (a) the person actively engaged in the operation of the microbusiness has a net worth of not more than five hundred thousand dollars, including any holdings by a spouse or dependent, based on fair market value, or (b) the investment or employment is in the processing or marketing of agricultural products, aquaculture, agricultural tourism, or the production of fruits, herbs, tree products, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, organic crops, or nursery crops;

(4) New employment means the amount by which the total compensation plus the employer cost for health insurance for employees paid during the tax year to or for employees who are Nebraska residents exceeds the total compensation paid plus the employer cost for health insurance for employees to or for employees who are Nebraska residents in the tax year prior to application. New employment does not include compensation to any employee that is in excess of one hundred fifty percent of the Nebraska average weekly wage. Nebraska average weekly wage means the most recent average weekly wage paid by all employers as reported by October 1 by the Department of Labor;

(5) New investment means the increase during the tax year over the year prior to the application in the applicant’s (a) purchases of buildings and depreciable personal property located in Nebraska, (b) expenditures on repairs and maintenance on property located in Nebraska, neither subdivision (a) or (b) of this subdivision to include vehicles required to be registered for operation on the roads and highways of this state, and (c) expenditures on advertising, legal, and professional services. If the buildings or depreciable personal property is leased, the amount of new investment shall be the increase in average net annual rents multiplied by the number of years of the lease for which the taxpayer is bound, not to exceed ten years;

(6) Related persons means (a) any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, cooperative, including cooperatives exempt under section 521 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, limited cooperative association, or joint venture which is or would otherwise be a member of the same unitary group, if incorporated, (b) an individual and a corporation if more than fifty percent in value of the outstanding stock of the corporation is owned, directly or indirectly, by or for such individual, (c) a fiduciary of a trust and a corporation if more than fifty percent in value of the outstanding stock of the corporation is owned, directly or indirectly, by or for the trust or by or for a person who is a grantor of the trust, (d) a corporation and a partnership if the same persons own (i) more than fifty percent in value of the outstanding stock of the corporation and (ii) more than fifty percent of the capital interest, or the profits interest, in the partnership, (e) a subchapter S corporation and another subchapter S corporation if the same persons own more than fifty percent in value of the outstanding stock of each corporation, (f) a subchapter S corporation and a C corporation if the same persons own more than fifty percent in value of the outstanding stock of each corporation, (g) a partnership and a person owning, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent of the capital interest, or the profits interest, in such partnership, (h) two partnerships in which the same persons own, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent of the capital interests or profits interests, and (i) any individual who is a parent, if the taxpayer is a minor, or minor son or daughter of the taxpayer; and

(7) Taxpayer means any person subject to the income tax imposed by the Nebraska Revenue Act of 1967, any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, cooperative, including a cooperative exempt under section 521 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, limited cooperative association, or joint venture that is or would otherwise be a member of the same unitary group, if incorporated, which is, or whose partners, members, or owners representing an ownership interest of at least ninety percent of such entity are, subject to such tax, and any other partnership, limited liability company, subchapter S corporation, cooperative, including a cooperative exempt under section 521 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, limited cooperative association, or joint venture when the partners, shareholders, or members representing an ownership interest of at least ninety percent of such entity are subject to such tax.

The changes made to this section by Laws 2008, LB 177, shall be operative for all applications for benefits received on or after July 18, 2008.

The changes made to this section by Laws 2021, LB366, shall apply to all applications for benefits received on or after August 28, 2021.