A taxpayer that is an employer in this state is entitled to a credit as determined under this section against state income tax liability under section 57-38-30 or 57-38-30.3 for costs the taxpayer incurred during the tax year to recruit and hire employees for hard-to-fill employment positions within this state for which the annual salary for the position meets or exceeds the state average wage.

1.    The amount of the credit to which a taxpayer is entitled is five percent of the salary paid for the first twelve consecutive months to the employee hired for the hard-to-fill employment position. To qualify for the credit under this section, the employee must be employed by the taxpayer in the hard-to-fill employment position for twelve consecutive months.

2.    For purposes of this section:

a.    “Extraordinary recruitment methods” means using all of the following:

(1) A person with the exclusive business purpose of recruiting employees and for which a fee is charged by that recruiter.

(2) An advertisement in a professional trade journal, magazine, or other publication, the main emphasis of which is providing information to a particular trade or profession.

(3) A website, the sole purpose of which is to recruit employees and for which a fee is charged by the website.

(4) Payment of a signing bonus, moving expenses, or nontypical fringe benefits. b.    “Hard-to-fill employment position” means a job that requires the employer to use extraordinary recruitment methods and for which the employer’s recruitment    efforts for the specific position have been unsuccessful for six consecutive calendar months.

c.    “State average wage” means one hundred twenty-five percent of the state average wage published annually by job service North Dakota and which is in effect at the time the employee is hired.

3.    The taxpayer may claim the credit in the first tax year beginning after the employee hired for the hard-to-fill position has completed the employee’s first twelve consecutive months of employment in the hard-to-fill position with the taxpayer.

4.    The credit under this section may not exceed a taxpayer’s liability for the taxable year as determined under this chapter. Any amount of unused credit may be carried forward for up to four taxable years after the taxable year in which the credit could initially be claimed.

5.    A passthrough entity that is entitled to the credit under this section must be considered to be the taxpayer for purposes of this section and the amount of the credit allowed must be determined at the passthrough entity level. The amount of the total credit determined at the passthrough entity level must be allowed to the partners, shareholders, or members in proportion to their respective interests in the passthrough entity.