Section 527.30  Eligibility Determination

a)         Any Taxpayer that is engaged in interstate or intrastate commerce for the purpose of manufacturing, processing, assembling, warehousing, or distributing products, conducting research and development, providing tourism services, or providing services in interstate commerce, office industries, or agricultural processing, but excluding retail, retail food, health, or professional services is an eligible business. [35 ILCS 10/5-5]

b)         A Taxpayer who is operating an eligible business that is located, or plans to be located, in the State of Illinois may be an "Applicant".  Applicant does not include a Taxpayer who closes or substantially reduces an operation at one location in the State and relocates substantially the same operation to another location in the State.

1)         This does not prohibit a Taxpayer from expanding its operations at another location in the State, provided that existing operations of a similar nature located within the State are not closed or substantially reduced within the last two years.  For the purpose of this Section, "substantially reduced" means a reduction in employment of 33.33% or more. A Taxpayer may not enter into more than one Agreement with respect to a single address or location for the same period of time. This provision does not preclude the Applicant from entering into an additional Agreement after the expiration of an earlier Agreement to the extent the Taxpayer's application otherwise satisfies the terms and conditions of the Act and is approved by the Department.

2)         This also does not prohibit a Taxpayer from moving its operations from one location in the State to another location in the State for the purpose of expanding the operation, provided that the Department determines that the expansion cannot reasonably be accommodated within the municipality in which the business is located, or in the case of a business located in an incorporated area of the county, within the county in which the business is located.  A determination under this subsection (b)(2) shall be made by the Department after conferring with the chief elected official of the municipality or county and taking into consideration any evidence offered by the municipality or county regarding the ability to accommodate expansion within the municipality or county. [35 ILCS 10/5-15]

c)         In order to qualify for Credits under the Act, an Applicant's Project must:

1)         if the Applicant has more than 100 employees, involve an investment of at least $2,500,000 in capital improvements to be placed in service within the State as a direct result of the Project and the Applicant must employ a number of New Employees in the State equal to the lesser of 10% of the number of Full-Time employees employed by the Applicant world-wide on the date the application is filed with the Department or 50 New Employees; or

2)         if the Applicant has 100 or fewer employees, there is no capital improvement requirement but the Applicant must employ a number of New Employees in the State equal to the lesser of 5% of the number of Full-Time Employees employed by the Applicant world-wide on the date the application is filed with the Department or 50 New Employees.

d)         The Applicant must demonstrate that, if not for the Credit, the Project would not occur in Illinois, which may be demonstrated by evidence that receipt of the Credit is essential to the Applicant's decision to create new jobs in the State, such as the magnitude of the cost differential between Illinois and a competing state.  In the event that the Applicant is seeking an increase in the amount of the Credit for Retained Employees, the Applicant must provide documentation:

1)         evidencing that the Applicant has multi-state location options and could reasonably and efficiently locate outside of the State; or

2)         demonstrating that at least one other state is being considered for the Project. [35 ILCS 10/5-25]

e)         Identify a cost differential, using best available data, in the projected costs for the Applicant's Project compared to the costs in the competing state, including the impact of the competing state's incentive programs, for example, by demonstrating:

1)         specific costs of labor, utilities, taxes and other costs of an out-of-state site or the industry's cost structure in the competing region; or

2)         specific cost differential due to the impact of a competing state's incentive programs.

f)         In order to qualify for increased EDGE benefits under the Business Location Efficiency Incentive Act, the applicant must submit a location efficiency report that:

1)         describes the existence of infrastructure at the Project site and satisfies Business Location Efficiency Incentive Act's standards for affordable workforce housing or affordable and accessible mass transit; or

2)         if the Department determines from the location efficiency report that the applicant is seeking assistance in an area that is not location efficient, the Department may award an increase in State economic development assistance if an applicant submits, and the Department accepts, an employee housing and transportation remediation plan or creates jobs in a labor surplus area as defined by the Department of Employment Security at the end of each calendar year.

g)         To qualify for a New Construction EDGE Credit, an eligible applicant must meet the following criteria:

1)         the Department has certified that the Applicant meets all requirements of Sections 5-15, 5-20, and 5-25; and

2)         the Department has certified that, pursuant to Section 5-20, the Applicant's Agreement includes a capital investment of at least $10,000,000 in a New Construction EDGE Project to be placed in service within the State as a direct result of a New Construction EDGE Agreement. [35 ILCS 10/5-51(a)]

(Source:  Amended at 46 Ill. Reg. 1846, effective January 11, 2022)