ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY
COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 3113
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: JUNE 15, 2023
The Assembly Agriculture and Food Security Committee reports
favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 3113.
This bill, as amended by the committee, would provide a credit
against the corporation business tax and the gross income tax for the
value of certain donations of fruits and vegetables that are made to
charitable organizations by commercial farm operators over a five-year
period beginning January 1, 2024. Under the bill, commercial farm
operators who make donations of fruits or vegetables, fit for human
consumption, to a charitable organization located in this State during
tax periods beginning on or after January 1, 2024, but before January
1, 2029, would be allowed to claim a credit to reduce the commercial
farm operator’s tax liability. The amount of the credit is to equal 10
percent of the wholesale value of the fruits or vegetables donated
during the tax period. The bill would provide for unused credits to be
carried forward, for earliest use, over the next five-year tax period.
The bill would require commercial farm operators claiming the credit
to obtain a written statement from the charitable organization to
substantiate each donation of fruits or vegetables thereto. The bill
would require commercial farm operators to include a copy of each
such statement issued by a charitable organization when filing a tax
return that includes a claim for the credit.
The bill would require the Director of the Division of Taxation in
the Department of the Treasury to prepare an annual report on the
utilization of the credits provided by the bill. The bill would provide
that the report is to be prepared to document the utilization of credits
by commercial farm operators in each year of the five-year period for
which credits are allowed, and, at a minimum, is to describe: the
number of taxpayers claiming the tax credits, the total dollar value of
tax credits claimed by commercial farm operators, the wholesale value
of fruits and vegetables donated, the counties in which the greatest
percentage of fruits and vegetables were donated, and the food banks
benefitting from the donated fruits and vegetables. 2
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS :
The amendments to this bill:
(1) provide for tax credits authorized thereunder to be claimed
during tax periods beginning on or after January 1, 2024, but before
January 1, 2029 (not during tax periods beginning on or after January
1, 2022 and before January 1, 2027, as was provided by the introduced
bill);
(2) reduce, from 20 tax periods to five tax periods, the number of
time periods during which unused tax credits may be carried forward
after the tax period in which the credits were initially allowed;
(3) authorize a commercial farm operator to claim a tax credit for
the donation of certain fruits and vegetables thereby to any charitable
organization, including, but not limited to, a food bank (not just for
fruit and vegetable donations being made to food banks, as was
provided by the introduced bill);
(4) require the Director of the Division of Taxation to prepare the
first annual report on tax credit utilization rates, under the bill, by
December 1, 2025 (not by December 1, 2023, as was provided by the
introduced bill);
(5) require the Director of the Division of Taxation, upon failing to
prepare an annual report before the date required by the bill, to testify
before a legislative committee explaining the delay; and
(6) require the Office of the Food Security Advocate to maintain a
list of all approved charitable organizations from which commercial
farms may select when making food donations for the purposes of
receiving a tax credit under the bill.