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SENATE BILL 473
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
Carrie Hamblen and Leo Jaramillo
AN ACT
RELATING TO INCOME TAX; CREATING THE VOLUNTEER SEARCH AND
RESCUE INCOME TAX CREDIT.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. A new section of the Income Tax Act is enacted
to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] VOLUNTEER SEARCH AND RESCUE INCOME TAX
CREDIT.--
A. Prior to taxable year 2035, a taxpayer who is
not a dependent of another individual and volunteers in New
Mexico at least six times or for at least sixty hours in a
taxable year may claim a tax credit against the taxpayer's tax
liability for that taxable year imposed pursuant to the Income
Tax Act. The tax credit provided in this section may be
referred to as the "volunteer search and rescue income tax
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credit".
B. The volunteer search and rescue income tax
credit shall be in an amount equal to:
(1) five hundred dollars ($500) if the
taxpayer volunteers between six and eleven times or volunteers
for a total of between sixty and one hundred twenty hours; or
(2) one thousand dollars ($1,000) if the
taxpayer volunteers twelve times or more or volunteers for a
total of at least one hundred twenty hours.
C. A taxpayer who seeks to claim the tax credit
provided by this section shall apply for certification of
eligibility from the resource officer on forms and in the
manner prescribed by the resource officer. The aggregate
amount of tax credits that may be certified pursuant to this
subsection for any taxable year is three million dollars
($3,000,000). Applications for certification received after
the limitation on the aggregate amount of credits has been met
in a calendar year shall not be approved. Completed
applications shall be considered in the order received.
D. If the resource officer determines that a
taxpayer meets the requirements to claim the tax credit, the
resource officer shall issue to the taxpayer a dated
certificate of eligibility providing the amount of the tax
credit for which the taxpayer is eligible and the taxable year
in which the credit may be claimed. The resource officer shall
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provide the department with the certificates of eligibility
issued pursuant to this subsection in an electronic format at
regularly agreed-upon intervals.
E. To receive the tax credit provided by this
section, a taxpayer shall claim the credit on forms and in the
manner prescribed by the department.
F. That portion of the tax credit that exceeds a
taxpayer's tax liability in the taxable year in which the tax
credit is claimed shall be refunded.
G. Married individuals filing separate returns for
a taxable year for which they could have filed a joint return
may each claim only one-half of the volunteer search and rescue
income tax credit that would have been claimed on a joint
return.
H. The department shall include the tax credit in
the tax expenditure budget compiled pursuant to Section 7-1-84
NMSA 1978.
I. As used in this section:
(1) "mission" means each separate group effort
of search and rescue that is approved and issued a mission
number by the New Mexico state police division of the
department of public safety;
(2) "resource officer" means the state search
and rescue resource officer in the department of public safety;
(3) "search and rescue" means the employment,
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coordination and utilization of available resources and
personnel in searching for, rendering aid to and preserving the
lives of people lost, stranded, entrapped, injured or in
distress and removing these people from the site of a disaster,
emergency or hazard to a place of safety; and
(4) "volunteer" means participating in a
search and rescue mission as a nonsalaried volunteer."
SECTION 2. DELAYED REPEAL.--Section 1 of this act is
repealed effective January 1, 2036.
SECTION 3. APPLICABILITY.--The provisions of this act
apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025.
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