For the purposes of this article:

1. 1. "Agriculture" means both agricultural production (establishments performing the complete farm or ranch operation, such as farm owner-operators, tenant farm operators, and sharecroppers) and agricultural support (establishments that perform one or more activities associated with farm operation, such as soil preparation, planting, harvesting, and management, on a contract or fee basis).
2. 2. "Back office operations" means a business function that may include one or more of the following activities: customer service, information technology and data processing, human resources, accounting and related administrative functions.
3. 3. "Benefit-cost ratio" means the following calculation: the numerator is the sum of (i) the value of all remuneration projected to be paid for all net new jobs during the period of participation in the program, and (ii) the value of capital investments to be made by the business enterprise during the period of participation in the program, and the denominator is the amount of total tax benefits under this article that will be used and refunded.
4. 4. "Certificate of eligibility" means the document issued by the department to an applicant that has completed an application to be admitted into the excelsior jobs program and has been accepted into the program by the department. Possession of a certificate of eligibility does not by itself guarantee the eligibility to claim the tax credit.
5. 5. "Certificate of tax credit" means the document issued to a participant by the department, after the department has verified that the participant has met all applicable eligibility criteria in this article. The certificate shall be issued annually if such criteria are satisfied and shall specify the exact amount of each of the tax credit components under this article that a participant may claim, pursuant to section three hundred fifty-five of this article, and shall specify the taxable year in which such credit may be claimed.
6. 6. "Distribution center" means a large scale facility involving processing, repackaging and/or movement of finished or semi-finished goods to retail locations across a multi-state area.
7. 7. "Financial services data centers or financial services customer back office operations" means operations that manage the data or accounts of existing customers or provide product or service information and support to customers of financial services companies, including banks, other lenders, securities and commodities brokers and dealers, investment banks, portfolio managers, trust offices, and insurance companies.
8. 8. "Investment zone" shall mean an area within the state that had been designated under paragraph (i) of subdivision (a) and subdivision (d) of section nine hundred fifty-eight of the general municipal law that was wholly contained within up to four distinct and separate contiguous areas as of the date immediately preceding the date the designation of such area expired pursuant to section nine hundred sixty-nine of the general municipal law.
9. 9. "Manufacturing" means the process of working raw materials into products suitable for use or which gives new shapes, new quality or new combinations to matter which has already gone through some artificial process by the use of machinery, tools, appliances, or other similar equipment. "Manufacturing" does not include an operation that involves only the assembly of components, provided, however, the assembly of motor vehicles or other high value-added products shall be considered manufacturing.

10. 10. "Net new jobs" means jobs created in this state that:

    1. (a) are new to the state;
    2. (b) have not been transferred from employment with another business located in this state including from a related person in this state;
    3. (c) are either full-time wage-paying jobs or equivalent to a full-time wage-paying job requiring at least thirty-five hours per week; and
    4. (d) are filled for more than six months.

11. 11. "Participant" means a business entity that:

    1. (a) has completed an application prescribed by the department to be admitted into the program;
    2. (b) has been issued a certificate of eligibility by the department;
    3. (c) has demonstrated that it meets the eligibility criteria in section three hundred fifty-three and subdivision two of section three hundred fifty-four of this article; and
    4. (d) has been certified as a participant by the commissioner.
12. 12. "Preliminary schedule of benefits" means the maximum aggregate amount of each component of the tax credit that a participant in the excelsior jobs program is eligible to receive pursuant to this article. The schedule shall indicate the annual amount of each component of the credit a participant may claim in each of its ten years of eligibility. The preliminary schedule of benefits shall be issued by the department when the department approves the application for admission into the program. The commissioner may amend that schedule, provided that the commissioner complies with the credit caps in section three hundred fifty-nine of this article.

13. 13. "Qualified investment" means an investment in tangible property (including a building or a structural component of a building) owned by a business enterprise which:

    1. (a) is depreciable pursuant to section one hundred sixty-seven of the internal revenue code;
    2. (b) has a useful life of four years or more;
    3. (c) is acquired by purchase as defined in section one hundred seventy-nine (d) of the internal revenue code;
    4. (d) has a situs in this state; and
    5. (e) is placed in service in the state on or after the date the certificate of eligibility is issued to the business enterprise.
14. 14. "Regionally significant project" means (a) a manufacturer creating at least fifty net new jobs in the state and making significant capital investment in the state; (b) a business creating at least twenty net new jobs in agriculture in the state and making significant capital investment in the state, (c) a financial services firm, distribution center, or back office operation creating at least three hundred net new jobs in the state and making significant capital investment in the state, or (d) a scientific research and development firm creating at least twenty net new jobs in the state, and making significant capital investment in the state. Other businesses creating three hundred or more net new jobs in the state and making significant capital investment in the state may be considered eligible as a regionally significant project by the commissioner as well. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations pursuant to section three hundred fifty-six of this article to determine what constitutes significant capital investment for each of the project categories indicated in this subdivision and what additional criteria a business must meet to be eligible as a regionally significant project, including, but not limited to, whether a business exports a substantial portion of its products or services outside of the state or outside of a metropolitan statistical area or county within the state.
15. 15. "Related person" means a "related person" pursuant to subparagraph (c) of paragraph three of subsection (b) of section four hundred sixty-five of the internal revenue code.
16. 16. "Remuneration" means wages and benefits paid to an employee by a participant in the excelsior jobs program.
17. 17. "Research and development expenditures" mean the expenses of the business enterprise that are qualified research expenses under the federal research and development credit under section forty-one of the internal revenue code and are attributable to activities conducted in the state. If the federal research and development credit has expired, then the research and development expenditures shall be calculated as if the federal research and development credit structure and definition in effect in federal tax year two thousand nine were still in effect.
18. 18. "Scientific research and development" means conducting research and experimental development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences, including but not limited to agriculture, electronics, environmental, biology, botany, biotechnology, computers, chemistry, food, fisheries, forests, geology, health, mathematics, medicine, oceanography, pharmacy, physics, veterinary, and other allied subjects. For the purposes of this article, scientific research and development does not include medical or veterinary laboratory testing facilities.
19. 19. "Software development" means the creation of coded computer instructions and includes new media as defined by the commissioner in regulations.