§ 187-a. Credit for employment of persons with disabilities. 1. Allowance of credit. A taxpayer shall be allowed a credit, to be computed as hereinafter provided, against the taxes imposed by this article, other than the taxes imposed by sections one hundred eighty-six-a, one hundred eighty-six-e and one hundred eighty-nine of this article, for employing within the state a qualified employee. Provided, however, the amount of credit allowed by this section against the tax imposed by section one hundred eighty-four of this article shall be the excess of the credit computed under this section over the amount of credit allowed by this section against the tax imposed by section one hundred eighty-three of this article.

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2. Qualified employee. A qualified employee is an individual:

(a) who is certified by the education department, or in the case of an individual who is blind or visually handicapped, by the state agency responsible for provision of vocational rehabilitation services to the blind and visually handicapped: (i) as a person with a disability which constitutes or results in a substantial handicap to employment and (ii) as having completed or as receiving services under an individualized written rehabilitation plan approved by the education department or other state agency responsible for providing vocational rehabilitation services to such individual; and

(b) who has worked on a full-time basis for the employer who is claiming the credit for at least one hundred eighty days or four hundred hours.

3. Amount of credit. Except as provided in subdivision four of this section, the amount of credit under this section shall be thirty-five percent of the first six thousand dollars in qualified first-year wages earned by each qualified employee. "Qualified first-year wages" means wages paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year to qualified employees which are attributable, with respect to any such employee, to services rendered during the one-year period beginning with the day the employee begins work for the taxpayer.

4. Credit where federal work opportunity tax credit applies. With respect to any qualified employee whose qualified first-year wages under subdivision three of this section also constitute qualified first-year wages for purposes of the work opportunity tax credit for vocational rehabilitation referrals under section fifty-one of the internal revenue code, the amount of credit under this section shall be thirty-five percent of the first six thousand dollars in qualified second-year wages earned by each such employee. "Qualified second-year wages" means wages paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year to qualified employees which are attributable, with respect to any such employee, to services rendered during the one-year period beginning one year after the employee begins work for the taxpayer.

5. Carryover. In no event shall the credit under this section be allowed in an amount which will reduce the tax payable to less than the applicable minimum tax fixed by section one hundred eighty-three or former section one hundred eighty-six of this article. If, however, the amount of credit allowable under this section for any taxable year reduces the tax to such amount, any amount of credit not deductible in such taxable year may be carried over to the following year or years and may be deducted from the taxpayer's tax for such year or years.

6. Coordination with federal work opportunity tax credit. The provisions of sections fifty-one and fifty-two of the internal revenue code, as such sections applied on October first, nineteen hundred ninety-six, that apply to the work opportunity tax credit for vocational rehabilitation referrals shall apply to the credit under this section to the extent that such sections are consistent with the specific provisions of this section, provided that in the event of a conflict the provisions of this section shall control.