To encourage economic development and employment, all levels of government offer various types of incentives to locate or expand operations within their jurisdictions. Alston & Bird has created a team that is experienced in representing and advising businesses who are seeking to maximize their investment through credit and incentive packages at the state and local levels.
We provide comprehensive counseling to businesses in the economic incentives area. Our attorneys are experienced in negotiating economic incentive packages with state and local governments, and because of this experience, we often know details about what incentives such governments have previously offered to other businesses, what incentives other competing local governments have offered, and how to structure the transactions in order to secure such benefits. Our state and local tax attorneys have worked with many clients to identify and secure tax credits, negotiated incentives, and tax exemptions for their projects. We have significant experience working with state and local agencies and departments involved in issuing grants, facilitating state incentives, and granting tax credits and exemptions, including departments of revenue, community affairs, and economic development, chambers of commerce, and property tax assessors. We are also familiar with the written, and sometimes unwritten, administrative policies that determine whether or not those incentives, credits, and exemptions are available.
Government & Economic Incentives
Federal, state, and local governments support qualifying projects with billions of dollars in tax credits and grants. While these incentives make many development projects financially viable, they can also make them much more complex. With experience in hundreds of these deals, we can help you shape projects that meet your business needs while adding value to the bottom line.
When needed, we can quickly connect with experienced attorneys in complementary practice areas, including real estate, land development, environmental, government contracting, construction, employment, public finance, immigration, and utilities. We assist clients with the following types of incentives:
Negotiated incentives such as:
- Property tax reductions
- Energy/utility rate and fee waivers or reductions
- Site acquisition/improvement incentives
- State and local grants
- Road, utility, and other infrastructure construction/improvements
- Tax-exempt bond financing for certain qualifying projects and related infrastructure
- State and local employment recruitment and training assistance
- Accelerated permitting
- Tax abatements
- Public-private partnerships (PPP)
Statutory incentives such as:
- Jobs or hiring tax credits
- Enterprise zone credits
- Film tax credits
- Investment and capital credits
- Jobs training and retraining credits
- Port credits
- Childcare tax credits
- Sales and use tax exemptions
- Minority subcontractors tax credits
- Research and development tax credits
- “Freeport” inventory property tax exemptions
- Green/renewable energy credits
- Job assistance programs
- New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)
- EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
Other economic and community development planning incentives:
- Local option sales tax (LOST) and special local option sales tax (SPLOST)
- Tax increment financing (TIF) and tax allocation districts (TADs)
- Utility and transportation infrastructure improvements
- Regional intergovernmental planning and contracting
- Ecodistricts
- Multistate Incentive Comparison and Negotiation – After conducting a comparative analysis of economic incentives offered by multiple states, we worked with a foreign-based international company to secure property tax and other economic incentives in South Carolina for a new manufacturing plant representing an investment of approximately $57 million.
- Office of Administrative Facilities Expansion and Relocation – We represented a large telecommunications company in procuring property tax incentives for five major office and administrative facilities and related parking and other facilities representing an investment of more than $1 billion.
- Manufacturing Plant for Foreign Investor – We worked with a foreign-based international company to secure property tax and other economic incentives for a new manufacturing plant representing an investment of more than $1 billion. At the time, this project represented the largest single private investment in the state.
- Developer-Owned Office/Administrative Facility – We represented a developer, and indirectly a large prospective tenant, in procuring property tax benefits and other local governmental incentives for the construction of a new office/administrative building. These tax benefits were shared by the developer and the major tenant.
- Build-to-Suit Warehouse Facility – We represented the developer of a build-to-suit warehouse and industrial properties in procuring property tax benefits for several warehouse, commercial, and industrial projects. The developer featured these transactions in its newsletter to clients and prospective clients, demonstrating its resourcefulness and its ability to reduce its costs.
- Office/Administrative Facilities Financed with a Synthetic Lease – We assisted a major credit card processor in the structuring of a property tax reduction transaction for office and processing facilities representing a capital investment exceeding $100 million that also involved a synthetic lease financing.
- Sales and Use Tax Exemption/Computer Equipment – We represented several Georgia-based Fortune 100 companies to secure total tax benefits exceeding $5 million for the purchase of technology equipment placed in specific company facilities.
- Job Retraining Tax Credit – We advised a Georgia-based Fortune 500 company on the technical aspects of securing the Georgia retraining tax credit for all qualifying company training programs.
- Tax-Exempt Financing of Private Activity Utility Infrastructure – We advised a local government natural gas provider on the tax-exempt financing of a high-capacity pipeline to an interstate pipeline and passing the savings along to a large industrial user.
- Incentivized Solar Development – We are currently advising several solar developers on securing local tax abatements and other incentives for utility-scale generation in several communities.
- Multistate/Community Incentives Analysis: Performed a comprehensive analysis of all state and local economic incentives available for the proposed construction of industrial manufacturing facilities by a foreign company, including negotiating incentives packages with four local communities and several state departments.