Long Story Short:

  • What if we told you there was a way for your salary to be exempt from New York state income taxes?
  • PIT – personal income tax benefit is real, and it’s a perk of eligible employees at Start-UP NY companies.
  • Here’s how to find out if you or the company you work for qualify for the program.

To make a convoluted story short, our hypothetical employee would get to put an extra $6,330 in their pocket.

The Buffalo region has spent the past decade building an environment that supports startup founders as they seek to grow and thrive.

One of the important tools in that effort has been Start-Up NY.

The New York state economic development program provides a specific set of tax advantages that puts more money into the pockets of early team members and supports recruiting in a highly competitive workforce.

The most well-known of those advantages is the PIT – personal income tax benefit – which means eligible employees of Start-Up NY companies are exempt from state income taxes.

So let’s say your company is in Start-Up NY, and you’re recruiting for a position that pays $100,000. If that employee meets the program’s criteria, they’d be exempt from the 6.33% in New York state income tax they’d normally owe.

To make a convoluted story short, our hypothetical employee would get to put an extra $6,330 in their pocket.

That’s not the only tax benefit available to Start-Up NY companies. The program also provides for exemptions on state corporate taxes (which doesn’t apply to many startups but can be a boon to those that report a profit) and exemptions on state sales taxes paid by the company.

Some of the region’s most successful tech stories – including 43North portfolio companies ACV Auctions, Circuit Clinical and Kangarootime – have used Start-Up NY to grow their business.

Start-Up NY is managed locally by the University at Buffalo and overseen by Empire State Development Corp. The program also requires companies to operate out of pre-approved zones, such as the 43North incubator, UB’s incubator facilities and the Innovation Center, among others. Employees must operate full-time out of those zones to qualify for the personal income tax benefit.

Not everyone qualifies for Start-Up NY.  Sometimes companies are better fits for other programs in the region’s economic development toolbelt, such as the Excelsior Jobs Program or Innovation Hot Spot.

But companies are encouraged to do their research and learn for themselves how Start-Up NY can work for them. To apply to Start-Up NY or to learn more about the program, visit Start-Up NY’s website.

Other relevant links:

Check out UB’s portfolio of startup resources, including Start-Up NY, the Cultivator accelerator program and the Innovation Seed Fund Startup Support – Business & Entrepreneur Partnerships – University at Buffalo