Read the full stored bill text
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 2716
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENT A TIVE DIEHL.
6030H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
T o amend chapter 135, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to a tax credit for
qualified railroad infrastructure investments.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 135, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be
2 known as section 135.1210, to read as follows:
135.1210. 1. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
2 (1) "Eligible taxpayer":
3 (a) Any short line railr oad company located wholly or partly in the state of
4 Missouri that is classified by the United States Surface T ransportation board as a Class
5 II or Class III railro ad and subject to the tax imposed under chapter 143 or 148 who
6 made qualified railr oad expenditures in Missouri or qualified new rail infrastructur e
7 expenditur es in Missouri during the tax year for which a state tax credi t is claimed
8 under this section;
9 (b) Any owner or lessee of a rail siding, industrial spur , or industry track located
10 on or adjacent to any railro ad in the state of Missouri and subject to the tax imposed
11 under chapter 143 or 148 who made qualified railr oad expenditures in Missouri or
12 qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditur es in Missouri during the tax year for which
13 a state tax credi t is claimed under this section; or
14 (c) Any port authority existing under chapter 68 or any city-owned railr oad that
15 is not subject to the tax imposed under chapter 143 or 148 who made qualified railr oad
16 expenditur es in Missouri or qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditures in Missouri
17 during the tax year for which a state tax credit is claimed under this section;
EXPLANA TION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
intended to be omitted from the law . Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.
18 (2) "Qualified amount", for any eligible taxpayer in a given tax year , an amount
19 equal to fifty perc ent of an eligible taxpayer's qualified railr oad expenditur es or
20 qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditur es, pr ovided that:
21 (a) For qualified railr oad expenditures , the amount of the state tax cr edit shall
22 not exceed an amount equal to the pr oduct of five thousand dollars multiplied by the
23 number of miles of railr oad track owned or leased in the state by a Class II or Class III
24 railr oad as of the close of the tax year; and
25 (b) For qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditures , the amount of the state
26 tax credit shall not exceed one million dollars for each new rail-served customer pr oject
27 of an eligible taxpayer;
28 (3) "Qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditures ", gross expenditur es for new
29 rail infrastructur e by an eligible taxpayer , which includes the construction of new track
30 infrastructur e such as industrial leads, switches, spurs, sidings, rail loading docks, and
31 transloading structur es involved with servicing new or existing customer locations or
32 expansions by any railr oad located in Missouri;
33 (4) "Qualified railr oad expenditur es", gross expenditur es for maintenance,
34 r econstruction, or r eplacement of railr oad infrastructur e, including track, r oadbed,
35 bridges, industrial leads and sidings, and track-r elated structure s owned or leased by a
36 Class II or Class III railr oad located in Missouri. "Qualified railr oad expenditur es"
37 does not include expenditur es used to generate a federal tax cred it or expenditures
38 funded by a state or federal grant;
39 (5) "State tax cr edit", a credi t against the tax otherwise due under chapter 143
40 or 148, excluding withholding tax imposed under sections 143.191 to 143.265.
41 2. For all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, an eligible taxpayer
42 shall be allowed to claim a nonr efundable state tax cred it for qualified railro ad
43 expenditur es in Missouri or for qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditures in
44 Missouri against the taxpayer's state tax liability in an amount equal to the taxpayer's
45 qualified amount.
46 3. An eligible taxpayer who seeks to claim a state tax cred it under this section
47 shall submit a certificate of eligibility to the Missouri department of economic
48 development after completion of the qualified railr oad expenditures or qualified new
49 rail infrastructure expenditures . The certificate shall include the number of miles of
50 railr oad track owned or leased in this state and a description of the amount of qualified
51 railr oad expenditures or qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditures completed. The
52 certificate shall be made on forms and in the manner prescribed by the department and
53 consider ed in the order received .
HB 2716 2
54 4. If the department of economic development determines that the taxpayer
55 meets the requ irem ents to claim a state tax cr edit under this section, the department
56 may issue a certificate of eligibility to the eligible taxpayer . The certificate shall be
57 number ed for identification and declar e its date of issuance and the amount of the state
58 tax credi t allowed under this section.
59 5. (1) The cumulative amount of state tax cred its under this section authorized
60 for qualified railr oad expenditur es in this state shall not exceed four million five
61 hundr ed thousand dollars per calendar year . If the amount of state tax cr edits claimed
62 in a calendar year under this section for qualified railr oad expenditures exceeds four
63 million five hundr ed thousand dollars, state tax cr edits shall be allowed based on the
64 order in which they ar e claimed.
65 (2) The cumulative amount of state tax cr edits under this section authorized for
66 qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditures in this state shall not exceed ten million
67 dollars per calendar year . If the amount of state tax credits claimed in a calendar year
68 under this section for qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditur es exceeds ten million
69 dollars, state tax cr edits shall be allowed based on the order in which they are claimed.
70 6. Any unused portion of a state tax cre dit allowed under this section may be
71 carried forward for up to five subsequent tax years immediately following the tax year
72 the state tax cr edit was allowed.
73 7. (1) Subject to the r equir ements of this subsection, an eligible taxpayer who
74 earns and is entitled to the state tax cr edit or to an unused portion of the state tax credit
75 allowed by this section may transfer all or a portion of the unused state tax credi t by
76 written agr eement to any taxpayer subject to tax imposed under chapter 143 or 148, at
77 any time during the year in which the state tax cre dit is earned and the five years
78 following the year of the qualified expenditures . The taxpayer originally allowed the
79 state tax cr edit and the subsequent transfer ee shall jointly file a copy of the written state
80 tax credi t transfer agr eement with the department of revenu e. The agr eement shall
81 include the name, addr ess, and taxpayer identification number of the parties to the
82 transfer; the amount of the state tax cr edit being transferred; the year the state tax
83 cr edit was originally allowed to the transferring taxpayer; and the tax year or years for
84 which the state tax cred it may be claimed. In the event of such a transfer , the transfer ee
85 may claim the state tax cr edit on the transferee’ s income tax r eturn originally due
86 during the calendar year in which the transfer takes place only for tax years that begin
87 on or after January 1, 2027, and in the case of carryover of the state tax credit, on the
88 transfer ee’ s ret urns for the number of years of carryover available to the transfer or at
89 the time of the transfer unless earlier exhausted.
HB 2716 3
90 (2) In the event that after the transfer the department of reven ue determines
91 that the amount of state tax cred it pr operly available under this section is less than the
92 amount claimed by the transfero r of the state tax credit or that the state tax credi t is
93 subject to recap tur e, the department shall assess the amount of overstated or recap tur ed
94 state tax credi t as taxes due fr om the transfero r and not the transfer ee. The assessment
95 shall be made in the manner pr ovided for a deficiency in taxes under state law .
96 8. The department of economic development shall pr epar e an annual repo rt for
97 the general assembly outlining the qualified railr oad expenditure s and qualified new rail
98 infrastructur e expenditure s for each eligible taxpayer and a statement summarizing the
99 investments made by the eligible taxpayer .
100 9. The department of economic development may pr omulgate rules governing
101 the allowance of the state tax cred it provi ded for in this section, including pro visions for
102 the verification of the timeliness of a claim, the process and documentation requ ired for
103 the department of economic development to appr ove a state tax cre dit for qualified
104 railr oad expenditur es or qualified new rail infrastructur e expenditures , and any
105 documentation that the department of economic development req uires in order to
106 determine that an eligible taxpayer meets the requ irem ents of this section. In addition
107 to other needed rules, the department of economic development may pr omulgate rules
108 pr escribing, in the case of S corporations or partnerships, a method of attributing the
109 state tax cred it under this section to the share holders or partners in pr oportion to their
110 shar e of the income fr om the S corporation or partnership. A state tax cred it issued or
111 transferr ed under this section to an estate or trust may be used by the r elevant fiduciary
112 against the fiduciary income tax imposed under section 143.061.
113 10. The department of reven ue and the department of economic development
114 shall promul gate all necessary rules and r egulations for the administration of this
115 section including, but not limited to, rules r elating to the verification of a taxpayer's
116 qualified amount. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section
117 536.010, that is creat ed under the authority delegated in this section shall become
118 effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the pro visions of chapter 536 and,
119 if applicable, section 536.028. This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any
120 of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to re view , to
121 delay the effective date, or to disappr ove and annul a rule are subsequently held
122 unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule prop osed or
123 adopted after August 28, 2026, shall be invalid and void.
124 1 1. The state tax credit authorized under this section shall be consider ed a
125 r edevelopment tax cred it, as defined under section 135.800, and shall be subject to the
126 pr ovisions of section 135.800 to 135.830.
HB 2716 4
127 12. Under section 23.253 of the Missouri sunset act:
128 (1) The pr ovisions of the new pr ogram authorized under this section shall
129 automatically sunset December thirty-first six years after the effective date of this
130 section, unless r eauthorized by an act of the general assembly;
131 (2) If such pr ogram is rea uthorized, the prog ram authorized under this section
132 shall automatically sunset December thirty-first twelve years after the effective date of
133 the reau thorization of this section; and
134 (3) This section shall terminate on September first of the calendar year
135 immediately following the calendar year in which the prog ram authorized under this
136 section is sunset.
✔
HB 2716 5