North Carolina Amends Definition of Qualifying Datacenter for Exemption Purposes

Effective May 11, 2016, North Carolina’s definition of “qualifying datacenter” is amended. This impacts the exemption for electricity and datacenter support equipment. A “qualifying datacenter” is a datacenter that satisfies each of the following conditions.

• The datacenter certifies that it satisfies the wage standard for the development tier area or zone in which the datacenter is located. There is no wage standard for a development tier one area. If an urban progress zone or an agrarian growth zone is not in a development tier one area, then the wage standard for that zone is an average weekly wage that is at least equal to 90% of the lesser of the average wage for all insured private employers in North Carolina and the average wage for all insured private employers in the county in which the datacenter is located. The wage standard for a development tier two area or a development tier three area is an average weekly wage that is at least equal to 110% of the lesser of the average wage for all insured private employers in North Carolina and 90% of the average wage for all insured private employers in the county in which the datacenter is located.
• The Secretary of Commerce has made a written determination that at least $75 million in private funds has been or will be invested by one or more owners, users, or tenants of the datacenter within five years of the date the owner, user, or tenant of the datacenter makes its first real or tangible property investment in the datacenter on or after January 1, 2012. Investments in real or tangible property in the datacenter made prior to January 1, 2012, may not be included in the investment required by this subdivision.
• The datacenter certifies that it provides health insurance for all of its full-time employees. The datacenter provides health insurance if it pays at least 50% of the premiums for health care coverage that equals or exceeds the minimum provisions of the basic health care plan of coverage recommended by the Small Employer Carrier Committee.

For more information on the exemption, see our previous news item North Carolina Enacts Exemption for Qualifying Datacenters. (Important Notice: Definition of Qualified Datacenter Clarified, North Carolina Department of Revenue, May 25, 2016)