Rhode Island Investment Tax Credit

Definition of Terms

1. Average Annual Wage - The wage for a particular Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, or the corresponding industry sectors of the corresponding North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), derived from the quarterly wage and employment data reported by all private employers to the Department of Labor and Training under its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program. The Department publishes the average annual wage by two and three digit SIC annually.

2. Full-time Equivalent Employee - means an employee who works a minimum of 30 hours per week within the state or two part-time employees who together work a minimum of 30 hours per week within the state.

3. Treatment of employees on Payroll for less than 12 months - In order to present a fair representation of a company’s true median or average annual wage, the wage information for employees on the payroll for less than a full year should be annualized. For example, if someone worked for only 26 weeks during the year his/her wages should be doubled to reflect a full 52 week year. By the same token if someone worked for the first part of a year but did not stay with the company for the full year, his/her wages should also be annualized and included when computing the median annual wage.

4. Median Annual Wage - That annual wage determined by ranking the annual wages of all employees from low to high and then taking the wage rate such that half the rates are below that figure and half are above that figure. If there is no one middle number than the median is the arithmetic average of the two middle numbers.

5. Production Worker - Includes non-supervisory workers (and working supervisors) who are directly engaged in the manufacture of the product(s) of the establishment and other closely related activities. Types of work include: fabricating, storage, shipping, receiving, warehousing, trucking, packing, handling, maintenance, product development, processing, assembling, janitorial, repair, and record keeping related to production.

6. Time Period for Employer Computing Median Annual Wage - The employer applying for the Investment Tax Credit should use the median for the latest 12-month period available provided the time period is at least as current as the latest period used by the Department of Labor and Training for determining the employer’s qualification for the Investment Tax Credit.

7. Qualified Taxpayer (QT) is a taxpayer in any of the businesses described in major groups 20 through 39, 50 and 51, 60 through 67, 73, 76, 80 through 82, 87 and 89 of the SIC code, and/or any of the businesses described in the three (3) digit SIC code 781, which meet the wage requirements necessary for DLT certification.

8. High Performance Manufacturer (HPM) is a QT with SIC codes in the major groups 28, 30, 34 to 36 and 38 who must meet the additional wage requirements as shown in section 44-31-1(3) of the RI General Laws (Investment Tax Credit at www.rilin.state.ri.us/statutes). They must be initially certified by DLT as a qualified taxpayer prior to attaining HPM status. Support documentation for the latter must be retained as it may be subject to RI Tax Division review.