The City of Knoxville's Community Development Division and the Knoxville Chamber are sponsoring an Empowerment Zone (EZ) Business Tax Credits & Incentives Workshop designed to help businesses in the EZ. The free workshop is set for 6-8 p.m., Thursday, November 15, at the Magnolia Campus of Pellissippi State Technical Community College at 1610 Magnolia Avenue.
The event is designed to inform people in a wide range of businesses about tax savings, incentives and other benefits for businesses that are located in the city's empowerment zone or that draw their workforce from the EZ. "We want to make sure that EZ employers are aware of the tax benefits that are available to them by doing business in the Empowerment Zone," said Madeline Rogero, director of community development for the City of Knoxville.
Workshop participants will:
Learn about federal tax credits and incentives that help small, medium and large corporate businesses save on their federal taxes.
Learn about employment credits that have cash value.
Find out about EZ wage credits, Welfare to Work Credits, Work Opportunity Tax Credit and increased 179 deductions.
Find out about tax credits and incentives targeted at employers located in the federal Empowerment Zone, and those that have employees who live in the empowerment zone.
Learn about the Empowerment Zone Small Business Loan Program.
The workshop will benefit business owners, accountants, tax preparers, bookkeepers, tax attorneys, human resource managers, corporate leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs, among others.
Presenters at the event include certified public accountants Edwin Osborne and Mark Loftis; Mark Isom with Premiere Building Maintenance Corporation; and Felix Harris with the Knoxville Area Urban League.Knoxville's Empowerment Zone is a 16 square mile zone in the central city area where nearly 50,000 of the city's residents live. It is part of a federal grant/incentive program aimed at economically revitalization through the strategic use of loans, tax credits, bonds, and grants.
For more information about the workshop, please contact Mark Rigsby, with Community Development, at 215-2235.