§ 422. Definitions. For the purposes of this article:

1. "Agriculture" means both agricultural production (establishments
performing the complete farm or ranch operation, such as farm
owner-operators, tenant farm operators, and sharecroppers) and
agricultural support (establishments that perform one or more activities
associated with farm operation, such as soil preparation, planting,
harvesting, and management, on a contract or fee basis).

2. "Back office operations" means a business function that may include
one or more of the following activities: customer service, information
technology and data processing, human resources, accounting and related
administrative functions.

3. "Certificate of eligibility" means the document issued by the
department to an applicant that has completed an application to be
admitted into the empire state jobs retention program and has been
accepted into the program by the department. Possession of a certificate
of eligibility does not by itself guarantee the eligibility to claim the
tax credit.

4. "Certificate of tax credit" means the document issued to a
participant by the department, after the department has verified that
the participant has met all applicable eligibility criteria in this
article. The certificate shall be issued annually if such criteria are
satisfied and shall specify the exact amount of each tax credit under
this article that a participant may claim, pursuant to section four
hundred twenty-five of this article, and shall specify the taxable year
in which such credit may be claimed.

5. "Distribution center" means a large scale facility involving
processing, repackaging and/or movement of finished or semi-finished
goods to retail locations across a multi-state area.

6. "Financial services data centers" or "financial services customer
back office operations" means operations that manage the data or
accounts of existing customers or provide product or service information
and support to customers of financial services companies, including
banks, other lenders, securities and commodities brokers and dealers,
investment banks, portfolio managers, trust offices, and insurance
companies.

7. "Impacted jobs" means jobs existing at a business enterprise at a
location or locations within the county declared an emergency by the
governor on the day immediately preceding the day on which the event
leading to the emergency declaration by the governor occurred.

8. "Manufacturing" means the process of working raw materials into
products suitable for use or which gives new shapes, new quality or new
combinations to matter which has already gone through some artificial
process by the use of machinery, tools, appliances, or other similar
equipment. "Manufacturing" does not include an operation that involves
only the assembly of components, provided, however, the assembly of
motor vehicles or other high value-added products shall be considered
manufacturing.

9. "Participant" means a business entity that:

(a) has completed an application prescribed by the department to be
admitted into the program;

(b) has been issued a certificate of eligibility by the department;

(c) has demonstrated that it meets the eligibility criteria in section
four hundred twenty-three and subdivision two of section four hundred
twenty-four of this article; and

(d) has been certified as a participant by the commissioner.

10. "Preliminary schedule of benefits" means the maximum aggregate
amount of the tax credit that a participant in the empire state jobs
retention program is eligible to receive pursuant to this article. The
schedule shall indicate the annual amount of the credit a participant
may claim in each of its ten years of eligibility. The preliminary
schedule of benefits shall be issued by the department when the
department approves the application for admission into the program. The
commissioner may amend that schedule, provided that the commissioner
complies with the credit caps in section three hundred fifty-nine of
this chapter.

11. "Related person" means a related person pursuant to subparagraph
(c) of paragraph three of subsection (b) of section four hundred
sixty-five of the internal revenue code.

12. "Scientific research and development" means conducting research
and experimental development in the physical, engineering, and life
sciences, including but not limited to agriculture, electronics,
environmental, biology, botany, biotechnology, computers, chemistry,
food, fisheries, forests, geology, health, mathematics, medicine,
oceanography, pharmacy, physics, veterinary, and other allied subjects.
For the purposes of this article, scientific research and development
does not include medical or veterinary laboratory testing facilities.

13. "Software development" means the creation of coded computer
instructions and includes new media as defined by the commissioner in
regulations.