§ 187-a. Credit for employment of persons with disabilities. 1.
Allowance of credit. A taxpayer shall be allowed a credit, to be
computed as hereinafter provided, against the taxes imposed by this
article, other than the taxes imposed by sections one hundred
eighty-six-a, one hundred eighty-six-e and one hundred eighty-nine of
this article, for employing within the state a qualified employee.
Provided, however, the amount of credit allowed by this section against
the tax imposed by section one hundred eighty-four of this article shall
be the excess of the credit computed under this section over the amount
of credit allowed by this section against the tax imposed by section one
hundred eighty-three of this article.

2. Qualified employee. A qualified employee is an individual:

(a) who is certified by the education department, or in the case of an
individual who is blind or visually handicapped, by the state agency
responsible for provision of vocational rehabilitation services to the
blind and visually handicapped: (i) as a person with a disability which
constitutes or results in a substantial handicap to employment and (ii)
as having completed or as receiving services under an individualized
written rehabilitation plan approved by the education department or
other state agency responsible for providing vocational rehabilitation
services to such individual; and

(b) who has worked on a full-time basis for the employer who is
claiming the credit for at least one hundred eighty days or four hundred
hours.

3. Amount of credit. Except as provided in subdivision four of this
section, the amount of credit under this section shall be thirty-five
percent of the first six thousand dollars in qualified first-year wages
earned by each qualified employee. "Qualified first-year wages" means
wages paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year to
qualified employees which are attributable, with respect to any such
employee, to services rendered during the one-year period beginning with
the day the employee begins work for the taxpayer.

4. Credit where federal work opportunity tax credit applies. With
respect to any qualified employee whose qualified first-year wages under
subdivision three of this section also constitute qualified first-year
wages for purposes of the work opportunity tax credit for vocational
rehabilitation referrals under section fifty-one of the internal revenue
code, the amount of credit under this section shall be thirty-five
percent of the first six thousand dollars in qualified second-year wages
earned by each such employee. "Qualified second-year wages" means wages
paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year to qualified
employees which are attributable, with respect to any such employee, to
services rendered during the one-year period beginning one year after
the employee begins work for the taxpayer.

5. Carryover. In no event shall the credit under this section be
allowed in an amount which will reduce the tax payable to less than the
applicable minimum tax fixed by section one hundred eighty-three or
former section one hundred eighty-six of this article. If, however, the
amount of credit allowable under this section for any taxable year
reduces the tax to such amount, any amount of credit not deductible in
such taxable year may be carried over to the following year or years and
may be deducted from the taxpayer's tax for such year or years.

6. Coordination with federal work opportunity tax credit. The
provisions of sections fifty-one and fifty-two of the internal revenue
code, as such sections applied on October first, nineteen hundred
ninety-six, that apply to the work opportunity tax credit for vocational
rehabilitation referrals shall apply to the credit under this section to
the extent that such sections are consistent with the specific
provisions of this section, provided that in the event of a conflict the
provisions of this section shall control.