Relating to investment requirements for data center businesses that claim certain sales tax exemptions and sales and use tax refunds

This bill relates to the investment requirements for data center businesses that claim certain sales tax exemptions and sales and use tax refunds. The bill requires a data center business (data center) that claims a sales tax exemption or sales and use tax refunds (exemptions and refunds) to, by the end of the calendar year, invest a minimum of percent of the aggregate value of the exemption or refund claimed for the previous year as an equity investment in either a qualifying business or an innovation fund. The department of revenue (department) shall annually provide the aggregate value of the exemptions and refunds claimed by a data center as disclosed in the data center’s annual report, and the economic development authority (authority) shall verify the data center made the required equity investments. If a data center does not make the required equity investments, the authority shall notify the department, which shall cancel the registration of the data center for, and the data center shall not receive, a sales tax exemption. Additionally, the data center shall repay the aggregate amount of the exemptions and refunds claimed for which the year the data center did not make the required investment. Repayment shall be considered a tax payment due and payable to the department, and the failure to make the repayment may be treated as a failure to pay the tax shown due, or required to be shown due, with the filing of a return or deposit form. The authority may adopt rules to administer the bill. Under current law, a data center shall register with the department as a data center and shall file an annual report with the department describing the backup power generation fuel and electricity purchased in the previous year and any other information the department requires. The bill requires the annual report to describe the aggregate sales price amount of the backup power generation fuel and electricity. Additionally, beginning with the annual report due January 31, 2027, a data center’s annual report shall contain, from the previous calendar year, the aggregate sales price amount of exempt property purchased, and the amount of sales and use tax refunds received.