Business Assistance

To maintain its world-class business climate, Greater Fort Lauderdale offers relocating and expanding businesses a wide range of benefits, including:

  • Incentives that provide financial assistance
  • Streamlined regulatory processes
  • Low taxes
  • Innovative and highly ranked workforce development support

The advantages of doing business in Greater Fort Lauderdale carry over to the personal side, where individuals pay no state or local personal income taxes, giving companies an added enticement in recruiting technology specialists, and other talent.

Tax Advantages

A stable and highly favorable tax climate enhances profitability for a wide variety of businesses looking to grow and prosper in a Florida location.

Florida has . . .
• NO corporate income tax on limited partnerships
• NO corporate income tax on subchapter S-corporations
• NO state personal income tax guaranteed by constitutional provision
• NO corporate franchise tax on capital stock
• NO state-level property tax assessed
• NO property tax on business inventories
• NO property tax on goods-in-transit for up to 180 days
• NO sales and use tax on goods manufactured or produced in Florida for export outside the state
• NO sales tax on purchases of raw materials incorporated in a final product for resale, including non-reusable containers or packaging
• NO sales/use tax on boiler fuels
• NO sales/use tax on co-generation of electricity

Florida Offers Sales and Use Tax Exemptions On . . .
• Semiconductor, defense and space technology-based industry transactions involving manufacturing or research equipment
• Purchases of machinery and equipment used by a new or expanding Florida business to manufacture, produce or process tangible personal property for sale
• Labor, parts and materials used in repair of and incorporated into machinery and equipment that qualify for sales tax exemption upon purchase
• Electricity used in the manufacturing process
• Aircraft parts, modification, maintenance and repair, sale or lease of qualified aircraft
• Commercial space activity – launch vehicles, payloads and fuel, machinery and equipment for production of items used exclusively at Spaceport Florida
• Labor component of research and development expenditures
• Any facility, device, fixture, machinery or equipment required for pollution control, abatement or monitoring of equipment used in manufacturing processing or compounding items for sale

Access to Capital
Florida offers business leaders a variety of ways to access capital resources, including angel investors, venture capital, experienced commercial lenders, and support from federal and state programs.

Venture Capital
Venture capitalists can provide the funding needed to jump-start a business. These venture capital firms or angel investors are willing to provide an entrepreneur with seed capital in the hopes of gaining a substantial return when the business takes off. Florida has an entrepreneurial networking group called The Florida Venture Forum that is a resource of proven value. For more information, visit www.flventure.org.

Business Incubators/Accelerators

The Broward College Entrepreneurship Experience (BCEx) is a movement to create and foster the entrepreneurial mindset at every level of Broward College. BCEx offers two accelerator options, geared for students and non-students looking to launch a business. Based on Stanford Professor and startup guru Steve Blank’s Lean Launchpad method, the BCEx accelerator is open to Broward College students, faculty, staff, and members of the community at no-to-low-cost. Top accelerator program graduates earn the opportunity to pitch the J. David Armstrong Student Venture Fund for awards and eventually seed funding. The second BCEx accelerator option is Start Up Now, a six-month community accelerator open to all area residents. Also based on Lean Launchpad, Start Up Now is a partnership between BCEx and CareerSource Broward. For more information on both programs, email [email protected].

BCEx’s portfolio of services includes the Innovation Hub, located at Broward College. This is a mixed-use business incubator housing a dynamic community of entrepreneurs, startups, mentors, advisors and investors. It serves as a one-stop resource for business owners, innovators and committed individuals pursuing their entrepreneurial ambitions. It offers access to mentors through Broward College’s collaborative partnerships with the Venture Mentor Team, Broward SCORE, the Small Business Development Center and the Enterprise Development Corporation – as well as angel investors, including New World Angels.

Coming in summer 2021, The Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation is a public-private partnership between Nova Southeastern University (NSU) and Broward County designed to spearhead the innovation ecosystem in South Florida. The center has 54,000 square feet of space equipped with infrastructure and wraparound services to provide programming, events and support for companies as they ideate, incubate, accelerate, and post-accelerate with an underlying focus on technology. The center offers a comprehensive list of wraparound services to support early-stage and young technology
companies with proof of concept and the ability to scale.

Transparent & Fast-Track Permitting

Broward County and municipal partners offer transparent, fast-track permitting, a process that accelerates the normal time it takes to acquire permits. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance can provide assistance to expanding and relocating companies.

Platinum Cities
Broward County and many of its municipalities have been named “Platinum Cities” after approving a permitting excellence process recommended by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance. Those municipalities include Coconut Creek, Cooper City, Coral Springs, Dania Beach, Davie, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Lauderhill, Margate, Miramar, Oakland Park, Parkland, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Sunrise, Tamarac, West Park, Wilton Manors and unincorporated Broward County. each of those municipalities have designated a concierge as a single point of contact to guide someone through the permitting process.

The purpose of the permitting excellence process, designed for high-impact, targeted industry businesses that are relocating or expanding in Broward County, is to provide businesses with a transparent, first-rate experience when going through the development, permitting and inspection process for office and industrial properties.

Steps communities are taking to provide an excellent permitting experience include pre-development meetings and designating a city staff member as a single point of contact to assist the company through the permitting process. An online permitting system also allows applicants to review the status of their permits on a real-time basis throughout the process.

Broward County's ePermits Initiative
Multiple Broward County agencies have collaborated on a convenient, user-friendly ePermits system. Contractors, businesses, design professionals and residents can visit www.broward.org/ePermits to identify their project type and obtain information on required permits.

The ePermits cloud-based platform allows Broward residents and businesses to submit applications to a permitting agency with significantly reduced turnaround review time. Still under long-term development, the ePermit program allows for electronic submittal of plans, projects, permits, and licenses. 

Targeted Industries

 High Impact Performance Incentive Grant (HIPI)
The High Impact Performance Incentive is a negotiated grant used to attract and grow major high impact facilities in Florida. Grants are provided to pre-approved applicants in certain high-impact sectors designated by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO).

In order to qualify for consideration under the program, an applicant must operate within designated high impact portions of the following sectors: clean energy, corporate headquarters, financial services, life sciences, semiconductors, and transportation equipment manufacturing; create at least 50 new full-time equivalent jobs in Florida within a three-year period and make a cumulative investment in the state of at least $50 million within the same three-year period; or if a research and development facility, create at least 25 new full-time equivalent jobs in a three year period and make a cumulative investment of at least $25 million within the same three-year period.

Capital Investment Tax Credit (CITC)
To encourage investment in Florida, the state offers a Capital Investment Tax Credit to qualifying companies. To participate in the program, a company must apply to Enterprise Florida and be certified by the Governor’s Office prior to commencement of operations. To qualify for consideration, an applicant must operate within designated high impact portions of the following sectors: clean energy, corporate headquarters, financial services, information technology, life sciences, semiconductors, and transportation equipment manufacturing; create at least 100 new jobs in Florida in connection with the project; and make a cumulative capital investment of at least $25 million in connection with the project from the beginning of construction to the commencement of operations. 

The amount of the annual credit is up to 5 percent of the eligible capital costs generated by a qualifying project, for up to 20 years (with any unused portion being carried over for an additional 10 years). The annual credit may not exceed a specified percentage of the annual corporate income tax liability generated by the project. Those percentages are: 100 percent for a project with a cumulative capital investment of at least $100 million; 75 percent for a project with a cumulative capital investment of at least $50 million but less than $100 million; and 50 percent for a project with a cumulative capital investment of at least $25 million but less than $50 million.

Broward County Job Growth Incentive (JG)

The Job Growth direct cash incentive is a negotiated local community inducement designed to encourage the growth of high-skill/high-wage qualified jobs and capital investment in Broward County. This program requires the joint participation of Broward County and the municipality in which the company is  and/or will be located. The business must serve multi-state and/or international markets while considering other states for the expansion/relocation. New or expanding businesses in targeted industries or corporate headquarters are eligible; a minimum of 10 new jobs must be created. New jobs must be at a minimum of 115 percent of Broward County’s average wage for up to $2,000 per job. The county’s portion is not to exceed $200,000.

Workforce Incentives/Training

Greater Fort Lauderdale companies can take advantage of several statewide and regional training programs that can be tailored to their specific requirements, including the following:

Quick Response Training Incentives
The Florida Quick Response Training grant program is designed to assist qualified relocating and expanding Florida businesses. This program is customized, flexible and responsive to individual company needs.

Incumbent Worker Training Program
Incumbent Worker Training (IWT) is a state program providing training to currently employed workers to keep Florida’s workforce competitive in a global economy and to retain existing businesses. The program is available to all for-profit Florida businesses that have been in operation for at least one year prior to application and require training for existing employees.

On-the-Job Training Program
CareerSource Broward’s On-the-Job Training (OJT) Program provides a unique opportunity for individuals who already possess some job-related skills and knowledge to “earn as they learn.” By participating, employers benefit by being reimbursed 50% to 75% for the candidate’s wages during the training period, while having the services of a full-time employee. The candidate cannot begin employment prior to the approval of the On-The-Job Training agreement between CareerSource Broward and the employer. 

OJT focuses on jobs involving the introduction of new technologies, production or service procedures; upgrading to new jobs that require additional skills or workplace literacy; among other purposes. The employer can be in the public, private or nonprofit sector. OJT is limited in duration based upon the target occupation for which the participant is being trained, the participant’s prior work experience and the service strategy.

See “Workforce” section and click here for additional information.

 

Public-Private Partnerships

The State of Florida welcomes public-private partnerships for a wide range of infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, ports and healthcare facilities. Under state law, businesses can submit unsolicited proposals to local governments. If approved by the public sector, the project can begin, creating new jobs and business opportunities for contractors, designers and other professionals.  The law also authorizes public-private partnerships to contract for public service work with a not-for-profit-organization or charitable youth organization, and provides certain requirements for contracts specific to park land and public education buildings.  Additionally, it creates an alternative procurement process and requirements for public-private partnerships to facilitate the construction of public-purpose projects.

Since industry leaders gathered in Fort Lauderdale in 2012 to share ideas and build relationships, the Florida Council for Public Private Partnerships has become a key source of information on these programs. The council holds regular networking events, webinars and conferences that focus on opportunities in this growing field. For more information, visit www.fcp3.org.

Special Opportunities

Urban Incentives
Florida offers increased incentive awards and lower wage qualification thresholds for businesses locating in many urban core/inner city areas that are experiencing conditions affecting the economic viability of the community and hampering the self-sufficiency of the residents.

FPL Incentives
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the largest electric utility in Florida, offers discounted service for new or expanding businesses that add a minimum of 350-KW demand of new electric load and create at least 25 new jobs per 350-KW demand of added load.  FPL’s economic development rate can potentially save a 350-KW demand business customer $9,500 to $12,000 in the first year to help offset costs associated with the start-up, expanding or moving their operations to Florida.

Visit PoweringFlorida.com or email [email protected] for more information.  

Finance

Below-Market-Rate Loans 
A wide array of sound financial institutions and specialized government financing programs are available in Greater Fort Lauderdale. Short-term loans for real estate, equipment or operating capital are available for qualified applicants.

SBA Loans
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers several loan programs that provide financial aid to small businesses. A few of the most popular programs are standard 7(a) Loans, Micro-Loans and the 504 Program for commercial real estate.

Micro-loan lenders and Certified Development Companies (CDC) work with the SBA to provide financing to small businesses. The Micro-loan program provides up to $50,000 to startup, newly established or growing small business concerns. Applications are submitted to the local intermediary and all credit decisions are made at the local level. For more information, go to sba.gov.

Industrial Revenue Bond
Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRBs) provide a source of long-term, sub-prime market financing of capital requirements for relocating or expanding manufacturing and tax exempt 501(c)(3) facilities. Bond proceeds must be used for the acquisition of land and/or a building, construction of a new facility, renovation of an existing facility or purchasing machinery or equipment. For more information, call the Broward County Office of Economic and Small Business Development at 954-357-8075.

South Florida Regional Planning Council Revolving Loan Fund
The South Florida Regional Planning Council Revolving Loan Fund provides loans of $50,000 to $300,000 to small to medium-sized businesses in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. The loans are for existing businesses looking to expand or relocate, create jobs and/or retain jobs.  Examples of loan uses include financing to expand to a new location, upgrading equipment and providing needed working capital. The loans provide opportunities for businesses to obtain financing where credit is not otherwise granted. For more information visit www.sfrpc.com/rlf.htm.

Taxes

Corporate Income Tax
Florida’s corporate income tax rate is one of the nation’s lowest at 5.5 percent of Florida net income. In Florida, that amounts to just over 6 percent of total state tax revenue. The national average is nearly 8.5 percent. In Broward County, businesses pay no corporate income tax on foreign source dividends (as defined in the federal tax code). They can also receive tax credits by hiring individuals from targeted groups. Adjusted federal income is apportioned to Florida, in accordance with a three-factor formula, which is the ratio of Florida’s portion of property, payroll and sales taxes to the totals of those factors in the firm’s entire operation. For more information, call the Florida Department of Revenue at  800-352-3671.

Florida Emergency Excise Tax
All businesses must file a Florida Emergency Excise Tax return, which is found in the Florida corporate tax form package. Other excise taxes are imposed on motor fuels, cigarettes, oil and gas at the port of production. Taxes also are levied on operating terminal facilities and handling pollutants.

Additional Services
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance helps businesses navigate through the relocation or expansion process by serving as a liaison to government to expedite project activity. In addition, the Alliance provides site selection assistance and can work as an intermediary for introductions to local real estate experts.

The Alliance also provides key market intelligence including demographics, labor availability, taxes, cost of living comparisons and research on request; workforce, recruitment and training assistance can also be provided.

For assistance from the Alliance, please call 954-524-3113.