State Programs

The Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) is the largest “deal-closing” fund of its kind in the nation. The fund is used as a final incentive tool for projects that offer significant projected job creation and capital investment and where a single Texas site is competing with another viable out-of-state option. This money is administered by the Texas Office of the Governor – Economic Development & Tourism. Successful applicants for the fund have been awarded an average of $5,000 per job over a varying range of time. The fund can pay a range of $1,000 to $10,000 per job depending on the project’s ability to meeting the following requirements.

Qualifications

• Competition with another state for the project must exist and the business must not have already made a location decision
• Projected new job creation must be significant — typically creating more than 75 jobs in the urban areas or more than 25 in rural areas
• The new positions must be high-paying jobs — above the average wage of the county where the project would be located
• Capital investment by the company must be “significant”
• The applicant must be financially sound
• The applicant’s business sector must be an advanced industry that could potentially locate in another state or country

For more information, visit: More about TEF

The Texas Enterprise Zone Program is an economic development tool for local communities to partner with the State of Texas to promote job creation and capital investment in economically distressed areas of the state. Designated projects are eligible to apply for state sales and use tax refunds on qualified expenditures. The level and amount of the refund is related to the capital investment and jobs created or retained at the qualified business site.

Qualifications

• Employment and capital investment commitments must be incurred and met up to a five year period
• Projects may be physically located in or outside of an Enterprise Zone
• If located within a zone, the company commits that at least 25% of their new employees will meet economically disadvantaged or enterprise zone residence requirements
• If located outside of a zone, the company commits that at least 35% of their new employees will meet economically disadvantaged or enterprise zone residency requirements