Taxes & Incentives

To support new and expanding businesses in the region, Tulsa offers several tax credits to assist workers and business owners alike. The Quality Jobs + Investment Tax Credit offers a 2-5% tax credit to manufacturers investing more than $40 million in job creation. More industry-specific incentives include is the Aerospace and Automotive Engineer Tax Credit. These programs give a personal income tax credit of $5,000 annually for 5 years to engineers working in Oklahoma aerospace companies. The businesses receive tax credits toward tuition reimbursement for employees and up to $12,500 in tax credits per employee that has completed a degree within a year of joining the company.

The Tulsa region and the state of Oklahoma have many programs to support workforce development. The Training for Industry Program is designed specifically to meet the employee training needs of new or expanding industries. CareerTech works with newly relocated companies one-on-one to design and deliver start-up training programs. Services include job analysis; pre-employment training; preproduction training; instructional materials and development; and assessment of training needs, all for free. CareerTech provides similar services through the Customized Industry Training Program, but this training is specific to cutting the costs of training the existing workforce. Separately, the Industrial Safety Training Program provides safety training to ensure the security of local work environments.

The state of Oklahoma is one of the most incredible states to start a business or expand an existing business. The Oklahoma Quality Jobs Program will help new and expanding businesses be competitive by offering a rebate for newly created payrolls in the state. In addition, Oklahoma has also implemented the Small Employer Quality Jobs Program which assists small businesses (500 employees or less) to locate or expand within Oklahoma. Qualifying payroll must be attributable to annual salaries that are 110% – 125% of the average wage of the county in which they are located. Benefits are not payable until a company has attained both its minimum number of new jobs and its required average wage.