Texas Enterprise Zone Program

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 purchases of all taxable items purchased for use at the qualified business site related to the project or activity. The level and amount of refund is related to the capital investment and jobs created at the qualified business site.

Local communities must nominate a company as an Enterprise Project to be eligible to participate in the Enterprise Zone Program. In addition, in order to qualify a project for the Enterprise Zone Program, local communities must offer incentives to the project such as tax abatement, tax increment financing, and one-stop permitting. Legislation limits the number of projects that can be designated per biennium. The state accepts applications quarterly with deadlines on the first working day of March, June, September and December.

Communities may nominate projects for a designation period up to five years, non-inclusive of a 90-day window prior to the application deadline. Employment and capital investment commitments must be incurred and met within this time frame.

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.

Enterprise Zones exist in all five of the Austin metropolitan area's counties (.pdf map and interactive map).

State benefits to participation
LEVEL OF CAPITAL INVESTMENT
MAXIMUM
NUMBER OF JOBS
ALLOCATED
MAXIMUM
POTENTIAL
REFUND
MAXIMUM
REFUND PER JOB
ALLOCATED
$40,000 to $5,000,000
("Half Enterprise Project")
250
$625,000
$2,500
$5,000,000 to $149,999,999
("Enterprise Project")
500
1,250,000
2,500
$150,000,000 to $249,999,999
(“Double Jumbo Project”)
500
2,500,000
5,000
$250,000,000 or more
(“Triple Jumbo Project”)
500
3,750,000
7,500

Under limited statutory provisions, an enterprise project designation may be granted for job retention.

Double and Triple Jumbo Projects may not count retained jobs for benefit. A Double or Triple Jumbo project must create at least 500 jobs.

Jobs counted for benefit must have an average weekly wage which meets or exceeds the average county weekly wage in the county which the qualified business site is located.