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Department of Taxation and Finance

Department of Taxation and Finance

Instructions for Form IT-601 Claim for EZ Wage Tax Credit Including the ZEA Wage Tax Credit

IT-601-I

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General information

The zone equivalent area (ZEA) and empire zone (EZ) wage tax credits have both expired:

  • For tax years beginning after June 13, 2004, you may only claim a ZEA wage tax credit you carried forward from previous years.
  • For tax years beginning on or after July 1, 2014, you may only claim an EZ wage tax credit you carried forward from previous years.
  • If you were required to obtain an EZ retention certificate from Empire State Development, but were denied one, you are not eligible to claim any amount of the credit you carried forward.

Credit limit

The EZ wage tax credit, including any ZEA wage tax credit, is limited to 50% of the tax imposed under Tax Law section 601 before the allowance of any tax credits.

Part 1: Calculation of the credit carried forward and available for the current tax year

Line 1

Enter the wage tax credit you carried forward. This is the amount from your prior year Form IT-601, line 9.

Line 3

If you carried forward a wage tax credit from more than one entity, the total amount of all wage tax credits you use this year cannot exceed 50% of this year’s tax.

Part 2: Calculation of credit used and carried over

Line 5

  • Form IT-201 filers: Enter the tax from Form IT-201, Resident Income Tax Return, line 39, plus any amount from Form IT-201-ATT, Other Tax Credits and Taxes, line 21.
  • Form IT-203 filers: Enter the tax from Form IT-203, Nonresident and Part-Year Resident Income Tax Return, line 46, plus any amount from Form IT-203-ATT, Other Tax Credits and Taxes, line 20.
  • Form IT-205 filers: Enter the tax from Form IT-205, Fiduciary Income Tax Return, line 8 (for residents), or line 9 (for nonresidents), plus any credits shown on line 1 of the Addbacks worksheet, in the instructions for Form IT-205, line 12.

Line 6 

If you are applying any credits against the tax before this credit, enter those amounts here.

Apply credits in the following order:

  1. household credit
  2. any credits that cannot be carried over or refunded
  3. any credits that can be carried over for a limited duration 
  4. any credits that can be carried over for an unlimited duration
  5. refundable credits

For more information, see Ordering of personal income tax credits, or visit www.tax.ny.gov (search: ordering).

Line 8

Enter the amount from line 8 and code 161 on:

  • Form IT-201-ATT, line 6,
  • Form IT-203-ATT, line 7, or
  • include it in the total you report on Form IT-205, line 10. 
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