Senator VERDIN proposed the following amendment (SA\233C002.JN.SA22):
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all after the enacting words and inserting:
/ SECTION1. Section 12-37-220(B)(1) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(1 )(a)the house owned by an eligible owner in fee or jointly with a spouse;
(b) the house owned by a qualified surviving spouse acquired from the deceased spouse and a house subsequently acquired by an eligible surviving spouse. The qualified surviving spouse shall inform the Department of Revenue of the address of a subsequent house;
(c) when a trustee holds legal title to a dwelling for a beneficiary and the beneficiary is a person who qualifies otherwise for the exemptions provided in subitems (a) and (b) and the beneficiary uses the dwelling as the beneficiary's domicile, the dwelling is exempt from property taxation in the same amount and manner as dwellings are exempt pursuant to subitems (a) and (b);
(d) The Department of Revenue may require documentation it determines necessary to determine eligibility for the exemption allowed by this item.
(e) A person who owns an interest in a house and meets all other requirements of this item and is otherwise an eligible owner but for the ownership requirement is deemed to be an eligible owner and is eligible for the exemption allowed by this item so long as the county assessor certifies to the Department of Revenue that the house is located on heirs' property and the person is the owner-occupied resident of the house. A person eligible pursuant to this subitem must not claim the special assessment rate allowed pursuant to Section 12-43-220(c) on any other property. For purposes of this item, heirs' property has the same meaning as provided in Section 15-61-320.
(f)As used in this item:
( i)' eligible owner' means:
(A) a veteran of the armed forces of the United States who is permanently and totally disabled as a result of a service-connected disability and who files with the Department of Revenue a certificate signed by the county service officer certifying this disability;
(B) a former law enforcement officer as further defined in Section 23-23-10, who is permanently and totally disabled as a result of a law enforcement service-connected disability;
(C) a former firefighter, including a volunteer firefighter as further defined in Chapter 80, Title 40, who is permanently and totally disabled as a result of a firefighting service-connected disability;
(ii) 'permanently and totally disabled' means the inability to perform substantial gainful employment by reason of a medically determinable impairment, either physical or mental, that has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of twelve months or more or result in death;
(iii) 'qualified surviving spouse' means the surviving spouse of an individual described in subsubitem (i) while remaining unmarried, who resides in the house, and who owns the house in fee or for life. Qualified surviving spouse also means the surviving spouse of a member of the armed forces of the United States who was killed in action, or the surviving spouse of a law enforcement officer or firefighter who died in the line of duty as a law enforcement officer or firefighter, as these terms are further defined in Section 23-23-10 and Chapter 80, Title 40 who at the time of death owned the house in fee or jointly with the now surviving spouse, if the surviving spouse remains unmarried, resides in the house, and has acquired ownership of the house in fee or for life;
(iv) ' house' means a dwelling and the lot on which it is situated classified in the hands of the current owner for property tax purposes pursuant to Section 12-43-220(c). However, for an eligible owner that qualifies pursuant to item (1)(e), 'house' means a dwelling that is eligible to be classified in the hands of the current owner for property tax purposes pursuant to Section 12-43-220(c) except for the ownership requirement."
SECTION2. A. Section 12-6-3775 as it existed on December 31, 2021, is reenacted retroactively, subject to the amendments contained in SECTION 3.
B. This SECTION takes effect upon approval by the Governor and applies to income tax years beginning after 2021.
C. Section 4 B. of Act 77 of 2019 is repealed.
SECTION 3.A.Section 12-6-3775 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 12-6-3775.(A) For the purposes of this section, 'solar energy property' means any nonresidential solar energy equipment with a nameplate capacity of at least one thousand nine hundred kilowatts (1,900 kw AC) that uses solar radiation as a substitute for traditional energy for water heating, active space heating and cooling, passive heating, daylighting, generating electricity, distillation, desalination, detoxification, or the production of industrial or commercial process heat. The term also includes related devices necessary for collecting, storing, exchanging, conditioning, or converting solar energy to other useful forms of energy.
(B)(1) A taxpayer is allowed an income tax credit equal to twenty five percent of the cost, including the cost of installation, of a solar energy property if he constructs, purchases, or leases a solar energy property that is located in the State of South Carolina and if:
(a) the property is located on:
( i) the Environmental Protection Agency's National Priority List;
(ii) the Environmental Protection Agency's National Priority List Equivalent Sites;
(iii) a list of related removal actions, as certified by the Department of Health and Environmental Control;
(iv) land that is subject to a Voluntary Cleanup Contract with the Department of Health and Environmental Control as of December 31, 2017 , or to corrective action under the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976; or
(v) land that is owned by the Pinewood Site Custodial Trust; and
(b) he places it in service in this State during the taxable year.
(2) The credit is earned in the year in which the solar energy property is placed in service but must be taken in five equal annual installments, beginning in within three years of the year in which the solar energy property is placed in service. Unused credit may be carried forward for five taxable years from the year that the credit was able to be taken. A lessor shall give a taxpayer who leases solar energy property from him a statement that describes the solar energy property and states the cost of the property upon request. A credit is not allowed pursuant to this section if the cost of the solar energy property is provided by public funds. For the purposes of this section, 'public funds' does not include federal grants or tax credits.
(C) If the solar energy property with respect to which the credit was claimed is disposed of, taken out of service, or moved out of the State in a year in which the installment of a credit accrues, then the credit expires and the taxpayer may not take any remaining installments of the credit.
(D) A credit for each installation of solar energy property placed in service may not exceed two five million five hundred thousand dollars. The credit is allowed on a first come, first served basis, and the total amount of credits available to be taken, pursuant to the five equal annual installments, for all taxpayers in a taxable year, may not exceed two million five hundred thousand dollars in the aggregate.
(E) A taxpayer who claims any other state credit allowed with respect to solar energy property may not take the credit allowed in this section with respect to the same property. A taxpayer may not take the credit allowed in this section for solar energy property that the taxpayer leases from another unless the taxpayer obtains the lessor's written certification that the lessor will not claim a credit pursuant to this section with respect to the property.
(F) The department may promulgate regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section.
(G) To the extent that the taxpayer is a partnership or a limited liability company taxed as a partnership, the credit, including any unused credit amount carried forward, may be passed through to the partners or members and may be allocated among any of its partners or members on an annual basis including, without limitation, an allocation of the entire credit or unused carryforward to any partner or member who was a member or partner at any time in the year in which the credit or unused carryforward is allocated. The allocation must be allowed without regard to any provision of the Internal Revenue Code or regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, that may be interpreted as contrary to the allocation including, without limitation, the treatment of the allocation as a disguised sale. This subsection only applies to credits earned for a solar energy property placed in service after 2019."
B.This SECTION takes effect upon approval by the Governor and first applies to income tax years beginning after 2021.
SECTION4. (A) Except as otherwise provided, this act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
(B)(1) If a solar energy tax credit is earned and any portion taken pursuant to Section 12-6-3775 before 2022, then the provisions of Section 12-6-3775 as they existed on December 31, 2021, continue to apply to such credits until the credits have been fully claimed.
(2) If a solar energy tax credit is earned pursuant to Section 12-6-3775 after 2021, but before the effective date of this act, then the reenacted provisions of Section 12-6-3775, as amended pursuant to SECTION 3, apply.
(C) The provisions of Section 12-6-3775 are repealed on December 31, 2024, except that if the credit allowed by Section 12-6-3775 is earned before the repeal, then the provisions of Section 12-6-3775, as amended, continue to apply until the credits have been fully claimed. /