Enterprise Zones

Programs

Introduction

Oregon’s enterprise zones offer a unique resource to Oregon communities, and provide an excellent opportunity for traded-sector businesses growing or relocating in Oregon. In exchange for adding jobs inside an enterprise zone (EZ), a qualified business firm’ local property taxes on new plant and equipment are abated for at least three years (but up to five years) in the standard program. (In addition, specially certified long-term rural facilities can receive much longer periods of property tax abatement.)

Sponsored by municipal or tribal governments, an enterprise zone typically serves as a focal point for local development efforts. Currently, eligible business investments can use any of 74 enterprise zones (57 rural and 17 urban) across Oregon.

Data Reporting

Vist the reports section below for more information on Enterprise Zone Businesses and standard exemptions on qualified property.

Electronic Commerce

Some enterprise zones have received special status to further encourage electronic commerce, or “e-commerce” investments. Electronic commerce is defined as engaging predominantly in transactions via the internet or an internet-based computer platform. These transactions include taking orders, closing sales, making purchases, providing customer service, or undertaking other activities that serve the business’s overall purpose, even if retail in nature. The most significant feature of these designations was that qualifying businesses could claim a credit against the business’s annual state income or corporate excise tax liability equal to as much as 25% of investments in e-commerce operations that were made in or before the business’s 2017 tax year. For more information, refer to the Electronic Commerce Zone Program.

Data Reporting

Due to disclosure laws, data reports from this program are unavailable. Electronic Commerce Zone Program businesses receive a corporation or personal income tax credit depending on how their business is incorporated, and the only data available is from corporation or personal income tax returns, from which information is not allowed to be disclosed.

Tribal Reservation

Each of the nine federally recognized Indian Tribes in Oregon can also have a single Reservation Enterprise Zone designated to encompass up to 12 square miles of its tribal lands throughout the state. A tribe can also enter into a special intergovernmental agreement with a city, port, or county government to directly create and co-sponsor any number of contiguous Reservation Partnership Zones anywhere in Oregon. Besides property tax abatements like any Oregon enterprise zone, any business in one of these tribal zones can claim a state income tax credit equal to tribal taxes it pays each year through 2027.

Data Reporting

Due to disclosure laws, data reports from this program are unavailable. Reservation Enterprise Zone Program businesses receive a corporation or personal income tax credit depending on how their business is incorporated, and the only data available is from corporation or personal income tax returns, from which information is not allowed to be disclosed.

Rural Renewable Energy Development (RRED)

Rural Renewable Energy Development (RRED) Zones offer an incentive to encourage investments that either generate electricity from solar, geothermal, wind, biomass or other such forms of energy, or produce, distribute or store any of a wide variety of biofuels. Throughout Oregon, a city, county or several contiguous counties can set up a RRED Zone that covers all the territory in the jurisdiction(s) outside the urban growth boundary (UGB) of any large city or metropolitan area.

The abatement is the standard (3 to 5 year) exemption from local taxes on new property available in any enterprise zone, except that in a RRED Zone it is only for renewable energy activities (which also would be eligible if located in an enterprise zone). The total amount of property (among one or more projects) that can qualify is subject to a locally-set cap with each RRED Zone designation of $250 million or less in initial market value.

Data Reporting

Typically, annual county assessor reports for standard enterprise zone abatements do include RRED Zone projects, but the handful of such projects are not tabulated here with Enterprise Zone Businesses. Contact the Business Oregon Incentives Coordinator arthur.fish@oregon.gov or Department of Revenue Research Section at dor.research@oregon.gov, for any available information.

Long-Term Rural Facilities

The Long-Term Rural Enterprise Zone Facilities Program extends property tax abatement for 7–15 years, compared to the standard three to five years, in most rural enterprise zones. Any type of business activity is eligible, but these incentives depend on local approval and minimum levels for investment size, job creation and employee compensation.

Reporting Schedule

The Long-Term Rural Enterprise Zone Facilities Program Reports are usually received by the Oregon Department of Revenue (DOR) during the first quarter of the year. They are reviewed by the DOR prior to submission to the Oregon Transparency Program and website. The most recent reports are provided below.