RPD-41281-JOB: RPD-41281-Job Mentorship Tax Credit Claim Form (Revision 2015-08)
New Mexico · New Mexico TRD · Used for tax years 2024
Form RPD-41281 is New Mexico’s Job Mentorship Tax Credit Claim Form. It reports the credit for wages paid to qualified students, unused credit carried forward from prior years, and the amount claimed on the taxpayer’s New Mexico income tax return.
Who files this form
Use Form RPD-41281 to claim the Job Mentorship Tax Credit if you are not another taxpayer’s dependent and you are an owner, partner or associate of a qualifying New Mexico business that employs qualified students in a school-sponsored career preparation education program.
- Qualifying business: A corporation, partnership, limited partnership, LLC treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, S corporation or sole proprietorship that carries on a trade or business in New Mexico and employs fewer than 300 full-time employees in New Mexico at any one time during the tax year.
- Qualified student: Someone age 14 through 21 who attends an accredited New Mexico secondary school full-time and participates in a career preparation education program sanctioned by that school.
- Qualifying program: A work-based learning or school-to-career program designed to help secondary school students set academic and career goals and find employment that meets those goals.
You must certify that hiring the students included in the claim does not displace or replace a current employee.
What you'll need
Prepare these forms and supporting details:
- Form RPD-41281, completed and signed, with the required certification box checked.
- The accompanying Detail Report, listing each student’s name, SSN, claim year number (1, 2 or 3), eligible gross wages, hours worked and credit amount.
- An executed Form RPD-41280, Job Mentorship Tax Credit Certificate, for each qualified student included in the claim.
- Schedule A, if you have unused credit from prior years or your total available credit can be claimed by one or more owners, partners or associates.
- Your New Mexico income tax return, to which the claim and required attachments must be attached.
For Schedule A, have the amounts of prior-year credits allowed and already claimed. If dividing the credit among owners, partners or associates, provide their names, addresses, FEINs or SSNs, and ownership percentages.
How to file
- Enter the business and contact information and the beginning and ending dates of the tax year being claimed.
- Complete the Detail Report. For each qualified student, multiply eligible gross wages by 50%. Enter the total on line 6, limited to $12,000, and transfer it to line 2 of the claim form.
- Calculate eligible unused prior-year credit on Schedule A and enter it on line 3. Add lines 2 and 3 to get the total available credit on line 4.
- Enter the amount claimed on the current return on line 5. If the credit is divided among owners, partners or associates, complete the division report on Schedule A. Each claimant enters only the amount claimed on that claimant’s return.
- Check the required certification box, sign and date the form.
- Enter the credit on the applicable line of Form PIT-1, FID-1, CIT-1 or S-Corp. Attach Form RPD-41281, the Detail Report, each required student certificate and Schedule A when applicable to the return for the tax year in which the student was employed.
The supplied text does not give a mailing address or e-file instructions for this claim. For help completing the form, call (505) 827-0792.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out required attachments. The form warns that failure to attach the claim form and required attachments to the return will result in denial of the credit.
- Skipping the certification box. You must check the box certifying that hiring the students does not displace or replace a current employee.
- Using a certificate for a different business, school year or student. A certificate cannot be transferred to any of these.
- Carrying forward credit that is too old. Schedule A says not to include credit allowed for a tax year more than three years before the current tax year.
- Applying carryforward credit first. Schedule A says current-year credits are applied before carryforward credits.
Questions people ask
How much is the credit?
The credit is 50% of gross wages paid for the first 320 hours of employment for each qualified student. A business may claim it for no more than 10 qualified students in a tax year. A student may qualify for the credit for no more than three tax years. No taxpayer may claim more than $12,000 in a tax year, and the aggregate credit claimed by a business in a tax year cannot exceed $12,000.
Can unused credit be carried forward?
Yes. The text allows unused credit to be carried forward for three consecutive tax years under certain conditions. Use Schedule A to calculate the available amount. The credit may only be deducted from New Mexico income tax liability.
How is the credit shared among business owners?
A qualifying member of a partnership, limited partnership, LLC, S corporation or other business association may claim credit only in proportion to that member’s interest. Complete the division report on Schedule A when two or more owners, partners or associates share the credit. Their combined claims cannot exceed the maximum credit allowed for the business.
What if spouses file separate returns?
Married individuals filing separate returns for a year in which they could have filed jointly may each claim only one-half of the credit that would have been allowed on a joint return.
How does the employer get a student’s certificate?
The school principal requests certificates using Form RPD-41279, submitted to a local district tax office. The principal then executes Form RPD-41280 and transfers it to the participating New Mexico employer. The certificate identifies the student and the school year to which it applies.