Epiq Systems, Inc. (“Epiq” or “the Company”), is a global leader in the legal services industry, works on large-scale, and complex tasks for corporations, financial institutions, and government agencies. Clients rely on Epiq to streamline the administration of business operations, class action and mass tort, court reporting, eDiscovery, regulatory, compliance, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. The innovation organization at Epiq is comprised of more than 200 employees in product development, project management, systems architecture and research. The Company’s innovation resources are currently employed in Kansas City, MO, Portland, OR, Beaverton, OR, Seattle, WA, and Hyderabad, India. The Company has 3 current employees in Rhode Island.
Approved Incentive
Epiq is proposing to relocate in Rhode Island by creating at least 25 new full-time jobs for which it would receive tax credits. The new jobs are projected to be filled by a range of data analysts, process engineers, and data scientist, with an anticipated median salary of $110,000 for jobs qualifying for Qualified Jobs Incentive Tax Credits. Epiq expects to hire these new employees by 2020.
Explanation
The Commerce Corporation is recommending awarding Qualified Jobs Incentive Tax Credits to the Company.
The recommended term of the tax incentive agreement is ten years, and Epiq has indicated that it will commit to maintaining the new jobs in Rhode Island for at least the twelve years as required.
The tax credits are predicated on Epiq hiring 25 full-time employees by 2020. The tax credits would not be awarded until jobs are created and generating state income tax withholdings. To receive tax credits, the company must create and maintain 100 percent of its year 1-10 hiring commitment.
The total credits are estimated to be worth $1.21 million over the 10-year period. The actual tax credit amount will be determined by the number and wages of the new jobs created.
Based on a third-party analysis, over the twelve-year period, Rhode Island is projected to realize a net increase of $2.1 million[1] in personal income, sales, and business corporation taxes resulting from the new hires, as well as an increase of $7.1 million in Rhode Island’s annual GDP once the new hires are in place.
This does not include the value of the state income taxes generated over 10 years by the new incentivized jobs created by Epiq, as those income taxes will be offset by the tax credit paid to the company under the Act.