(a) Any person or combined group that meets the requirements of subsection (b) for a tax year shall be allowed a non-refundable credit against that person or combined group’s Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax liability for that tax year equal to 10% of the amount specified under Section 2805.1(b)(1).
(b) To qualify for the credit in subsection (a), a person or combined group must, between January 1 of the tax year following the tax year for which the credit is being claimed and the date the person or combined group timely files its original annual tax return, enter into a binding agreement with the City, in substantially the form of the agreement included in Board of Supervisors File No. 190092, in which:
(1) The person, or each person in the combined group that is engaging in business within the City, irrevocably, fully, and unconditionally waives and releases its right to a refund (whether by return of payment, credit, offset, carryforward, or otherwise) of a specified amount of the Homelessness Gross Receipts Taxes reported on the person or combined group’s originally-filed Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax return for the tax year for which the person or combined group is claiming the credit based on either or both of the following:
(A) Any argument that the Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax Ordinance required at least a two-thirds vote of the electorate to pass.
(B) Any lawsuit challenging the Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax Ordinance or any other initiative tax measure in San Francisco or elsewhere in California that invalidates the Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax Ordinance or similar initiative tax measure because it was not passed by at least a two-thirds vote of the electorate.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 6.22-1 of the Business and Tax Regulations Code or any other provision of law that would limit public disclosure, the person or each person in the combined group that is engaging in business within the City waives any right to confidentiality in the aggregate amount of Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax liability subject to waiver under all agreements described in Section 2805.1(b) of all persons and combined groups, regardless of the number of persons or combined groups that enter into such agreements. Nothing in this subsection (b)(2) shall constitute a waiver of the confidentiality of the information in the person or combined group’s Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax return, or the terms of each agreement under Section 2805.1(b), other than the aggregate amount of Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax liability subject to waiver under all agreements described in Section 2805.1(b) of all persons and combined groups.
(3) The person, or each person in the combined group that is engaging in business within the City, agrees to indemnify the City if, subsequent to the person or combined group entering into the agreement, there are additional persons determined to have been engaging in business within the City as a member of the combined group for that tax year and such additional person or persons requests a refund (whether by return of payment, credit, offset, carryforward, or otherwise) of all or any portion of the amount waived under Section 2805.1(b)(1) for the tax year for which the person or combined group is claiming the credit in contravention of Section 2805.1(d).
(c) If a person or combined group enters into an agreement described in subsection (b), but does not claim the credit authorized by this Section 2805.1, the person or combined group shall remain subject to the terms of the agreement.
(d) Any person determined to have been engaging in business within the City as a member of a combined group for a tax year after that combined group entered into an agreement described in subsection (b) for that tax year shall be deemed to have entered into the agreement and shall be subject to the terms of the agreement as if it had executed the agreement itself.
(e) The Tax Collector shall verify that any credit claimed pursuant to this Section 2805.1 is correct.
(f) The tax credit authorized by this Section 2805.1 shall be effective for tax year 2019 and each subsequent tax year, but shall expire by operation of law and not be available for the tax year and all subsequent tax years from the earlier of:
(1) The tax year in which San Francisco Superior Court Case No. CGC-19-573230 (City and County of San Francisco v. All persons interested in the matter of Proposition C on the November 6, 2018 San Francisco ballot, authorizing an increase in specified business taxes to fund specified homeless services in San Francisco, and all other matters and proceedings relating thereto), is finally resolved; and
(2) Tax year 2024.
No person or combined group may claim the credit authorized by this Section for the tax year in which San Francisco Superior Court Case No. CGC-19-573230 is finally resolved or in any tax year thereafter, or for any tax year commencing on or after January 1, 2024, whichever is earlier.
(g) The Board of Supervisors hereby authorizes the Tax Collector to enter into the agreements described in subsection (b), in substantially the form included in Board of Supervisors File No. 190092, and authorizes the Tax Collector, in consultation with the City Attorney and the Controller, to agree to changes to the agreements that do not materially decrease the benefits to the City or materially increase the obligations to the City.
(Added by Ord. 73-19, File No. 190092, App. 4/26/2019, Eff. 5/27/2019)