Angel Investment Program Application Process for Qualified Investors

To become a qualified investor an eligible applicant must be an eligible entity and follow the process below. Eligible entities are individuals, limited liability companies, partnerships, sub-chapter S corporations or family or grantor trusts. Excluded entities are corporations subject to tax under title 43, chapter 11, such as C corporations, and certain trusts, such as irrevocable trusts and IRA's or similar retirement accounts.

To view a chart of the application process, please click here.

  1. Apply for certification by completing an Application for an Authorization of Tax Credits and submit it to the Arizona Commerce Authority in person at 333 N. Central Ave., Suite 1900 in Phoenix. An investor must submit an application to ACA within 30 calendar days after making an investment in a small business. NOTE: the application form is also available in word format by clicking here.
  2. Upon receipt of an Application for an Authorization of Tax Credits, ACA will date and time stamp each request. Applications will be processed in the order received.
  3. Please note, an application from an investor is not complete unless the small business has submitted a request for certification to ACA or has previously been certified by ACA.
  4. Within 90 days of receipt of a complete Application for an Authorization of Tax Credits, ACA will notify the investor of certification or denial of certification.
  5. If an investor is certified, ACA will issue an Authorization of Tax Credits to the investor and notify the Arizona Department of Revenue (Revenue).
  6. Following certification an investor may claim the tax credits with Revenue on its Arizona tax return. The first time an investor can claim tax credits is the tax year following the investment year. For example, if an investment is made in 2006, ACA will authorize tax credits to be claimed in three consecutive years beginning 2007.

The tax credits can be claimed over a three year period and cannot exceed the following percentages.

  1st Tax Year 2nd Tax Year 3rd Tax Year Total Tax Credits
Rural or Bioscience Company 12% 12% 11% 35%
Any Other Company 10% 10% 10% 30%

If an investor plans to make additional qualified investments, a separate application for an Authorization of Tax Credits must be submitted to ACA in person for each investment. The procedures described in this section will apply.

Supplemental Documents

Additional Incentive

In early 2011, Governor Jan Brewer signed into law HB2001 – Arizona's Competitiveness Package.

This legislation marks a new level of Arizona commitment; making it easier for existing Arizona companies to be more prosperous and it establishes Arizona as one of the most desirable places for expanding companies to do business. HB2001 introduced a new incentive that is tied to the Angel Investment Program.

  • For tax years beginning from and after December 31, 2013, Revenue shall subtract from the investor’s Arizona gross income the amount of any net capital gain included in the federal adjusted gross income for the tax year derived from investment in a business qualified by ACA (A.R.S. §43-1022).

Return to Angel Investment Home Page