(1) The intent of 15-31-125, MCA, is to grant credit upon wages paid to new employees. The department shall determine from the information submitted by the corporation if there has been a 30% increase in the number of jobs, and if these positions were filled by newly hired personnel.

(2) The only employees counted when making the determination of the credit are those who:

(a) were not employed by the corporation within five years of expansion; and

(b) are employed in production of the new product or were hired as the direct result of expanding an existing product line.

(3) Any employee who was employed by an existing corporation shall not be counted as a new employee of the expanded corporation if employment occurred within five years of the expansion.

(4) No employee who was employed in existing operations and who for any reason is employed in the expanded operations shall be counted for purposes of determining eligibility.

(5) Those employees who participated in the planning and preparation of the expansion of the corporation shall not be counted as new employees of the expanded corporations, unless, in fact, these personnel can be shown to have been hired specifically for the expansion for which credit is claimed and that planning the expansion was the only activity assigned them.