DENVER – ZenPayroll, a California-based firm that helps small businesses manage payroll, will bring about 1,700 jobs to Denver in the next few years as part of an expansion announced Tuesday on the steps of the state Capitol.

The state and city teamed up to offer the company a multi-million dollar incentive package to help encourage the move to the Mile High City.

Through Colorado’s Job Growth Tax Credit the company is eligible to receive $17.5 million over the next eight years. The credit is claimed on the business’s state income taxes. ZenPayroll will receive half of what it pays in federal income tax back in state tax credits for each job created.

“If you average it out, it’s over eight years, it’s about $1,200 or $1,400 per job, per year,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said. “They obviously pay much more than that in taxes, just in income tax alone, we’ll make money off of each one of these employees.”

He said that on rare occasions the state offers such incentives, particularly when the business has the potential to create accessory jobs and have a magnifying economic impact.

The City of Denver is exempting ZenPayroll from business personal property taxes – taxes paid on capital goods owned by the company – for four years. The value of that exemption depends on how much personal property ZenPayroll ends up owning in Colorado.

ZenPayroll recently generated $60 million in capital investments led by Google Capital. Investors in the company included Google Ventures and the CEOs of Yelp, Dropbox, Evernote, Instagram, Eventbrite, WordPress, Box and Stripe.

Hickenlooper said this is one of the largest single-entity employment announcements in state history.

The company is currently headquartered in San Francisco but Denver will become the main hub for a customer service team.

John Reeves, CEO of ZenPayroll, said he founded the company to help entrepreneurs navigate the complicated federal payroll tax code that leaves almost a third of all business owners with fines for mistakes. He said Denver’s attractive workforce and quality of life helped drive the decision.

DENVER,CO – JULY 28: CEO and co founder of ZenPayroll Joshua Reeves, along with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, announces from the west steps of the Capitol July 28, 2015, that his company plans to immediately hire 100 people in Denver for their cloud based payroll services with plans to hire over 1000 people in the future. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

Andy Cross