The state of Ohio has approved a tax credit for Vox Mobile Inc. that could pave the way for the mobile device management company to create 80 jobs in Independence.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority on Monday, Dec. 4, approved a seven-year, 1.345% tax credit to Vox Mobile for an expansion project. The company, which is based at 6100 Rockside Woods Blvd., expects to create 80 full-time equivalent employees generating $3.6 million in new annual payroll, the authority said in a description of the proposed expansion. Vox Mobile also would retain $7.9 million in existing payroll at the project location, according to the state.

A Vox Mobile executive didn’t immediately return a phone call placed Monday afternoon to discuss the project.

As part of the tax credit agreement, the authority requires the company to maintain operations at the project location for at least 10 years.

The state said Vox Mobile “is evaluating expanding operations at either its existing locations in Ohio or Canada. State support will help ensure the project moves forward in Ohio.” Vox Mobile’s Canadian office is in Waterloo, Canada.

The proposed project in Independence “involves increasing operations to accommodate growth,” the state said. “The company’s fixed asset investment would be towards leasehold improvements.”

In a letter to the state dated Nov. 2, the city of Independence has expressed support for the proposed project, the state said.

A spokeswoman for the Ohio Development Services Agency wrote in an email that the tax credit has an estimated value of $310,000 to Vox Mobile, if all elements approved by the Tax Credit Authority are met. The Job Creation Tax Credit “is a performance-based credit,” she wrote, so “the actual value of the tax credit is based on jobs created and new payroll tax generated, as verified.”

This story originally appeared in Crain’s Cleveland Business.