President Donald Trump and Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou (R) tour a Foxconn facility at the Wisconsin Valley Science and Technology Park on June 28, 2018, in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. Brendan Smailowski | AFP | Getty Images

Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn claims that it has created enough jobs in Wisconsin to begin collecting on the multibillion-dollar incentive package the state offered to attract the company's first U.S. manufacturing facility. But the state is not turning over any money just yet for the deeply controversial project, which has consistently fallen short of the wildly ambitious plans described by President Donald Trump when he first announced the deal in 2017. In a filing with the state's economic development arm obtained by CNBC under Wisconsin's Public Records Law, Foxconn Vice Chairman Jay Lee said that by the end of 2019, the company directly employed more than 600 people in the state, of which he said 550 qualify for subsidies under the company's contract with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Under that agreement, Foxconn had to hire at least 520 people last year to qualify for any subsidies. The company also said it has spent more than $280 million on the project to date. If the numbers on jobs and capital spending prove accurate, the company could collect around $50 million in subsidies and tax credits. It would mark the first time the company has met the targets to begin collecting the subsidies. In 2017, Wisconsin offered a record near-$3 billion in incentives to Foxconn over 10 years to secure the plant. In addition, the state and local governments have already spent tens of millions of dollars for infrastructure improvements and land acquisition at the site in the village of Mount Pleasant, near Racine.

Battle over subsidies

The state is not taking Foxconn's reporting at face value. In a statement, WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes said the agency plans to submit the report to an independent auditor as required by the contract. The agency will then launch its own review, "a process that is likely to take months." Even if the report clears that process, it is not clear the state will be willing to pay. Last year Gov. Tony Evers' administration argued that the project was so vastly scaled back from the original plan that it no longer conformed to the agreement negotiated under his predecessor, Scott Walker, and as a result no longer qualified for the subsidies.