IRS Notice 2016-22 can now be found on the IRS website through a Google search. Click the link to get your copy.
In a nut shell, for employees hired from January 1, 2015 through May 31, 2016 (inclusive), the usual 28-day application deadline has been extended through June 29, 2016. That’s good.
Disappointedly, however, Notice 2016-22 does not provide definitive guidance about qualifying employees under the new Long Term Unemployment Recipient target group. Rather, it defers this to the yet-to-be revised Form 8850 and ETA 9061.
“Those modified forms and instructions will indicate the information that must be provided on the forms for the employer to receive certification from the DLA that the individual is a qualified long-term unemployment recipient.”
“The Treasury Department and the IRS anticipate that the modified forms will include a requirement that the individual signing the form attest that he or she meets the requirements to be a qualified long-term unemployment recipient and a requirement that the individual attest to the period(s) during which the individual was unemployed and the period the individual received unemployment compensation.”
A few years ago, the IRS developed similar requirements for the Disconnected Youth target group (now discontinued). To document an employee’s status as a disconnected youth, the employee signed a statement form provided by the Department of Labor. I’m guessing there will be something similar promulgated for the Long Term Unemployment Recipient group.
