This morning during a speech at the Washington Navy Yard, President Obama took notice of high unemployment among US military veterans. Although he did not mention the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (or WOTC) by name, he described two new or expanded hiring tax credits obviously designed to fit into the WOTC rubric.
Rebecca Kaplan of the National Journal published an article describing the event this morning.   The White House also published a fact sheet yesterday describing the proposals in some detail.
Thankfully, the Obama Administration has given the proposed tax credits exciting new names!  From the White House’s fact sheet:
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Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits
Under the Recovery Act, employers who hired certain unemployed veterans were eligible for a tax credit of up to 40 percent of the first $6,000 of wages, for a maximum credit of $2,400. This credit expired at the end of 2010.
The President will call for two new tax credits:
The Returning Heroes Tax Credit is a new hiring tax credit that will provide an incentive for firms to hire unemployed veterans.
* Short-term unemployed: A new credit of 40 percent of the first $6,000 of wages (up to $2,400) for employers who hire veterans who have been unemployed at least 4 weeks.
* Long-term unemployed: A new credit of 40 percent of the first $12,000 of wages (up to $4,800) for employers who hire veterans who have been unemployed longer than 6 months.
The Wounded Warrior Tax Credit will double the existing tax credit for long-term unemployed veterans with service-connected disabilities.
* Maintain the existing Work Opportunity Tax Credit for veterans with service-connected disabilities (currently the maximum is $4,800).
* A new credit of 40 percent of the first $24,000 of wages (up to $9,600) for firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been unemployed longer than 6 months.
The paperwork process for claiming these credits will be simplified by streamlining the burdensome certification that firms had to undertake to claim previous credits.
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As I reported previously, President Obama’s administration has expressed his support for extending the WOTC program at least through 2012.
Interestingly, the last comment from the Fact Sheet about “streamlining the burdensome certification” process for these veteran categories appears to be an allusion to HR 2082 or the Work Opportunity Credit Improvements Act.
Section 3 of HR 2082 is titled “Alternative Certification for Certain Targeted Groups.”  If enacted, Section 3 would sometimes allow employers to bypass the formal WOTC certification process although complete documentation of an employee’s eligibility would still be required.
HR 2082 does not (yet) include the new veteran categories offered by the White House; however, the obvious allusion to the existing bill’s streamlining provision suggests there may have been some coordination in the matter.   This should provide additional fuel for WOTC advocates supporting passage of HR 2082.