In a press release today, U.S. Representative Don Beyer (D, VA) announced he has assumed primary sponsorship of the Military Spouse Hiring Act. Former Representative Antonio Delgado (D, NY) introduced the current version of the bill but has now left the House of Representatives to serve as New York’s Lieutenant Governor.
Read the press release here.
The Military Spouse Hiring Act proposes an expansion of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit or WOTC. This bill would expand WOTC by adding a new target group known simply as “Qualified Military Spouse.”
To qualify, an eligible employee must (in the usual way) be “certified . . . as being (as of the hiring date) a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States.”
The bill does not address the meaning of “spouse,” but this term generally means an individual who is lawfully married. If passed, it will create the first WOTC target group to specifically benefit active military families.
This new target group would provide a $2,400 tax credit.