Earn Real Tax Savings for Hiring Veterans
This is a follow-up to my recent post about tax benefits employers earn by hiring military veterans. In addition to strong skill sets and personal characteristics, many veterans can bring an added financial benefit to their employer through the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (or WOTC).
Employers naturally have questions about how veterans qualify. How long must a veteran have served? What if they have a service-connected disability? What are the specific tax credit amounts? Today, I’ll go into these details.
- Published in Veterans, Work Opportunity Tax Credit
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Signs State’s Veterans Jobs Bills
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed three bills yesterday, designed to help military veterans in that state to find jobs. Each of the bills had been authored by Wisconsin State Representative Evan Wynn. (more…)
- Published in Wisconsin
WOTC and Other Tax Extenders Must Wait
The House – Senate Conference has come to an agreement on what is now dubbed The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. Expectations are high that both the House and Senate will quickly pass the bill. President Obama has already indicated he will sign the bill.
Unfortunately, the tax extenders, including the general WOTC extension, were completely excluded from this legislation. All WOTC categories except for those favoring military veterans must now wait to be extended by another yet future tax bill.
As I’ve summarized before, this situation is not unusual for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program. Of the eight times Congress has acted to renew or extend the WOTC program, three were passed retroactively months after the program’s legislative authority had expired.
- The first was in March 2002 after WOTC expired on December 31, 2001.
- The second was in October 2004, about ten months after WOTC expired on December 31, 2003.
- The worst example to date was in December 2006, when the program was reauthorized almost 12 months after its expiration.
In each of these events, the renewal was made effective retroactively back to the date of expiration. In other words, employers were eligible to claim tax credits generated by properly certified employees hired between the expiration date and the date the WOTC program was renewed.
We continue to anticipate a similar re-authorization in 2012. For this reason, my firm will continue to process and submit WOTC applications under all employee-eligibility categories — not just for veterans.
As employers consider their strategy for 2012, they should remember that even though a general extension has not yet been passed, eligibility-categories for hiring military veterans are already authorized through 2012 by the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. The amount of tax credit currently offered for hiring unemployed veterans goes as high as $9,600 per qualifying hire.
This is an excellent opportunity to more affirmatively recruit veterans for your workforce.
- Published in Work Opportunity Tax Credit
DOL (Also) Issues New WOTC Instructions for Vow to Hire Heroes Act
The following instructions are copied directly from the document recently published by the US Department of Labor.
Vow to Hire Heroes Act – Work Opportunity Tax Credit Provisions: Interim Instructions for State Workforce Agencies and Employers
On November 21, 2011, the President signed into law the “Vow to Hire Heroes Act”, which amends and expands the definition of Veteran target groups for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). These provisions became effective the day after the President signed the Act into law (November 22, 2011). (more…)
- Published in Veterans, Work Opportunity Tax Credit
VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 – Does Not Include Extension of Non-Veteran Target Groups
Legislative language for the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 is now available. The bill will extend WOTC categories for eligible veterans through December 31, 2012 but retains the current expiration date for all other categories. In other words, if a general extension of WOTC is not eventually included in a tax extender bill (or in some other legislation) the WOTC program will look very different in 2012. (more…)
- Published in Veterans, Work Opportunity Tax Credit
Michigan State Tax Incentive Proposed for Hiring Unemployed Veterans
Michigan State Representative Charles Smiley (Dem) is the leading sponsor for new state legislation that would offer a significant tax break to employers who hire an unemployed veteran. (more…)
- Published in Michigan
Senate Republicans Now Backing VOW to Hire Heroes Act
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told the Senate this morning that he would be voting FOR the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, giving the nod for other Senate Republicans to support the measure. The act should now pass quickly through the Senate and the House. (more…)
- Published in Veterans, Work Opportunity Tax Credit
Please Help Now – Support Passage of WOTC and the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011
Important information today from Paul Suplizio President of the WOTC Coalition. As I mentioned yesterday, Senate Democrats hope to pass the veterans- and WOTC- related provisions of President Obama’s jobs bill this week as an amendment to a bill recently passed by the House with significant bipartisan support.
Today, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would support bringing the measure to the Senate floor for a vote. He hopes to win sufficient bipartisan support to pass it by Veterans Day (this Friday). (more…)
- Published in Veterans, Work Opportunity Tax Credit
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