Good news is in from the WOTC Coalition. We have been patiently waiting for guidance about the WOTC program’s two newest eligibility categories. In a private publication, which we received today, Paul E. Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, stated his belief that long-awaited guidance would probably come from the IRS and U.S. Department of Labor within the next two weeks.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 added new WOTC eligibility categories for Unemployed Veterans and Disconnected Youth, effective January 1, 2009. However, WOTC centers nationwide have not been able to certify eligible employees under these categories because the U.S. Treasury Department had not yet issued regulations to define the certification requirements. The Disconnected Youth category has been particularly problematic for employers. (see previous post)
RestaWOTC has been broadly screening for these new categories. As soon as the new government publications are available, we will be revising our WOTC survey instruments. At that time we will also revisit employees that we believe might qualify based on information they provided during their initial WOTC screening. This is a temporary measure unfortunately made necessary by the lag time between the signing of 2009 Tax Act by President Obama and the subsequent issuance of new implementation regulations by the IRS.