Recently, I’ve received inquiries about Congressional efforts to extend the expired Hurricane Katrina provision of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Program. Here’s the latest as I understand it.
The Hurricane Katrina WOTC provision has NOT yet been extended. But it is part of the currently idle Baucus Job Creation and Tax Cuts Act — also known as the Baucus Tax Extenders bill.
The WOTC Coalition is at this very moment engaged in an effort to get this extenders bill attached to Congress’ Continuing Resolution to fund the government. The Continuing Resolution will probably be the last critical bill passed by Congress before recessing for the elections.
According Paul Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, Senate staff are currently saying that the Continuing Resolution bill will be “clean” — meaning that non-appropriations measures like the Baucus bill will not be considered. The Baucus Tax Extenders bill, however, does includes significant programs that both political parties are in favor of extending.
The WOTC Coalition is urging Senator Baucus to introduce the text of his Tax Extenders bill as an amendment to the Continuing Resolution AND urging Senator Harry Reid to allow the amendment to be attached. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.
Here’s a short list of some other programs of interest that would be extended by the Baucus Tax Extenders bill. Please see the bill’s summary from the Senate Finance Committee’s legislation page. There is a lot more to this bill that I am not mentioning here.
- Research & Development Tax Credit
- New Markets Tax Credit
- Empowerment Zones
- Renewal Communities
- District of Columbia Enterprise Zone
- Indian employment credit
- Extension of the TANF program
- Extension of tax incentives for the New York Liberty Zone
- Extend Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) for Hurricane Katrina Employees
Please feel welcome to contact me with questions about the WOTC program or any of the other tax incentive programs mentioned. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll do my best to find out.
I am Vaughn Hromiko. vah@WOTCPlanet.com (800) 655-5281, ext 101.
