• February 25, 2015

2014 WOTC Tax Credits Still Available

The WOTC program experienced some unique challenges in 2014 stemming from the late December renewal. Although the renewal was retroactive, it created a hardship for employers seeking to take advantage of these lucrative tax credits.

The IRS recently announced Notice 2015-13, which will provide some much needed relief for employers seeking WOTC credits from 2014.

The problem that everyone has experienced is a loss of time resulting in missed credits due to the traditional 28-day submission window after a new hire’s start date.

With this provision ANY employer can currently submit all of their 2014 new hires for credit qualification!

This is a nearly unprecedented move by the IRS. Since the inception of WOTC in 1996, this is only the second time such an extension has been made available.

In reality, this means that all WOTC participating employers can go back and double check that all of their 2014 new hires were submitted for credit. For those employers that haven’t participated before, this is the absolute perfect time to get started and receive retroactive credits for all 2014 new hires! This is the best scenario for all of those we talked to that were heavily considering WOTC last year but held off because of the pending renewal.

There’s only one catch to this relief measure and that is the April 30, 2015 deadline. This means that ALL 2014 applications must be submitted by this date or they will not be processed.

To learn more about IRS Notice 2015-13 and how it applies to your business, email troyloney@taxcreditmgmtgroup.com now before time runs out.

• February 25, 2015
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• WOTC Update

• February 16, 2015

Long Term Unemployed Could Become A Part of WOTC

There are two proposed modifications to WOTC that could be invaluable for employers across the country. The first proposal is to add Long Term Unemployed as a target group, and the second is to make WOTC a permanent establishment rather than requiring annual renewal.

Senior NJ Democrat Bill Pascrell and NY Republican Tom Reed have re-introduced bill H.R. 481 to add the Long Term Unemployed (those unemployed for 27 weeks or more) to the WOTC target groups. Initial estimates suggest that the passing of this bill would add roughly 4.7 million people to be eligible for employment under the WOTC umbrella.
With each qualified hire being valued at up to $2,400, this addition would potentially increase available tax credits by $11.28 Billion! Keep in mind that these available credits are in addition to the other 10 target segments.

The second proposal came from President Obama when he added WOTC as permanent legislation in his Fiscal Year 2016 budget. Although WOTC has been around for decades, it has required congressional renewal every couple of years. Often times this has created delays and lapses while employers have to wait for credits earned months prior. What this really means is that employers can offset the cost-burden of the hiring and training period when bringing new hires on-board. A permanent program would give jobs to Americans most in need and add money to employers in return.

WOTC has been an invaluable tool for employers providing countless billions in tax credits since it’s inception. We welcome both of these proposed changes whole heartedly and look forward to the day we can report that they’ve been voted into existence.

If you’d like to learn more about how these proposed changes could impact your business, we’d love to chat, just contact us here.

• February 16, 2015
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• WOTC Update