Hiring Veterans Promoted by Work Opportunity Tax Credit

Author: CFFPP . Date: February 20, 2012

Veterans are often among the low-income noncustodial parents that practitioners work with. Finding employers with job openings and placing parents into those jobs is typically a top priority for practitioners, whether or not “job developer” is part of their official job description. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) currently offers tax incentives to employers for hiring veterans that meet a variety of criteria. Practitioners working to place veterans into job openings may find that promoting the WOTC to potential employers can be a way to boost veterans’ chances of being hired.

The Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 expanded the Work Opportunity Tax Credit’s eligibility criteria for hiring veterans, and extended the program through the end of 2012. The following is from the Department of Labor’s summary of the WOTC’s veterans target groups:

• Veterans receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (SNAP, or food stamps) – $2,400 maximum tax credit.
• Veterans unemployed longer than 4 weeks – $2,400 maximum tax credit.
• Veterans unemployed longer than 6 months – $5,600 maximum tax credit.
• Veterans with a service-connected disability – $4,800 maximum credit.
• Veterans with a service-connected disability who have been unemployed for longer than 6 months – $9,600 maximum tax credit.

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit was established in 1996 and targeted various groups for hiring incentives, such as SNAP recipients, and recent ex-felons, among others. With the exception of the veterans groups described above, the WOTC program expired at the end of 2011.