Current through Vol. 42, No. 1, September 16, 2024
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) law permits
for-profit employers to take a credit on their federal income tax when workers
from certain target groups are hired. Workers in these target groups have faced
significant barriers to employment. The WOTC is equal to between 25 percent to
40 percent of the first year wages up to $9,600 depending on the number of
hours the employee works and the applicable target group for that person. The
main objective of this program is to enable the targeted employees to gradually
move from economic dependency into self-sufficiency as they earn a steady
income and become contributing taxpayers, while the participating employers are
compensated by being able to reduce their federal income tax liability.
(1) WOTC is available to employers for
workers hired from targeted food benefit recipient groups in (A) through (J) of
this subsection.
(A)
Qualified
veteran. A qualified veteran is a veteran who is:
(i) a member of a household receiving
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food benefits for at least
three months during the first year of employment;
(ii) unemployed for a period totaling at
least four weeks, but less than six months, in the one-year period ending on
the veteran's hiring date. The weeks unemployed do not have to be consecutive;
(iii) unemployed for a period
totaling at least six months in the one-year period ending on the veteran's
hiring date. The months unemployed do not have to be consecutive;
(iv) entitled to compensation for a
service-connected disability and is unemployed for a period totaling at least
six months in the one-year period ending on the hiring date. The months
unemployed do not have to be consecutive; or
(v) a disabled veteran entitled to
compensation for a service-connected disability hired not more than one year
after being discharged or released from active duty in the United States (U.S.)
Armed Forces.
(B)
Qualified SNAP food benefit recipient. A qualified food benefit
recipient is a person who on the hire date is:
(i) at least 18 years of age and younger than
40 years of age; and
(ii) a member
of a household that received SNAP food benefits for:
(I) the previous six consecutive months; or
(II) at least three months of the
last five months.
(C)
Qualified Title IV-A
recipient. A qualified Title IV-A recipient is a person who is a member
of a family receiving assistance under a state plan approved under Part A of
Title IV of the Social Security Act relating to Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF). The person must have received the assistance for any
nine-month period during the 18-month period ending on the hiring date.
(D)
Long-term
TANFrecipient. A long-term TANF recipient is a person who at the hiring
time is a member of a family that:
(i)
received TANF cash assistance for at least the previous 18-consecutive months;
(ii) received TANF cash assistance
for any 18 months beginning after August 5, 1997, and it has not been more than
two years since the end of the earliest of such 18-month period; or
(iii) stopped being eligible for TANF cash
assistance during the past two years because federal or state law limited the
maximum time cash assistance could be made.
(E)
Designated community
resident. A designated community resident is a person who, on the hiring
date:
(i) is at least 18 years of age and
younger than 40 years of age;
(ii)
resides in a federally designated Empowerment Zone (EZ), Enterprise Community
(EC), or a Renewal Community (RC), and
(iii) continues to reside at the location
after employment.
(F)
Qualified Summer Youth employee. A qualified Summer Youth employee
is one who is:
(i) at least 16 years old, but
younger than 18 years of age on the hire date or on May 1st, whichever is
later;
(ii) only employed between
May 1 and September 15; and
(iii)
resides in an EZ, EC, or RC.
(G)
Vocational rehabilitation
referral. A vocational rehabilitation referral is a person who has a
physical or mental disability and was referred to the employer while receiving,
or upon completion of, rehabilitative services from:
(i) a state plan approved under the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
(ii) an
Employment Network Plan under the Ticket to Work Program; or
(iii) a program carried out under the U.S.
Department of Veteran Affairs.
(H)
Qualified ex-felon. A
qualified ex-felon is a person hired within one year of being convicted of a
felony or being released from prison for a felony.
(I)
Qualified Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) recipient. A qualified SSI recipient is a person who
received SSI benefits within 60-calendar days of the person's hire date.
(J)
Qualified long-term
unemployment recipient. A qualified long-term, unemployment recipient is
a person who has been unemployed for not less than 27-consecutive weeks at the
hiring time and received unemployment compensation during some or all of the
unemployment period.
(2)
Through an agreement with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, Oklahoma
Human Services staff issues the U.S. Department of Labor Form ETA-9062,
Conditional Certification Work Opportunity Tax Credit, to food benefit and TANF
recipients.
(3) The worker gives
the person Form ETA-9062 and a letter from the worker stating the number of
months he or she received food benefits or TANF cash assistance to present to
the employer on, or before, the first day of employment. The worker informs the
person about the purpose of the form and that the tax credit may help him or
her get a job.
Added at 15 Ok Reg
165, eff 11-1-97 (emergency); Added at 15 Ok Reg 1623, eff 5-11-98; Amended at
27 Ok Reg 1241, eff 6-1-10
