340:50-5-64.1 Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)

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.