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Urgent WOTC Call to Action – Unique Opportunity Limited to This Morning

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

I received late arriving news on Tuesday from Paul Suplizio of the WOTC Coalition that Congressman Aaron Schock will be making the case for WOTC renewal at the House Republican luncheon today. The luncheon will be from noon until 1:00 PM (eastern), on Wednesday November 16th.

The immediate goal THIS MORNING is to give other Republican House members an advance notice that Congressman Schock will be speaking on this subject and to ask them to support him.

If you’ve been lobbying a Republican House member in this effort, this morning is a crucial opportunity. Call your member and speak to their Legislative Director, Appointment Secretary or other staff members and give them the information and request.

Here is the message, as suggested by Mr. Suplizio:

“At the House Republican luncheon today, Congressman Aaron Schock will call for action on a bill to extend the work opportunity tax credit and several other important tax provisions. Please get word to Congressman _______________that Congressman Schock will be asking for action on WOTC and several other important provisions of the tax code which will expire on December 31st . Tell Congressman_____________ it will be very helpful if he or she would support Congressman Schock in this matter.”

Please note, the recent VOW to Hire Heroes Act has already passed the Senate and is being shepherded through the House. It is expected to become law and will expand and extend the WOTC program’s military veteran categories. Congressman Schock’s address will be making the case for extending the rest of the WOTC program.

 

Posted in Uncategorized, Veterans, Work Opportunity Tax Credit | No Responses »
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NAGC Lending Support to WOTC Renewal

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Word has it that the National Association of Governors Committees on People with Disabilities (or NAGC) is drafting a letter to US Congressional leaders in support of extending the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program. WOTC is slated to expire on December 31, 2011. Some important eligibility categories expired last year.

This success was strongly influenced by the WOTC Coalition in effort with Martha K Gabehart, who heads the Kansas Commission on Disability. They successfully circulated a letter to committees in all 50 states seeking the organization’s support. According to Paul Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, the positive response was unanimous.

Posted in Work Opportunity Tax Credit | No Responses »
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Alert! Alert! WOTC on the Budget Chopping Block! Immediate Action Needed!

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Paul Suplizio, president of the WOTC Coalition warned coalition members this morning that the Department of Labor has recommended termination of the WOTC program as a contribution toward addressing the federal budget crisis.  Let me save time by quoting Mr. Suplizio directly:

“[President Obama] has been negotiating with congressional Republicans to identify spending cuts to reduce the deficit; those cuts would become part of a bi-partisan agreement to pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling.”

“We’ve now learned the Department of Labor has forwarded to OMB a recommendation to terminate the WOTC program, saving $700 million a year. The President asked each member of the cabinet to identify savings that could be made in their departments, and one of Labor’s answers was to terminate WOTC.”

“We’re not sure at this point whether this “saving” will make it into the final agreement with Republicans which, as everyone knows, is still being negotiated in daily meetings at the White House. There is much talk about agreement on $2 trillion in spending cuts, but as the President has said, ‘There’s no deal until there’s a deal.’”

What does this amount to? There is a POSSIBILITY that the future of the WOTC program will be eliminated by a federal budget compromise made within the next two weeks.

This issue requires your immediate action. If you’ve been following the news, you already know that the stated deadline for a compromise to raise the U.S. debt-ceiling is August 2nd.

In his evaluation this morning, Mr. Suplizio estimates only a 50 – 50 chance of WOTC’s survival if we do not act to preserve it. Quick action, however, considerably increases its chances.

The coalition is organizing grass root efforts in Washington DC at this time. Across the country, however, organizations with a stake in preserving the program should be contacting U.S. legislators from their state TODAY.

Here is a short but hot-list of specific U.S. legislators that should be contacted immediately. Again, this was provided by Paul Suplizio to the WOTC Coalition this morning.  Contact me and I can provide this list to you in a spreadsheet format that can be used for word-processor mail merge.

House Republicans

 John A. Boehner, Speaker of the House, Dayton, OH, fax 202-225-0704

Eric Cantor, Majority Leader, Culpeper, VA, fax 202-225-0011

Kevin McCarthy, Majority Whip, Bakersfield, CA fax 202-225-2908

Jeb Hensarling, Republican Conference Chair, Dallas, TX fax 202-226-4888

Tom Price, Republican Policy Committee Chair, Marietta, GA, fax 202-225-4656

Dave Camp, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, Troy, MI, fax 202-225-9679

 

House Democrats

Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader, San Francisco, CA, fax 202-225-8259

Steny H. Hoyer, Minority Whip, Greenbelt, MD, fax 202-225-4300

James E. Clyburn, Assistant Democratic Leader, Columbia, SC, fax 202-225-2313

John B. Larson, Democratic Caucus Chair, Hartford, CT, fax 202-225-1031

Sander M. Levin, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Ways and Means, Detroit, MI, fax 202-226-1033

 

Senate Republicans

 Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader, Louisville, KY, fax 202-224-2499

John Kyl, Minority Whip, Phoenix, AZ, fax 202-224-2207

Lamar Alexander, Republican Conference Chair, Nashville, TN, fax 202-228-3398

John Thune, Republican Policy Committee Chair, Rapid City, SD, fax 202-228-5429

Orrin G. Hatch, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Finance, Salt Lake City, UT, fax 202-224-6331

 

Senate Democrats

 Harry Reid, Majority Leader, Las Vegas, NV, fax 202-224-7327

Richard J. Durbin, Majority Whip, Chicago, IL, 202-228-0400

Charles E. Schumer, Democratic Policy Committee Chair, New York, NY, fax 202-228-3027

Max Baucus, Chairman, Committee on Finance, Helena, MT, fax 202-224-9412

Posted in Federal Legislation | 7 Responses »
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HR 2082 – Bill to Extend and Refine the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Program

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

I received an update from Paul Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition today. There is recent progress on the legislative front for an extension of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.

The WOTC program is currently slated to expire on December 31, 2011. While that might at first seem alarming if your company has been relying on the program to offset hiring costs, its par for the WOTC game. Over the years, Congress has repeatedly allowed the program to expire or nearly expire before renewing it for another term.

Here’s a brief quote from Paul Suplizio’s update this morning.

“Congressmen Aaron Schock (R-IL) and Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) have introduced a bill, H.R. 2082, Work Opportunity Credit Improvements Act, calling for a three-year extension of WOTC till December 31, 2014. Congressman Schock and Congressman Rangel are Ways and Means Committee members and thus able to work for passage within the committee. “

 

“This is the bill WOTC supporters should rally around as Congress takes up tax legislation in the next two critical months. It’s important we get a maximum number of House members to co-sponsor H.R. 2082 before the measure is taken up in Ways and Means.”

The bill not only proposes to extend the WOTC for 3 years, it includes a number of very interesting refinements to the program and adds back the disconnected youth category.

If you have an interest in the WOTC program, you should definitely contact your member of Congress to recommend their sponsorship of this bill.  I plan to contact our legislators next week AND to send a correspondence to every member of the legislature about this issue.

Please feel welcome to contact me if I can help your efforts in any way.  I can offer you a mail-merge ready list of US Legislators that you could use in preparing your correspondence.

Posted in Federal Legislation, Work Opportunity Tax Credit | 3 Responses »
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Good News! WOTC Program Reauthorization Included in White House’s 2012 Budget

Monday, February 14th, 2011

A delegation from the WOTC Coalition visited the Whitehouse on Friday where they met with Special Assistant to the President Kareem A. Dale and Domestic Policy Council member Lauren Dunn. Their goal was to obtain White House support for reauthorization of the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program. The mission was a clear success.

I received a correspondence today from Coalition President Paul Suplizio in which he described their meeting.

“We covered a great deal during the 45-minute meeting, and in many respects the White House staff was responsive to our appeal for a long-term authorization, funds to promote WOTC to more employers, restoration of disconnected youth and veterans target groups, and eligibility for disabled workers who are receiving Social Security Disability Income (SSDI).”

The group also presented a fact sheet titled, “How Can the Work Opportunity Tax Credit be Made More Effective?”

Today, in an email to Paul Suplizio, Mr. Dale confirmed that WOTC reauthorization has been included in President Obama’s 2012 budget proposal. Mr. Dale also said he looks forward to working with WOTC Coalition members on proposals to create more certainty.

The tax code as currently written requires frequent reauthorization of the WOTC program by Congress and the President. This has been a problem that introduces uncertainty and instability for employers attempting to use the programs.

The WOTC program was recently extended through December 31, 2011. Making the program permanent has been a long-term goal of program supporters.

Posted in Federal Legislation | 1 Response »
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U.S. Senate Passes Tax Bill – Eyes Turn to House to Please Add Back Missing Tax Incentives!

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

The Senate today passed the much anticipated tax bill without renewing the HIRE Act Payroll Tax Exemption, federal Renewal Communities, or the WOTC provisions for disconnected youth, unemployed veterans, or Gulf Opportunity Zone employers.  This is a disappointment, but not unexpected. 

Now that HR 4853 has been passed to the U.S. House of Representatives, eyes turn to susceptible House members seeking an amendment to add these provisions.  If these incentives are important to you, please consider contacting House Members from your jurisdictions and urge them to support including these 5 provisions with any amendments to the tax bill.  Make a special effort to contact Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin.

Paul Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, pointed out today that these 5 programs are “current-law job creation incentives” — so we are not urging the creation of any new program.  In summary, what we seek:

  1. Extension of the HIRE tax credits
  2. Extension of the Renewal Community program
  3. Extension of WOTC for disconnected youth
  4. Extension of WOTC for unemployed Iraq-Afghanistan era veterans
  5. Extension of WOTC for Gulf Opportunity Zone employers

On the bright side, the bill passed by the Senate does include reauthorization of:

  • The WOTC Program through 2011
  • The Research and Development Tax Credit
  • The Indian Employment Credit
  • The Empowerment Zone Program
  • The District of Columbia Enterprise Zone

See my previous post on this.

Posted in Federal Legislation | No Responses »
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Asking the US House to Include Key Tax Incentives in House Amendment

Monday, December 13th, 2010

As noted in my most recent post, some key employment incentives were left out of the Senate version of the tax bill being discussed in Washington D.C.  I received a correspondence today from Paul Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, detailing current efforts to include the missing programs in the House version of the bill.

Specifically, the WOTC Coalition is urging that the following be included in the House bill if the opportunity for amendment materializes.

  • Reauthorization of the HIRE Act’s Payroll Tax Exemption for Employers
  • Reauthorization of Renewal Communities
  • Continuation of Disconnected Youth as a WOTC targeted group
  • Continuation the Unemployed Veterans as WOTC targeted group
  • Continuation of WOTC for Gulf Opportunity Zone employers

Efforts at persuasion are focused on Representative Sander Levin, Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means and Senator Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance. 

Representative Charles B. Rangel, a known expert and champion of the WOTC program within the House of Representatives has also been contacted with the hope that he will use his expertise to help persuade the Chairman to include these items in any amendment to the bill.

Posted in Federal Legislation | No Responses »
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Future of The HIRE Act’s Payroll Tax Exemption Benefit

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

While many U.S. employers have taken advantage of the 2010 federal HIRE Act’s Payroll Tax Exemption benefit, many more have not.  As it currently stands, the Payroll Tax Exemption program is slated to expire on December 31, 2010; however, at least 2 facts mitigate the looming end of the program. 

First, employers who have not yet utilized the program still have an opportunity to catch up.  At my firm, we’re in the process of bringing on a new client with more than 35 business locations.  Even during this down economy, my new client has hired hundreds of employees since February 4th when the Payroll Tax Exemption program first kicked in. 

To claim the benefit, an employer must get a signed statement from the employee stating under penalty of perjury that they were unemployed during the 60 days prior to hire.  We know that many of these new employees were unemployed and would therefore be eligible.  So, as part of our boarding process, we’re surveying them — finding out which employees qualified at their time of hire. 

Now, this large employer will be exempt from the 6.2% employer-portion of the federal payroll tax for a goodly percentage of its 2010 hires.  To secure this benefit, it will have to file adjusted payroll tax returns for quarters 2 and 3. That should not be a problem.

Another benefit is that the qualifying employees who remain employed into next year (for at least 52 weeks of total employment) can trigger a bonus tax credit equal to another 6.2% of the wages paid during that first 52 weeks of employment.  We’ll continue following well into 2011 to determine the status of these employees.  Our client has an added incentive to keep them working.

For many, a technical question arises here.  Isn’t there a deadline for getting the employee’s signed affidavit?  Answer: Yes, and no.  Here’s the IRS’ way of explaining it. 

[T]he employer must have the signed affidavit by the time the employer files an employment tax return applying the payroll tax exemption. If the employer obtains the signed affidavit from the qualified employee after wages are paid to the employee, the employer can still apply the payroll tax exemption to determine its liability on these wages. In some cases this may require the filing of a corrected return for a prior quarter.  IRS FAQs

In other words, you must get the statement before you actually claim the benefit.  But, you can get the statement then go back and claim the benefit using an adjusted tax return.  In the case of my new client, their payroll service will need to file adjusted returns, IRS Form 941X in order to claim the benefit for quarters 1, 2 and 3.

So, where does this all go as of December 31, 2010?  Will the Payroll Tax Exemption program be extended for another year?  According to Paul E. Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, there is no certainty but the odds favor an extension as Congress and the Administration continue to grapple with the problem of unemployment in 2011. 

If you have questions about the HIRE Act’s Payroll Tax Exemption program, or any other employment based tax benefit, please feel welcome to contact me.  I am Vaughn Hromiko, (800) 655-5281, ext 101 or vah@WOTCPlanet.com

Posted in Federal Legislation, Payroll Tax Forgiveness | No Responses »
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Work Opportunity Tax Credit for Hurricane Katrina Employees

Saturday, September 25th, 2010

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.

Posted in Federal Legislation | 1 Response »
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Senate Passes H.R. 2847 Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Today, as anticipated, the U.S. Senate approved the amended HIRE Act, which had been passed back from the House on March 4th (see previous post).   As you may recall, this bill includes a Payroll Tax Forgiveness program. For qualifying workers, this will relieve employers of the 6.2 percent FICA tax expense during 2010. If such a worker remains employed for at least 52 weeks, the employer receives a $1,000 income tax credit for 2011.

President Obama has committed to signing the bill.  Today, the WOTC Coalition promised to issue an advisory to Coalition members, with information about implementing this new law. 

To qualify, an employer must determine that a new hire was unemployed for at least 60 days prior to hire (with no more than 40 h0urs of work during that period).  A signed statement is required.  My firm has been moving in this direction for our clients since we first learned of the HIRE Act’s tax incentive provisions last month.  

There will be some challenges for employers who wish to take full advantage of the Payroll Tax Forgiveness Program.  The program applies to qualifying employees hired after the date of February 3, 2010.  Since the tax relief only applies to wages paid through the end of the calendar year 2010, it will be important to identify eligible employees from as early as possible in the year.

And yet, as of today, March 17th, the bill has not yet actually become law. (And it won’t until President Obama actually signs it.)  As a result, employers will need to retroactively evaluate new employees hired since February 3rd to determine their eligibility.

If you have questions, please call me at (800) 655-5281, ext 101, or send me an email at vah@hromiko.com.  I’d love to chat with you and answer your questions.

Posted in Federal Legislation, Payroll Tax Forgiveness | No Responses »
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