Sponsors (4)
The bill strengthens and broadens employer hiring tax credits to lower employers' costs and boost jobs for veterans, SNAP recipients, and other target groups, at the expense of reduced federal revenue and increased administrative complexity with uneven effects for some beneficiaries.
Employers (especially small businesses) can claim larger tax credits—up to 50% on higher wage amounts—making it materially cheaper to hire prioritized workers.
Low-income SNAP recipients (including those age 40 and over) become newly eligible for employer hiring credits, increasing employers' incentive to hire older and other SNAP beneficiaries after Dec 31, 2024.
Veterans, long-term family-assistance recipients, SNAP recipients, and eligible youth are more likely to gain jobs because employers receive bigger or broadened credits for hiring these priority groups.
Federal tax revenue will be reduced by expanding and increasing hiring credits, which could modestly raise deficits or crowd out other spending or tax relief.
Employers and the IRS will face added administrative and compliance burdens (complex new clauses, special-case rules, and rules for verifying start dates and SNAP eligibility), increasing costs and paperwork.
Some youth or certain family-assistance recipients may be excluded from the more generous treatment or receive lower credits under special rules, producing uneven benefits across eligible groups.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Expands and increases the Work Opportunity Tax Credit rates and wage caps, adds a two-year schedule for long-term assistance recipients, revises summer youth rules, and removes an age exclusion for SNAP recipients.
Official title: Amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve and enhance the work opportunity tax credit, to encourage longer-service employment, and to modernize the credit to make it more effective as a hiring incentive for targeted workers, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 10, 2025 by Bill Cassidy · Last progress February 10, 2025
Increases and reshapes the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to give employers larger tax credits for hiring targeted groups. It raises credit percentages, increases wage caps for veterans, creates a two-year enhanced schedule for long-term family assistance recipients, adjusts summer youth rules and caps, and removes an age exclusion for SNAP recipients. Changes apply to individuals who begin work after December 31, 2024.