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Federal Legislative Updates

3rd Quarter 2012

TEGL 4-12 – Updates to ETA form 9061 and Guidance on Submission of IRS Form 8850
ETA Form 9061

ETA has revised the processing, administrative, and reporting program forms to reflect: 1) removal of all references to the expired Recovery Act unemployed veteran and disconnected youth target groups, 2) removal of the summer youth target group, and 3) inclusion of the new VOW Act veteran target group provisions. The revised forms and accompanying instructions were approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) through June 30, 2015.

ETA Form 9061, Individual Characteristics Form and Its Instructions were revised as follows:

  1. Provided the appropriate documentary evidence required for the two new unemployed veteran groups' eligibility determination;
  2. Added questions to Boxes 20 and 21 that identify the two new unemployed veteran categories;
  3. Removed reference to Empowerment Zone in Box 18, indicating that summer youth is no longer a target group due to expiration of the Empowerment Zones;
  4. Deleted instructions for the two expired Recovery Act groups in Boxes 20 and 21; and
  5. Added a new form of documentary evidence for Box 13 for service-disconnected disability, which clarifies and discontinues the use of Form Letter 21-802 once issued by Department of Veteran Affairs, and which is no longer available.

SWAs, participating agencies, employers, and their representatives are required to start using the revised OMB-approved "June 2012" version of the ETA Forms. Specifically, ETA Forms 9061 and 9062 must be used to request certifications for new employees 90 days following the publication of this TEGL. After that date, SWAs should not accept other versions of ETA Form 9061 or Form 9062. During the 90-day transition period, SWAs may continue using earlier versions of Forms 9061 and 9062.

IRS Form 8850.

The IRS has updated IRS Form 8850, Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and its instructions to reflect the provisions introduced by the VOW Act. All employers and third parties serving under contract as an employer's representative, for purposes of the employer's participation in the WOTC program, are required to use the January 2012, OMB cleared IRS Form 8850, as modified pursuant to IRS Notice 2012-13, to request certifications from the SWAs for their newly hired veterans. During the current hiatus, employers or their representatives can use the January 2012 IRS 8850 to submit certification requests for individuals hired as members of any or all of the expired non-veteran target groups. The submitted certification requests are subject to a potential retroactive reauthorization by Congress of the program beyond December 31, 2011. Also, as in the past, older versions of IRS 8850s can be submitted to the SWAs to request certifications for only the target groups listed on that form.

1st Quarter 2012

IRS Notice 2012-13 - Vow to Hire a Hero and eSignature for WOTC

IRS notice 2012-13 details about the specific veteran's provisions of WOTC that were included in the President's Vow to Hire a Hero Act. The notice offers updated certification guidelines and requirements for the 8850 document.

Specifically, the notice details:

  1. For State Workforce Agencies (SWA) that choose to accept it, a new allowance for faxed copies of 8850's (normally a wet signature is required).
  2. For State Workforce Agencies (SWA) that choose to accept it, acceptability of e-signed 8850's, whether printed out after the act of eSigning or through electronic transfer.
  3. A relaxation of the 28 day filing rules that pertain to the currently in force veterans categories of WOTC as means of "transition relief" for employers and consultants to adjust systems and processes to comply with these new guidelines.

TEGL 15-11: WOTC Hiatus Procedural Guidance from the Department of Labor

The Department of Labor Employment and Training administration (DOL ETA) issued guidance to the State Workforce Agencies (SWA's) regarding procedures for handling non-veteran WOTC certification requests during the WOTC hiatus. TEGL 15-11 instructs the SWA's to continue accepting all certification request for the currently expired target groups, but not to certify them.

The specific guidance includes the following:

  1. SWA's must accept and fully process all timely filed WOTC certification requests for employers' hires made prior to January 1, 2012.
  2. SWA's must accept, date stamp, log, and retain certification requests for employers' new hires made after January 1, 2012, until informed otherwise by ETA. However, states may not issue eligibility certifications unless the program is once again reauthorized.

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