Hiring benefits for employers who want to hire a registrant.
Here are some bullet points to share on job interviews or to prospective employers who are considering hiring a registrant. The IRS offers some nice tax incentives for hiring someone that is difficult to employ.
- The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a Federal tax credit available to employers for hiring and employing individuals formerly incarcerated or those previously convicted of a felony.
- In general, the credit is equal to 40% of up to $6,000 of wages paid (thus capping at a maximum tax credit of $2,400).
- It is available in the first year of employment; and the employee must perform at least 400 hours of services for that employer.
- A 25% rate applies to wages for individuals who perform fewer than 400 but at least 120 hours of service for the employer.
- The employee must be hired on or before December 31, 2025.
- On or before the day that an offer of employment is made, the employer and the job applicant must complete Form 8850 (Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Credit). The employer has 28 calendar days from the new employee’s start date to submit Form 8850 to the designated local agency located in the state in which the business is located (where the employee works). Additional forms may be required by the DOL to obtain certification.
For more information, please visit: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/wotc
To add to that, anyone seeking a job as a registrant, can use that same list of employers who have hired someone (List of those who got the credit) to have a starting point of “More likely to hire”.
There is no guarantee you will be hired but it is a start. Also, even if you are not on probation, the probation offices often have lists of places that have hired felon or people on probation. No guarantee they will share the list with you but it is worth a shot.
And the lists can change at any time as the companies can and sometime do opt out as they please, depending on the rules of the tax credit initiative.
Not to mention the fact that in the majority of people you’ll have a loyal employee for the rest of their life. My husband would follow his boss through fire- he gave him a shot and treats him with respect. They’ve become friends. Yeah, we lost our house due to restrictions but were able to find another and we know how really lucky we are.
I can hear them now at the IRS, this guy is a sex offender, why are we rewarding these companies that hire sex offenders? Then the guy next to him says at least if the sex offenders that fail to pay their sex offender fees, we can then recoup the money from the company.
Riff raff
I have been off of probation for 20 years. I have never had to pay any fees at all since I got off probation. I have heard of some having to do that and it was challenged but upheld as NOT punishment of course. Having to pay a fee for something you did not agree to and was added to you ex post facto, and no other group of people have to do, is beyond the Constitution and borders on insanity.
Excuse me while I jump off this cliff……………………..>
There is also the Federal Bonding Program that employers can have as a form of insurance when hiring ex-offenders. When I got out of prison in 2009, that was one of the things I would mention in an interview. Ultimately, I was hired by an employer who I have worked for for over 12 years now.
I wonder if this applies to people on the registry but weren’t convicted (withheld)?
It’s a good start, but a $2400 tax credit isn’t much of an incentive for most companies.
A small business might like the $2400 but a huge company that is probably not enough to even read to fine print
Well hopefully they hire enough of us to make it worth their while.