Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act
Official title: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve and enhance the work opportunity tax credit, to encourage longer-service employment, and to modern… Show full official titleShow less
Official title: A bill to 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.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act
This bill increases the work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) for wages paid during the first year of employment to certain employees. The bill also eliminates the maximum age limit applicable to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit recipients for purposes of the WOTC.
Under current law, an employer generally may claim a WOTC in the amount of 40% of up to $6,000 (or of up to $24,000 for certain veterans, $3,000 for summer youth employees, and $10,000 for long-term family aid recipients) of qualified wages paid during the first year of employment to an employee who is a member of a targeted group. (Exceptions and limitations apply.)
The bill increases the WOTC to (1) 50% of up to $6,000 (or of up to $24,000 for certain veterans) of qualified first-year wages paid to an employee who is a member of a targeted group (other than a summer youth employee or recipient of long-term family aid), and (2) 50% of up to $12,000 (or of up to $48,000 for certain veterans) of qualified wages paid during the first year of employment to such employee if the employee works at least 400 hours during the year.
Finally, the bill eliminates the maximum age limit applicable to SNAP benefit recipients and, thus, allows an employer to claim the WOTC for qualified first-year wages paid to an employee who is at least 18 years old and receiving SNAP benefits for a certain period of time.
- Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
- FOOD MARKETPLACE INC.
- NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION
- THE KROGER CO.
- ALSTON & BIRD LLP
- FEDEX CORPORATION
Bodies those filers lobbied
- HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- SENATE
- Labor, Dept of (DOL)
- Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
- White House Office
- Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
- Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Treasury, Dept of
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 492: Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-492/
"S. 492: Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-492/.
S. 492, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-492/.
[S. 492: Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-492/)