2018 WOTC Funding in Omnibus Spending Bill

Last Friday President Trump signed the $1.3 trillion fiscal year 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill that will keep the federal government operating through September. The Spending Bill is generally expected to be the last major piece of legislation before the November midterm elections.

Included in the Bill’s nearly 2,500 pages, is $19.8M of funding for national activities of Employment Service, including funding for the processing of Form 8850s for certification of the work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) program. The $19.8M for 2018 is the same amount of funding that the WOTC program received in 2017. This is good news for WOTC since a number of federal programs had their funding reduced in the Omnibus Spending Bill. Hopefully, this will translate into quick WOTC certifications from the states for the employers that participate in the WOTC program.

In terms of funding for the WOTC program in 2019, First Advantage as a member of National Employment Opportunity Network (NEON) will be advocating for an increase in funding and we are already advancing that conversation with our representatives and lobbyists on the Hill. We encourage our clients to also contact their representatives.

As always, we will continue to keep you informed of such changes to the tax landscape, and we encourage you to reach out to your Tax Account Manager if you have any questions.