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Hiring Resources · All 50 states + DC
Workforce centers, veterans offices, vocational rehab, SNAP and TANF employment programs, reentry and apprenticeship offices: the agencies whose job is to send you qualified people. Pick your state.
What each office does
Every state below is organized the same way. This is what each type of agency is for, and the target group a hire from that channel usually certifies under.
The American Job Center network is the widest funnel and the same system that certifies your credit. Business-services staff will screen and refer candidates against the target groups if you ask them to.
Feeds Long-term unemployment · SNAP · TANF · Veteran
The office that issues the certification. The paperwork must reach it within 28 calendar days of the start date.
Feeds Certification
The highest-value target group by a wide margin. Veteran staff (DVOP/LVER) sit inside the job centers, and state veterans offices run their own employer programs.
Feeds Qualified veteran — up to $9,600
A referral from an approved vocational rehabilitation agency, a Ticket to Work Employment Network or the VA is what establishes this target group. Build the relationship before you need the hire.
Feeds Vocational rehabilitation referral · SSI recipient
Long-term family assistance is the most valuable non-veteran group and pays across two years. SNAP Employment & Training programs exist to place benefit recipients into jobs.
Feeds SNAP 18–39 · IV-A recipient · Long-term family assistance — up to $9,000
Must be hired within one year of conviction or release. Many of these offices also carry Federal Bonding, which covers the employer at no cost.
Feeds Qualified ex-felon — up to $2,400
Apprenticeship and youth programs feed the younger target groups and give you a training pipeline rather than a one-off hire.
Feeds Summer youth · Designated community resident
Reference
The credit is a percentage of qualified first-year wages: 25% at 120–399 hours, 40% at 400 hours or more, nothing under 120. An employee certifies under one group only, so when someone fits two, the tier matters.
| Target group | What qualifies the hire | Wage cap | Credit at 400+ hrs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified veteran | Top tier: service-connected disability and unemployed 6+ months. Lower tiers for SNAP households, 4-week or 6-month unemployment, and recent discharge with a disability | $6,000 – $24,000 | up to $9,600 |
| Long-term family assistance recipient | 18 consecutive months of TANF family assistance | $10,000 per year | up to $9,000 over two years |
| Qualified IV-A (TANF) recipient | TANF assistance for any 9 of the prior 18 months | $6,000 | up to $2,400 |
| Qualified SNAP recipient | Age 18–39 and receiving SNAP | $6,000 | up to $2,400 |
| Qualified ex-felon | Hired within one year of conviction or release | $6,000 | up to $2,400 |
| Vocational rehabilitation referral | Referred by a state VR agency, a Ticket to Work Employment Network, or the VA | $6,000 | up to $2,400 |
| Qualified SSI recipient | Received SSI in any month ending within 60 days before hire | $6,000 | up to $2,400 |
| Long-term unemployment recipient | 27+ consecutive weeks unemployed, including a period on unemployment compensation | $6,000 | up to $2,400 |
| Designated community resident | Age 18–39, living in an Empowerment Zone or Rural Renewal County | $6,000 | up to $2,400 |
| Qualified summer youth employee | Age 16–17, employed May 1 – September 15, living in an Empowerment Zone | $3,000 | up to $1,200 |
Wage caps and the 25% / 40% rates come from the IRS instructions for Form 5884. Tax-exempt employers claim only the qualified-veteran group, on Form 5884-C. Figures reflect the credit as authorized through December 31, 2025.
Questions employers ask
Federal WOTC authorization lapsed after December 31, 2025 and has not been reauthorized as of October 2026. State workforce agencies are still processing and certifying hires that began on or before December 31, 2025, including backlog. For hires that start in 2026, several states — Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Utah, New York and Washington among them — have said they will accept applications and hold them in a pending status until Congress acts. WOTC has lapsed and been restored retroactively more than once, so the paperwork you complete now is what makes a 2026 hire claimable later.
Keep doing exactly what you would do if the credit were live: pre-screen every applicant on or before the day you make the offer, and submit the paperwork to your state workforce agency within 28 days of the start date. Pre-screening cannot be done after the fact, so a hire you did not screen is permanently unclaimable even if Congress reauthorizes retroactively.
Each channel on this page serves a population that maps onto a WOTC target group. A veterans employment representative sends you veterans. A vocational rehabilitation counselor sends you candidates whose referral itself establishes a target group. A SNAP Employment and Training program sends you benefit recipients. Sourcing from these channels means a far higher share of your hires are certifiable, and the agency has already documented the eligibility you would otherwise have to chase.
A qualified veteran with a service-connected disability who has been unemployed six months or more carries up to $9,600. The long-term family assistance recipient group is next at up to $9,000, spread across two years — the only group that pays in year two. Most other groups top out at $2,400 per hire.
IRS Form 8850 must be signed by the applicant on or before the day the job offer is made, and the employer must submit it to the State Workforce Agency no later than the 28th calendar day after the employee starts work. The state agency — not the IRS — issues the certification. Miss the 28 days and the credit is gone regardless of how eligible the hire was.
Several do. Maryland offers a state income tax credit that matches part of the federal WOTC. Illinois has an apprenticeship education expense credit. New Jersey adds a $25,000 Federal Bonding and on-the-job training reimbursement of up to 50% of wages. Many states run Federal Bonding programs for justice-involved hires at no cost to the employer.
No. You post the same roles and apply the same standards. The difference is where the candidates come from. Telling your local job center business-services representative which target groups you want screened for costs nothing and changes the composition of your applicant pool.
The State Workforce Agency certifies that the employee belongs to a target group. You then claim the credit on your federal return. That is why the state WOTC office listed in each state panel matters more than the IRS for day-to-day administration.
WOTC Plus screens every applicant at the point of offer, files with the right state agency inside the 28-day window, tracks hours to the 400-hour threshold, and keeps 2026 hires documented in case Congress restores the credit retroactively. Incenta-Finder then surfaces the state and local programs that stack on top.
