Not only are businesses up against a deadline next month to secure stimulus-related Work Opportunity Tax Credits for hiring veterans and youths. They also face the same timeline to amend 2005 returns and qualify for hurricane relief tax credits. Businesses in the 31 GO Zone parishes that hired workers living in the region on Aug. 28, 2005 and after can still get WOTCs of up to $2,400 per employee if the workers are certified by the IRS and businesses make the Oct. 16 deadline to amend their tax returns.
Paul Cuevas, who has zeroed in on this particular tax preparation niche with his Tax Credit Professionals firm in Baton Rouge, says he is working with small businesses such as home health care providers and restaurants to see if they retroactively qualify for the credits. “This was such a small item in a large package that it got overlooked,” he says of the GO Zone relief aspect.
Dee Harris, an IRS spokeswoman in New Orleans, says getting the tax credit depends on what businesses have already filed. Cuevas says companies should double-check with their tax preparers and considering sifting through their employee records from the post-hurricane era.—Todd R. Brown
