Employment Tax Incentives
Maximize your hiring tax credits
and drive down your costs.

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a federal income tax credit that incentivizes employers to hire individuals from 14 target groups who face significant barriers to employment—such as veterans, long-term TANF recipients, ex-felons, and recipients of food stamps or Supplemental Security Income. The credit is calculated as a percentage of wages paid to a qualified hire during their first year of employment, and it can be worth as much as $9,600 per hire.

To claim the credit, employers must screen applicants at the time of hire using IRS Form 8850, submit the certification request to their state workforce agency within 28 days of the employee’s start date, and maintain documentation to support the claim. Because the process involves strict timelines and documentation requirements, many employers miss out on credits they’ve legitimately earned.

In addition to WOTC, UC Alternative helps employers identify and capture a broad range of federal, state, and local employment tax credits and incentives, including:

• Empowerment Zone Credit — for employers that hire residents of federally designated Empowerment Zones

• Indian Employment Credit — for employers who hire enrolled members of an Indian tribe (or their spouses) who live on or near a reservation

• State hiring credits — which vary by state and are often tied to hiring from specific populations or in certain geographic areas

• Location-based credits and incentives — tied to operating in designated enterprise or opportunity zones

• Disaster Relief credits — available when Congress authorizes tax incentives tied to disaster-area hiring

The employment tax credit landscape is constantly evolving as Congress creates new programs and states develop their own initiatives. UC Alternative keeps pace with these changes to ensure you never miss an opportunity.

The IRS designates 14 WOTC target groups. An employee may qualify if they are:

• A recipient of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or a long-term TANF recipient

• A veteran who receives food stamps, has been unemployed for at least 4 or more weeks (or 6 or more months), or has a service-connected disability

• An ex-felon hired within a year of conviction or release from prison

• A Designated Community Resident living in an Empowerment Zone or Rural Renewal County

• A vocational rehabilitation referral or Ticket to Work participant

• A Summer Youth employee living in an Empowerment Zone

• A recipient of food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, or long-term unemployment benefits

• Designated Community Residents, such as those living in an Empowerment Zone (https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8850) or those living in a Rural Renewal County.

Qualification is determined through a screening process completed at the time of hire and certified by the applicable state workforce agency.

Empowerment Zones are urban areas that the federal government has designated as a need for more employers and sustainable employment.

• Baltimore, MD

• Boston, MA

• Chicago, IL

• Cincinnati, OH

• Cleveland, OH

• Columbia/Sumter, SC

• Columbus, OH

• Cumberland County, NJ

• Detroit, MI

• El Paso, TX

• Fresno, CA

• Gary/Hammond/East Chicago, IN

• Huntington, WV

• Ironton, OH

• Jacksonville, FL

• Knoxville, TN

• Los Angeles, CA (city and county)

• Miami/Dade County, FL

• Minneapolis, MN

• New Haven, CT

• New York, NY

• Norfolk/Portsmouth, VA

• Oklahoma City, OK

• Philadelphia, PA/Camden, NJ

• Pulaski County, AR

• San Antonio, TX

• Santa Ana, CA

• St. Louis, MO / East St. Louis, IL

• Syracuse, NY

• Tucson, AZ

• Yonkers, NY

Parts of the following rural areas were designated as empowerment zones as well. NOTE: in many instances it is part of the communities and not all of the communities.

• Aroostook County, ME

• Desert Communities, CA (part of Riverside County)

• Griggs-Steele, ND (part of Griggs County and all of Steele County)

• Kentucky Highlands, KY (part of Wayne County and all of Clinton and Jackson Counties)

• Mid-Delta, MS (parts of Bolivar, Holmes, Humphreys, Leflore, Sunflower, and Washington Counties)

• Middle Rio Grande FUTURO Communities, TX (parts of Dimmit, Maverick, Uvalde, and Zavala Counties)

• Oglala Sioux Tribe, SD (parts of Jackson and Bennett Counties and all of Shannon County)

• Rio Grande Valley, TX (parts of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy Counties)

• Southernmost Illinois Delta, IL (parts of Alexander and Johnson Counties and all of Pulaski County)

• Southwest Georgia United, GA (part of Crisp County and all of Dooly County)

A Rural Renewal County is a county in a rural area that lost population during the 5-year periods 1990 through 1994 and 1995 through 1999. Rural Renewal counties are listed below.

• Alabama. The counties of Butler, Dallas, Macon, Perry, Sumter, and Wilcox.

• Alaska. The census areas of Aleutians West, Wrangell-Petersburg, and Yukon-Koyukuk.

• Arkansas. The counties of Arkansas, Chicot, Clay, Desha, Jackson, Lafayette, Lee, Little River, Monroe, Nevada, Ouachita, Phillips, Union, and Woodruff.

• Colorado. The counties of Cheyenne, Kiowa, and San Juan.

• Georgia. The counties of Randolph and Stewart.

• Illinois. The counties of Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Greene, Hancock, Hardin, Jasper, Knox, McDonough, Montgomery, Pulaski, Randolph, Richland, Scott, Warren, Wayne, and White.

• Indiana. Perry County.

• Iowa. The counties of Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Butler, Calhoun, Cass, Cherokee, Clay, Clayton, Emmet, Floyd, Franklin, Fremont, Hancock, Humboldt, Ida, Keokuk, Kossuth, Montgomery, Osceola, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Poweshiek, Sac, Taylor, Union, Wayne, Winnebago, and Worth.

• Kansas. The counties of Atchison, Barber, Barton, Brown, Clay, Cloud, Comanche, Decatur, Edwards, Elk, Ellsworth, Gove, Graham, Greeley, Greenwood, Harper, Hodgeman, Jewell, Kiowa, Labette, Lane, Lincoln, Marshall, Mitchell, Montgomery, Ness, Osborne, Phillips, Rawlins, Republic, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Scott, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Trego, Wallace, Washington, Wichita, and Woodson.

• Kentucky. The counties of Bell, Caldwell, Floyd, Harlan, Hickman, Leslie, Letcher, Pike, and Union.

• Louisiana. The parishes of Bienville, Claiborne, Franklin, Jackson, Morehouse, St. Mary, Tensas, Vernon, and Webster.

• Maine. The counties of Aroostook and Piscataquis.

• Michigan. The counties of Gogebic, Marquette, and Ontonagon.

• Minnesota. The counties of Big Stone, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Faribault, Jackson, Kittson, Koochiching, Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Marshall, Martin, Murray, Norman, Pipestone, Red Lake, Redwood, Renville, Stevens, Traverse, Wilkin, and Yellow Medicine.

• Mississippi. The counties of Adams, Coahoma, Humphreys, Montgomery, Quitman, Sharkey, Tallahatchie, and Washington.

• Missouri. The counties of Atchison, Carroll, Chariton, Clark, Holt, Knox, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, and Worth.

• Montana. The counties of Carter, Daniels, Dawson, Deer Lodge, Fallon, Garfield, Hill, Liberty, McCone, Petroleum, Phillips, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Roosevelt, Rosebud, Sheridan, Valley, and Wibaux.

• Nebraska. The counties of Antelope, Banner, Boone, Box Butte, Boyd, Burt, Cedar, Chase, Deuel, Dundy, Fillmore, Franklin, Garden, Garfield, Greeley, Hayes, Hitchcock, Holt, Jefferson, Johnson, Logan, Nance, Nemaha, Nuckolls, Pawnee, Perkins, Red Willow, Richardson, Rock, Sheridan, Sherman, Thayer, Thomas, Valley, Webster, and Wheeler.

• Nevada. The counties of Esmeralda, Lander, and Mineral.

• New Hampshire. Coos County.

• New Mexico. The counties of Harding and Quay.

• New York. The counties of Clinton and Montgomery.

• North Dakota. The counties of Adams, Barnes, Benson, Billings, Bottineau, Burke, Cavalier, Dickey, Divide, Dunn, Eddy, Emmons, Foster, Golden Valley, Grant, Griggs, Hettinger, Kidder, LaMoure, Logan, McHenry, McIntosh, McKenzie, McLean, Mercer, Mountrail, Nelson, Oliver, Pembina, Pierce, Ramsey, Ransom, Renville, Sargent, Sheridan, Slope, Stark, Steele, Stutsman, Towner, Traill, Walsh, Wells, and Williams.

• Ohio. The counties of Crawford, Monroe, Paulding, Seneca, and Van Wert.

• Oklahoma. The counties of Alfalfa, Beaver, Cimarron, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Grant, Greer, Harmon, Harper, Kiowa, Major, Roger Mills, Seminole, Tillman, and Woodward.

• Pennsylvania. The counties of Venango and Warren.

• South Carolina. Marlboro County.

• South Dakota. The counties of Aurora, Campbell, Clark, Day, Deuel, Douglas, Faulk, Grant, Gregory, Haakon, Hand, Harding, Hutchinson, Jones, Kingsbury, Marshall, McPherson, Miner, Perkins, Potter, Sanborn, Spink, Tripp, and Walworth.

• Texas. The counties of Andrews, Bailey, Baylor, Borden, Briscoe, Brooks, Castro, Cochran, Coleman, Collingsworth, Cottle, Crane, Culberson, Deaf Smith, Dimmit, Eastland, Fisher, Floyd, Foard, Gray, Hall, Hardeman, Haskell, Hemphill, Hockley, Hutchinson, Kenedy, Kent, Knox, Lamb, Martin, McCulloch, Morris, Nolan, Oldham, Reagan, Reeves, Refugio, Roberts, Scurry, Stonewall, Terrell, Terry, Upton, Ward, Wheeler, Wilbarger, Winkler, Yoakum, and Zavala.

• Virginia. The counties of Buchanan, Dickenson, Highland, and Lee, and the independent cities of Clifton Forge, Covington, Norton, and Staunton.

• West Virginia. The counties of Calhoun, Gilmer, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Summers, Tucker, Webster, Wetzel, and Wyoming.

• Wyoming. The counties of Carbon and Niobrara

NEON is a national organization dedicated to advocating for employment tax credit programs, including WOTC. UC Alternative is a founding member of NEON, and our founders played a direct role in lobbying Congress for the creation of WOTC and helping craft the legislation. We continue to participate in advocacy efforts to develop, expand, and promote a wide range of employment tax credit programs—giving our clients a partner who is deeply embedded in this field.

The savings potential varies based on your industry, hiring volume, employee demographics, and the states where you operate. The tax credits can add up quickly: a single qualified hire can generate as much as $9,600 in WOTC credits alone, and employers that hire at scale—in industries such as retail, hospitality, healthcare, staffing, and manufacturing—can realize hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in annual tax savings.

Many organizations leave significant credits on the table simply because their screening rates are low or their documentation is incomplete. UC Incentives is designed to close that gap by identifying every opportunity and ensuring you capture your full share.

To get a personalized estimate of your savings potential, you can request a free savings projection from our team.

Despite the significant value of employment tax credits, many organizations don’t capture everything they qualify for. The most common reasons include:

• Low screening rates — applicants are not consistently screened at the time of hire, which is required to qualify

• Missed deadlines — WOTC certification requests must be submitted to the state workforce agency within 28 days of a new hire’s start date; late submissions disqualify the credit

• Incomplete documentation — insufficient records make it impossible to support a credit claim if audited

• Lack of awareness — HR and recruiting teams may not be familiar with the full range of available programs

• Fragmented processes — organizations without a streamlined system for screening, certifying, and tracking credits fall through the cracks

UC Incentives addresses each of these gaps through proprietary technology, rigorous quality control, and experienced support staff who manage the process from end to end.

Not when you partner with UC Alternative. Our service is designed to minimize the burden on your internal teams. We handle the screening, certification submissions, state agency follow-up, documentation, and reporting—so your HR and payroll staff don’t have to.

You will need to integrate our screening process into your onboarding workflow and provide access to the necessary new-hire data, but once our system is in place, the process is largely automated and requires minimal ongoing effort from your team.

We screen applicants or new hires using a proprietary technology platform that integrates with your applicant tracking system (ATS) or onboarding workflow. Our goal is to screen 100% of new hires at the time of hire—the point at which eligibility must be determined to meet IRS requirements.
Our platform is designed to maximize participation rates while minimizing friction in the hiring process. We use e-signature capabilities for electronic submission and integrate directly with state WOTC offices, creating a fully streamlined end-to-end process.

Once a new hire completes the screening, our team handles everything else:

• We review the screening results to determine which target groups the individual may qualify under

• We prepare and submit the certification request (IRS Form 8850 and, where applicable, ETA Form 9061 or 9062) to the appropriate state workforce agency within the required 28-day window

• We track the certification status and follow up with state agencies as needed

• We maintain all documentation required to substantiate the credit

• We provide your tax team with the certified credits and supporting documentation needed to claim the credit on your federal tax return

UC Incentives provides monthly reports that keep you informed of your program’s performance. These reports cover key metrics including:

• New hires screened and screening rate by location

• Credits certified and pending certification

• Total credits earned to date

• Breakdown by WOTC target group and credit type

• Year-over-year comparisons

Our reporting is designed to give you full visibility into your program and help you identify opportunities to improve screening rates and maximize your savings.

Yes. UC Alternative manages the complete documentation process, maintaining all records required to support your credit claims in the event of an IRS or state audit. This includes retention of the original screening forms, state certification letters, wage records, and any other supporting materials. Our rigorous quality control processes are designed to ensure that every credit we identify can be substantiated

Employment tax credit programs are subject to frequent legislative and regulatory changes at the federal, state, and local levels. Because our founders helped create WOTC and we remain active in advocacy through NEON, UC Incentives is uniquely positioned to stay ahead of these changes.
Our team continuously monitors legislative developments, updates our proprietary technology to reflect new eligibility criteria, and proactively notifies clients about changes that may affect their programs. You can rely on us to ensure you’re always capturing every opportunity, even as the landscape evolves.

UC Alternative uses competitive, performance-aligned pricing that enables you to capture all the employment tax credits you qualify for affordably. Our pricing is structured to ensure that the savings we generate for you significantly exceed the cost of our services.

To discuss pricing specific to your organization’s hiring volume and credit profile, contact us to schedule a free consultation and savings projection.

Our service includes end-to-end management of your employment tax credit program:

• Integration with your ATS or onboarding workflow to screen 100% of new hires

• Preparation and timely submission of all certification requests to state agencies

• Ongoing status tracking and state agency follow-up

• Complete documentation management for audit support

• Monthly performance reporting

• A dedicated Account Representative to support you at every step

• Proactive updates on changes to the employment tax credit landscape

Getting started is straightforward. Here’s what to expect:

• Schedule a free consultation — We’ll discuss your organization’s hiring volume, locations, and current tax credit program (if any) to identify your savings potential.

• Free savings projection — We’ll provide a customized estimate of the credits you could be capturing.

• Onboarding — We’ll integrate our screening platform with your ATS or onboarding system and train your team.

• Go live — We begin screening new hires and managing your program from day one.

Our implementation team leverages decades of experience to make onboarding fast and efficient, with minimal disruption to your existing hiring process.

Implementation timelines vary based on the complexity of your ATS and HR systems, the number of locations involved, and your internal approval processes. However, our experienced implementation team works efficiently to get your program up and running as quickly as possible, typically within a few weeks of signing an agreement. We handle the heavy lifting so your team can stay focused on hiring.

Once UC Incentives is in place, your primary responsibility is to ensure that new hire data flows to our system in a timely manner and that your recruiting or onboarding team directs new hires through our screening process. We handle everything else—certification, documentation, reporting, and state agency communication.

Your Account Representative will keep you informed of your program’s performance and flag any issues that require your attention.

If your current vendor isn’t screening close to 100% of your new hires, submitting certifications on time, maintaining complete documentation, and reporting transparently on your program’s performance, you are almost certainly leaving credits on the table.

UC Alternative brings a combination of deep technical expertise (our founders helped create WOTC), proprietary technology, and rigorous quality control that many vendors can’t match. We’d welcome the opportunity to show you what a best-in-class program looks like. Contact us to request a free savings projection and compare it against what you’re currently capturing.

UC Alternative is a CPA-owned-and-operated business with more than three decades of experience generating hiring tax credits and incentives for employers. Our founders lobbied Congress for the creation of WOTC and helped craft the legislation, and we remain a founding member of NEON, the national advocacy organization for employment tax credit programs.

We apply 30+ years of experience, proven processes, and proprietary technology to ensure our clients capture every employment tax credit and incentive they qualify for—at the federal, state, and local levels, and down to the individual location.

UC Incentives is a service of UC Alternative, Inc., which has been serving employers for three decades. UC Alternative offers a suite of complementary services designed to help organizations reduce labor-related costs and administrative burdens, including unemployment claims management and employment and wage verification services.

By partnering with UC Alternative, you have access to a trusted team that understands the full spectrum of your employment-related costs and can help you optimize your savings across multiple programs.

Any employer that hires at scale or operates in industries with high turnover—such as retail, food service, hospitality, healthcare, staffing, manufacturing, and transportation—can benefit significantly from UC Incentives. Organizations with multiple locations, high hiring volumes, or a workforce drawn from economically disadvantaged communities typically see the greatest savings.

That said, employers of all sizes and industries can benefit. If you hire new employees, you may be leaving valuable tax credits unclaimed. We encourage you to request a free savings projection to find out what you could be capturing.

Yes. UC Incentives works with multi-state employers across the U.S. WOTC is a federal program, but state-specific credits and incentives vary significantly by location. Our team has deep knowledge of the full range of state and local employment tax credit programs and ensures that employers capture every opportunity in every state where they do business.

UC Incentives offers a combination of credentials, experience, and capabilities that is unmatched in this field:

• Founder-level expertise — our founders helped create WOTC and continue to advocate for employment tax credit programs through NEON

• 30+ years of experience — we have a long track record of generating meaningful tax savings for employers

• Proprietary technology — our platform is designed to screen 100% of new hires and streamline every step of the certification process

• Rigorous quality control — systematic reviews and documentation management ensure no credits are missed

• Comprehensive coverage — we go beyond WOTC to capture state, local, and other federal credits
• Exceptional support — a dedicated Account Representative keeps you informed and supports your program at every step

• Complementary services — as part of UC Alternative, we can help you reduce costs across unemployment claims, tax incentives, and employment verifications