I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1177
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.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY10, 2025
Mr. S
MUCKER(for himself, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SUOZZI,
Mr. K
ELLYof Pennsylvania, and Mr. BUCHANAN) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve
and enhance the work opportunity tax credit, to encour-
age longer-service employment, and to modernize the
credit to make it more effective as a hiring incentive
for targeted workers, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improve and Enhance 4
the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:21 Mar 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1177.IH H1177
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 1177 IH
SEC. 2. IMPROVING AND ENHANCING WORK OPPORTUNITY 1
TAX CREDIT. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 51(a) of the Internal Rev-3
enue Code of 1986 is amended— 4
(1) by striking ‘‘shall be equal to 40 percent’’ 5
and all that follows and inserting the following: 6
‘‘shall be equal to the sum of— 7
‘‘(1) 50 percent of so much of the qualified 8
first-year wages with respect to each individual for 9
such year as does not exceed $6,000, plus 10
‘‘(2) in the case of individuals who have per-11
formed at least 400 hours of service for the em-12
ployer, 50 percent of so much of the qualified first- 13
year wages with respect to each such individual for 14
such year as exceeds $6,000, and does not exceed 15
$12,000.’’. 16
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTSRELATING TOLIMI-17
TATION ONWAGESTAKENINTOACCOUNT FORCERTAIN 18
V
ETERANS.—Section 51(b)(3) of such Code is amended 19
to read as follows: 20
‘‘(3) I
NCREASED LIMITATION ON WAGES TAKEN 21
INTO ACCOUNT FOR VETERANS .—The $6,000 and 22
$12,000 amounts under paragraphs (1) and (2) of 23
subsection (a) shall be increased to— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:21 Mar 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1177.IH H1177
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 1177 IH
‘‘(A) $12,000 and $24,000, respectively, in 1
the case of any individual who is a qualified vet-2
eran by reason of subsection (d)(3)(A)(ii)(I), 3
‘‘(B) $14,000 and $28,000, respectively, in 4
the case of any individual who is a qualified vet-5
eran by reason of subsection (d)(3)(A)(iv), and 6
‘‘(C) $24,000 and $48,000, respectively, in 7
the case of any individual who is a qualified vet-8
eran by reason of subsection (d)(3)(A)(ii)(II).’’. 9
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS RELATING TOINDI-10
VIDUALSNOTMEETINGMINIMUMEMPLOYMENT PERI-11
ODS.— 12
(1) Subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 13
51(i)(3) of such Code are each amended by striking 14
‘‘subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(1)’’. 15
(2) Section 51(i)(3)(A) of such Code is amend-16
ed by striking ‘‘40 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘50 per-17
cent’’. 18
(d) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO 19
T
REATMENT OF SUMMERYOUTHEMPLOYEES.—Section 20
51(d)(7)(B) of such Code is amended— 21
(1) by striking clause (ii), 22
(2) by striking ‘‘, and’’ at the end of clause (i) 23
and inserting a period, 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:21 Mar 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1177.IH H1177
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 1177 IH
(3) by redesignating clause (i) (as so amended) 1
as clause (iv), and 2
(4) by inserting before such clause (iv) (as so 3
redesignated) the following new clauses: 4
‘‘(i) in lieu of the amount determined 5
under subsection (a), the amount of the 6
work opportunity credit determined under 7
this section for the taxable year shall be 8
equal to 40 percent of the qualified first- 9
year wages for such year, 10
‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual de-11
scribed in subsection (i)(3)(A), clause (i) 12
shall be applied by substituting ‘25 per-13
cent’ for ‘40 percent’, 14
‘‘(iii) in the case of an individual de-15
scribed in subsection (i)(3)(B), no wages 16
shall be taken into account under clause 17
(i), 18
‘‘(iv) the amount of qualified first- 19
year wages which may be taken into ac-20
count with respect to such individual shall 21
not exceed $3,000 per year, and’’. 22
(e) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO 23
L
ONG-TERMFAMILYASSISTANCERECIPIENTS.— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:21 Mar 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1177.IH H1177
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 1177 IH
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 51(e)(1) of such 1
Code is amended by striking ‘‘family assistance re-2
cipient—’’ and all that follows and inserting the fol-3
lowing: ‘‘family assistance recipient, in lieu of sub-4
section (a), the amount of the work opportunity 5
credit determined under this section for the taxable 6
year shall be equal to— 7
‘‘(1) 40 percent of so much of the qualified 8
first-year wages with respect to such individual for 9
such year as does not exceed $10,000, and 10
‘‘(2) 50 percent of so much of the qualified sec-11
ond-year wages with respect to such individual for 12
such year as does not exceed $10,000.’’. 13
(2) C
LERICAL AMENDMENT .—The heading for 14
section 51(e) of such Code is amended by striking 15
‘‘C
REDIT FORSECOND-YEARWAGES’’ and inserting 16
‘‘S
PECIALRULES FORDETERMININGCREDIT’’. 17
(f) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 18
this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 19
the employer after December 31, 2024. 20
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:21 Mar 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1177.IH H1177
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 1177 IH
SEC. 3. REMOVAL OF AGE LIMIT FOR QUALIFIED SUPPLE-1
MENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 2
BENEFITS RECIPIENT. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 51(d)(8)(A)(i) of the In-4
ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘but 5
not age 40’’. 6
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 7
this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 8
the employer after December 31, 2024. 9
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:21 Mar 08, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1177.IH H1177
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB