I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2082 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the work opportunity 

credit. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2011 

Mr. SCHOCK (for himself and Mr. RANGEL) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify 

the work opportunity credit. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Work Opportunity 

5 Credit Improvements Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. THREE-YEAR EXTENSION OF WORK OPPORTUNITY 

7 TAX CREDIT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (B) of section 

9 51(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 


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1 by striking ‘‘December 31, 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘Decem2 ber 31, 2014’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 

5 the employer after December 31, 2011. 

6 SEC. 3. ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION FOR CERTAIN TAR7 GETED GROUPS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (13) of section 51(d) 

9 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add10 ing at the end the following new subparagraph: 

11 ‘‘(D) ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION FOR

12 CERTAIN TARGETED GROUPS.—Notwithstanding 

13 subparagraph (A), in the case of a recently dis14 charged veteran, a qualified ex-felon, a des15 ignated community resident, a vocational reha16 bilitation referral, a qualified summer youth, or 

17 a qualified SSI recipient, an individual shall be 

18 treated as having been certified by the local 

19 designated agency as a member of a targeted 

20 group if the employer— 

21 ‘‘(i) prior to filing a return of tax on 

22 which the employer claims a credit with re23 spect to such individual, obtains such docu24 mentation relating to the requirements for 

25 the targeted group of which the individual 


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1 is a member as would be required by the 

2 designated local agency to be submitted for 

3 certification under subparagraph (A)(i), 

4 ‘‘(ii) meets the pre-screening require5 ment of subparagraph (A)(ii)(I), and 

6 ‘‘(iii) maintains such records relating 

7 to such individual as the Secretary shall by 

8 regulation prescribe.’’. 

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 this section shall apply to individuals whose hiring date 

11 (as defined in section 51(d)(11) of the Internal Revenue 

12 Code of 1986) is on or after the date of the enactment 

13 of this Act. 

14 SEC. 4. WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT FOR CERTAIN RE15 CENTLY DISCHARGED VETERANS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

17 51(d)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

18 by striking ‘‘means any veteran’’ and all that follows and 

19 inserting ‘‘means any recently discharged veteran and any 

20 veteran receiving specified benefits.’’ 

21 (b) RECENTLY DISCHARGED VETERAN; VETERAN

22 RECEIVING SPECIFIED BENEFITS.—Paragraph (3) of sec23 tion 51(d) of such Code is amended— 

24 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) and 

25 (C) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively, and 


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1 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol2 lowing new subparagraphs: 

3 ‘‘(B) RECENTLY DISCHARGED VETERAN.— 

4 For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term 

5 ‘recently discharged veteran’ means— 

6 ‘‘(i) any individual who has served on 

7 active duty (other than active duty for 

8 training) in the Armed Forces of the 

9 United States for more than 180 days, 

10 ‘‘(ii) any individual who has been dis11 charged or released from active duty in the 

12 Armed Forces of the United States for a 

13 service-connected disability, and 

14 ‘‘(iii) any member of the National 

15 Guard who has served for more than 180 

16 consecutive days of— 

17 ‘‘(I) active duty (within the 

18 meaning of title 32, United States 

19 Code) other than for training, 

20 ‘‘(II) full-time National Guard 

21 duty (within the meaning of such title 

22 32) other than for training, 

23 ‘‘(III) duty, other than inactive 

24 duty or duty for training, in State 


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1 status (within the meaning of such 

2 title 32), or 

3 ‘‘(IV) any combination of duty 

4 described in subclause (I), (II), or 

5 (III), 

6 who has been discharged or released from 

7 such duty at any time during the 5-year 

8 period ending on the hiring date. Such 

9 term shall not include any veteran who be10 gins work for the employer before the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act. 

12 ‘‘(C) VETERAN RECEIVING SPECIFIED

13 BENEFITS.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), 

14 the term ‘veteran receiving specified benefits’ 

15 means any veteran who is certified by the des16 ignated local agency as— 

17 ‘‘(i) being a member of a family re18 ceiving assistance under a supplemental 

19 nutrition assistance program under the 

20 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 for at 

21 least a 3-month period ending during the 

22 12-month period ending on the hiring date, 

23 or 

24 ‘‘(ii) entitled to compensation for a 

25 service-connected disability, and— 


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1 ‘‘(I) having a hiring date which is 

2 not more than 1 year after having 

3 been discharged or released from ac4 tive duty in the Armed Forces of the 

5 United States, or 

6 ‘‘(II) having aggregate periods of 

7 unemployment during the 1-year pe8 riod ending on the hiring date which 

9 equal or exceed 6 months.’’. 

10 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 51 of the 

11 such Code is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘(d)(3)(A)(ii)’’ in paragraph (3) 

13 of subsection (b) and inserting ‘‘(d)(3)(C)(ii)’’, 

14 (2) by striking ‘‘For purposes of subparagraph 

15 (A)’’ in subparagraphs (D) and (E) of subsection 

16 (d)(3), as redesignated by subsection (b), and insert17 ing ‘‘For purposes of subparagraph (C)’’, and 

18 (3) by adding at the end of paragraph (13) of 

19 subsection (d), as amended by this Act the following 

20 new subparagraph: 

21 ‘‘(E) PRE-SCREENING OF RECENTLY DIS22 CHARGED VETERANS.— 

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 

24 subparagraph (A), the term ‘pre-screening 

25 notice’ shall include any documentation 


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1 provided to an individual by the Depart2 ment of Defense or the National Guard 

3 upon release or discharge from the Armed 

4 Forces or from service in the National 

5 Guard which includes information suffi6 cient to establish that such individual is a 

7 recently discharged veteran. 

8 ‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATION NOT

9 REQUIRED.—Subparagraph (A) shall be 

10 applied without regard to clause (ii)(II) 

11 thereof in the case of a recently discharged 

12 veteran who provides to the employer docu13 mentation described in clause (i).’’. 

14 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 subsections (a), (b), and (c) shall apply to individuals 

16 whose hiring date (as defined in section 51(d)(11) of the 

17 Internal Revenue Code of 1986) is on or after the date 

18 of the enactment of this Act. 

19 (e) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DOCUMENTATION.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Department of Defense 

21 and the National Guard, as applicable, shall pro22 vide— 

23 (A) to each individual who is discharged or 

24 released from active duty in the Armed Forces 


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1 of the United States on or after the date of the 

2 enactment of this Act; and 

3 (B) to each member of the National Guard 

4 who is released from duty described in section 

5 51(d)(3)(B)(iii) of the Internal Revenue Code 

6 of 1986 (as added by this Act) on or after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act; 

8 in addition to the documentation which, without re9 gard to this subsection, is provided at the time of 

10 such discharge or release, documentation described 

11 in paragraph (4). If the documentation which is pro12 vided without regard to this subsection at the time 

13 of the discharge or release described in the pre14 ceding sentence does not include information suffi15 cient to satisfy the requirements of section 

16 51(d)(13)(D)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

17 1986 (as added by this Act), the Department of De18 fense or the National Guard, whichever is applicable, 

19 shall provide additional documentation which in20 cludes such information. 

21 (2) INFORMATIONAL BRIEFING AS PART OF

22 PRESEPARATION COUNSELING.—In the case of an 

23 individual who is discharged or released from duty 

24 described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph 

25 (1) after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 


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1 Department of Defense or the National Guard, 

2 whichever is applicable, shall inform such individual, 

3 as a part of the individual preseparation counseling 

4 required by section 1142 of title 10, United States 

5 Code, of the credit for employment of recently dis6 charged veterans under section 51 of the Internal 

7 Revenue Code of 1986. 

8 (3) REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTATION.—The De9 partment of Defense or the National Guard, which10 ever is applicable, shall provide upon request the 

11 documentation required by paragraph (1) to any in12 dividual or a third party authorized by the individual 

13 who is discharged or released from duty described in 

14 subparagraph (A) or (B) of such paragraph during 

15 the 5-year period preceding and including the date 

16 of the enactment of this Act. 

17 (4) INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE OF WORK OPPOR18 TUNITY CREDIT.—The documentation described in 

19 this paragraph is a document which includes— 

20 (A) instructions for an individual to ensure 

21 treatment as a recently discharged veteran for 

22 purposes of section 51(d)(3)(B) of the Internal 

23 Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by this Act), 


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1 (B) instructions for employers detailing the 

2 use of the credit under such section with re3 spect to such individual, and 

4 (C) the dates during which the credit 

5 under such section is available. 

6 Such instructions shall be developed in collaboration 

7 with the Internal Revenue Service. 

8 SEC. 5. INCENTIVES TO HIRE HIGH-RISK YOUTHS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

10 51(d)(14) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amend11 ed— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘or disconnected youth’’, and 

13 (2) by inserting ‘‘, or any high-risk youth who 

14 so begins work during 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 

15 2013, or 2014,’’ after ‘‘during 2009 or 2010’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

17 (1) Clause (ii) of section 51(d)(14)(B) of such 

18 Code is amended— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘disconnected youth’’ and 

20 inserting ‘‘high-risk youth’’, and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘DISCONNECTED YOUTH’’ 

22 in the heading thereof and inserting ‘‘HIGH23 RISK YOUTH’’. 

24 (2) The heading for section 51(d)(14) of such 

25 Code is amended by striking ‘‘DISCONNECTED


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1 YOUTH’’ in the heading thereof and inserting ‘‘HIGH2 RISK YOUTH’’. 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 

5 the employer after December 31, 2010. 

Æ 


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