OMB No. 1545-1444

Form 8844 Empowerment Zone and Renewal

Community Employment Credit

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service © Attach to your tax return. Attachment

Sequence No. 99

Name(s) shown on return Identifying number

1 Enter the total qualified wages paid or incurred during calendar year 2008 only (see instructions)

5

5

6 6

7

9

Cat. No. 16145S

3

4

3

4

Add lines 1a and 1b. See instructions for the adjustment you must make to salaries and wages 

Employment zone and renewable community employment credit from partnerships, S corporations,

cooperatives, estates, and trusts

Add lines 2 and 3. Partnerships and S corporations, report this amount on Schedule K; all others, go 

to line 5

Empowerment zone and renewal community employment credit included on line 4 from passive

activities (see instructions)

Subtract line 5 from line 4

Passive activity credit allowed for 2008 (see instructions)

Carryback of empowerment zone and renewal community employment credit from 2009 (see instructions)

Add lines 6 through 9. Cooperatives, estates, and trusts, go to line 11. All others, report this amount 

on Form 3800, line 24 

10

10

9

7

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see instructions. Form 8844 (2008)

8 Carryforward of empowerment zone and renewal community employment credit to 2008 8

a Qualified empowerment zone wages

b Qualified renewal community wages

1a

1b

$ X 20% (.20)

$ X 15% (.15)

11

12

Amount allocated to the patrons of the cooperative or the beneficiaries of the estate or trust (see

instructions) 11

Cooperatives, estates, and trusts. Subtract line 11 from line 10. Report this amount on Form 3800,

line 24 12

2008

2 2
Form 8844 (2008) Page 2

The credit is a component of the general

business credit, and a special tax liability

limit applies. The allowable credit is

figured in Part II of Form 3800, General

Business Credit.

General Instructions

Section references are to the Internal

Revenue Code.

Purpose of Form

Use Form 8844 to claim the

empowerment zone and renewal

community employment (EZRCE) credit.

For tax years that include December 31,

2008, the credit is:

● 20% of the employer’s qualified

wages (up to $15,000) paid or incurred

during calendar year 2008 on behalf of

qualified empowerment zone employees

plus

● 15% of the employer’s qualified

wages (up to $10,000) paid or incurred

during calendar year 2008 on behalf of

qualified renewal community employees.

Empowerment Zones

Rural areas. Parts of the following rural

areas are empowerment zones. You can

find out if your business or an

employee’s residence is located within a

rural empowerment zone by using the

RC/EZ/EC Address Locator at

www.hud.gov/crlocator or by calling

1-800-998-9999.

● Desert Communities, CA (part of

Riverside County)

● Southwest Georgia United, GA (part of

Crisp County and all of Dooly County)

● Southernmost Illinois Delta, IL (parts

of Alexander and Johnson Counties and

all of Pulaski County)

● Kentucky Highlands, KY (part of

Wayne County and all of Clinton and

Jackson Counties)

● Aroostook County, ME (part of

Aroostook County)

● Mid-Delta, MS (parts of Bolivar,

Holmes, Humphreys, Leflore, Sunflower,

and Washington Counties)

● Griggs-Steele, ND (part of Griggs

County and all of Steele County)

● Oglala Sioux Tribe, SD (parts of

Jackson and Bennett Counties and all of

Shannon County)

● Middle Rio Grande FUTURO

Communities, TX (parts of Dimmit,

Maverick, Uvalde, and Zavala Counties)

● Rio Grande Valley, TX (parts of

Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy

Counties)

Qualified empowerment zone

employee. A qualified empowerment

zone employee is any employee

(full-time or part-time) of the employer

who:

● Performs substantially all of the

services for that employer within an

empowerment zone in the employer’s

trade or business and

● Has his or her principal residence

within that empowerment zone while

performing those services (employees

who work in the Washington, DC,

empowerment zone may live anywhere

in the District of Columbia).

See Qualified Employees on page 3

for a list of persons who are not

qualified employees.

Renewal Communities 

● Greene-Sumter County, AL

● Mobile County, AL

● Southern Alabama

● Los Angeles, CA

● Orange Cove, CA

● Parlier, CA

● San Diego, CA

● San Francisco, CA

● Atlanta, GA

● Chicago, IL

● Eastern Kentucky

● Central Louisiana

● New Orleans, LA

● Northern Louisiana

● Ouachita Parish, LA

● Lawrence, MA

● Lowell, MA

● Detroit, MI

● Flint, MI

● West Central Mississippi

● Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, ND

● Camden, NJ

● Newark, NJ

● Buffalo-Lackawanna, NY

Parts of the following areas are renewal

communities. You can find out if your

business or an employee’s residence is

located within a renewal community by

using the RC/EZ/EC Address Locator at

www.hud.gov/crlocator or by calling

1-800-998-9999.

● Jamestown, NY

● Niagara Falls, NY

● Rochester, NY

● Schenectady, NY

● Hamilton, OH

● Youngstown, OH

● Philadelphia, PA

● Charleston, SC

● Chattanooga, TN

● Memphis, TN

● Corpus Christi, TX

● El Paso County, TX

● Tacoma, WA

● Burlington, VT

Urban areas. Parts of the following

urban areas are empowerment zones.

You can find out if your business or an

employee’s residence is located within

an urban empowerment zone by using

the RC/EZ/EC Address Locator at

www.hud.gov/crlocator or by calling

1-800-998-9999.

● Pulaski County, AR

● Tucson, AZ

● Fresno, CA

● Los Angeles, CA (city and county)

● Santa Ana, CA

● New Haven, CT

● Jacksonville, FL

● Miami/Dade County, FL

● Chicago, IL

● Gary/Hammond/East Chicago, IN

● Boston, MA

● Baltimore, MD

● Detroit, MI

● Minneapolis, MN

● St. Louis, MO/East St. Louis, IL

● Cumberland County, NJ

● New York, NY

● Syracuse, NY

● Yonkers, NY

● Cincinnati, OH

● Cleveland, OH

● Columbus, OH

● Oklahoma City, OK

● Philadelphia, PA/Camden, NJ

● Columbia/Sumter, SC

● Knoxville, TN

● El Paso, TX

● San Antonio, TX

● Norfolk/Portsmouth, VA

● Huntington, WV/Ironton, OH

● Yakima, WA

● Milwaukee, WI

Washington, DC. Under section 1400,

parts of Washington, DC, are treated as

an empowerment zone. For details, use

the RC/EZ/EC Address Locator at

www.hud.gov/crlocator or see Notice

98-57, on page 9 of Internal Revenue

Bulletin 1998-47 at

www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb98-47.pdf.
Form 8844 (2008) Page 3

● The employee becomes disabled

before the 90th day. However, if the

disability ends before the 90th day, the

employer must offer to reemploy the

former employee.

● The employee is terminated because

of misconduct as determined under the

applicable state unemployment

compensation law.

An employee is not treated as

terminated if the corporate employer is

acquired by another corporation under

section 381(a) and the employee

continues to be employed by the

acquiring corporation. Nor is a mere

change in the form of conducting the

trade or business treated as a

termination if the employee continues to

be employed in such trade or business

and the taxpayer retains a substantial

interest therein.

Specific Instructions

Complete lines 1 and 2 to figure the

current year credit for your trade or

business. Skip lines 1 and 2 if you are

only claiming a credit that was allocated

to you from a pass-through entity.

● Any person who owns (or is

considered to own under section 318)

more than 5% of the outstanding or

voting stock of the employer, or if not a

corporate employer, more than 5% of

the capital or profits interest in the

employer.

● Any individual employed by the

employer for less than 90 days. For

exceptions, see Early termination of

employee below.

● Any individual employed by the

employer at any private or commercial

golf course, country club, massage

parlor, hot tub facility, suntan facility,

racetrack or other facility used for

gambling, or any store the principal

business of which is the sale of alcoholic

beverages for consumption off premises.

Early termination of employee.

Generally, an individual is not a qualified

zone employee unless employed for at

least 90 days. The 90-day requirement

does not apply in the following

situations.

● Any individual employed by the

employer in a trade or business for

which the principal activity is farming

(see Note below), but only if at the close

of the tax year the sum of the following

amounts exceeds $500,000.

1. The larger of the unadjusted bases

or fair market value of the farm assets

owned by the employer.

2. The value of the farm assets leased

by the employer.

Wages

Wages are defined in section 51(c) and

generally are wages (excluding tips)

subject to the Federal Unemployment

Tax Act (FUTA), without regard to the

FUTA dollar limitation. The following are

also treated as wages.

● Amounts paid or incurred by the

employer as educational assistance

payments excludable from the

employee’s gross income under section

127. However, this does not apply if the

employee has a relationship to the

employer described in section 267(b) or

707(b)(1) (substituting "10 percent" for

"50 percent" in those sections) or the

employer and employee are engaged in

trades or businesses under common

control (within the meaning of sections

52(a) and (b)).

● Amounts paid or incurred by the

employer on behalf of an employee

under age 19 for a youth training

program operated by that employer in

conjunction with local education officials.

Line 1a—Qualified Empowerment

Zone Wages

Enter the total qualified empowerment

zone wages paid or incurred during

calendar year 2008. The credit must be

figured using only the wages that you

paid or incurred in the calendar year that

ended with or within your tax year. For

example, if your tax year began on April

1, 2008, and ended on March 31, 2009,

you must figure wages based on the

calendar year that began on January 1,

2008, and ended on December 31,

2008. Wages paid after the end of the

calendar year may be used only to figure

the credit claimed on the following

year’s tax return.

Qualified empowerment zone wages

are qualified wages paid or incurred by

an employer for services performed by

an employee while the employee is a

qualified empowerment zone employee

(defined earlier). The maximum wages

that may be taken into account for each

employee is limited to $15,000. The

$15,000 amount for any employee is

reduced by the amount of wages paid or

incurred during the calendar year on

behalf of that employee that are used in

figuring:

● The work opportunity credit (Form

5884) or

● The welfare-to-work credit (Form

8861).

Line 1b—Qualified Renewal

Community Wages

Enter the total qualified renewal

community wages paid or incurred

during calendar year 2008. The credit

must be figured using only the wages

that you paid or incurred in the calendar

year that ended with or within your tax

year. For example, if your tax year

began on April 1, 2008, and ended on

March 31, 2009, you must figure wages

based on the calendar year that began

on January 1, 2008, and ended on

December 31, 2008. Wages paid after

the end of the calendar year may be

used only to figure the credit claimed on

the following year’s tax return.

● If the employer is an estate or trust,

any individual who is a grantor,

beneficiary, or fiduciary of the estate or

trust (or a dependent, as described in

section 152(d)(2)(H), of such an

individual), or any individual who is a

relative, as described in sections

152(d)(2)(A) through 152(d)(2)(G), of the

grantor, beneficiary, or fiduciary of the

estate or trust.

● Any relative of the employer described

in sections 152(d)(2)(A) through

152(d)(2)(G).

● If the employer is an entity other than

a corporation, any individual who owns

directly or indirectly more than 50% of

the capital and profits interest, including

constructive ownership, in the entity.

● A dependent of the employer

described in section 152(d)(2)(H).

● If the employer is a corporation, any

individual who bears any of the

relationships described in sections

152(d)(2)(A) through 152(d)(2)(G), or is a

dependent, as described in section

152(d)(2)(H), of an individual who owns

(or is considered to own under section

267(c)) more than 50% in value of the

outstanding stock of the corporation.

Qualified renewal community

employee. A qualified renewal

community employee is any employee

(full-time or part-time) of the employer

who:

● Performs substantially all of the

services for that employer within a

renewal community in the employer’s

trade or business and

● Has his or her principal residence

within that renewal community while

performing those services.

See Qualified Employees below for a

list of persons who are not qualified

employees.

Qualified Employees 

Any person may be a qualified employee

except the following.

Note. Certain farming activities are

described in section 2032A(e)(5)(A) or (B).
Form 8844 (2008) Page 4

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We

ask for the information on this form to

carry out the Internal Revenue laws of

the United States. You are required to

give us the information. We need it to

ensure that you are complying with

these laws and to allow us to figure and

collect the right amount of tax.

If you have comments concerning the

accuracy of these time estimates or

suggestions for making this form

simpler, we would be happy to hear from

you. See the instructions for the tax

return with which this form is filed.

Recordkeeping 4 hr., 4 min.

Learning about the

law or the form 2 hr., 22 min.

Preparing and sending

the form to the IRS 2 hr., 33 min.

The time needed to complete and file

this form will vary depending on

individual circumstances. The estimated

burden for individual taxpayers filing this

form is approved under OMB control

number 1545-0074 and is included in

the estimates shown in the instructions

for their individual income tax return. The

estimated burden for all other taxpayers

who file this form is shown below.

You are not required to provide the

information requested on a form that is

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act

unless the form displays a valid OMB

control number. Books or records

relating to a form or its instructions must

be retained as long as their contents

may become material in the

administration of any Internal Revenue

law. Generally, tax returns and return

information are confidential, as required

by section 6103.

Line 11

Qualified renewal community wages

are qualified wages paid or incurred by an

employer for services performed by an

employee while the employee is a qualified

renewal community employee (defined

earlier). The maximum wages that may be

taken into account for each employee is

limited to $10,000. The $10,000 amount for

any employee is reduced by the amount of

wages paid or incurred during the calendar

year on behalf of that employee that are

used in figuring:

● The work opportunity credit (Form

5884) or

● The welfare-to-work credit (Form 8861).

Members of a controlled group of

corporations and businesses under

common control are treated as a single

employer in determining the credit. The

members share the credit in the same

proportion that they paid or incurred

qualifying wages.

Line 2

Line 7

In general, you must reduce your

deduction for salaries and wages and

certain educational and training costs by

the line 2 credit amount. You must make

this reduction even if you cannot take the

full credit this year because of the tax

liability limit. If you capitalized any costs on

which you figured the credit, reduce the

amount capitalized by the amount of the

credit attributable to these costs.

did not materially participate. Rental

activities are generally considered passive

activities, whether or not you materially

participate. For details, see Form 8582-CR,

Passive Activity Credit Limitations (for

individuals, trusts, and estates), or Form

8810, Corporate Passive Activity Loss and

Credit Limitations (for corporations).

Enter the passive activity credit allowed for

the 2008 EZRCE credit from Form 8582-CR

or Form 8810. See the instructions for the

applicable form for details.

Line 9

Use only if you amend your 2008 return to

carry back an unused credit from 2009.

A cooperative described in section 1381(a)

must allocate to its patrons the credit in

excess of its tax liability limit. Therefore, to

figure the unused amount of the credit

allocated to patrons, the cooperative must

first figure its tax liability. While any excess

is allocated to patrons, any credit recapture

applies as if the cooperative had claimed

the entire credit.

Line 5

Enter the amount included on line 4 that is

from a passive activity. Generally, a passive

activity is a trade or business in which you