Form 8844

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service

Empowerment Zone Employment Credit

▶ Attach to your tax return.

▶ Information about Form 8844 and its instructions is at www.irs.gov/form8844.

OMB No. 1545-1444

2012

Attachment 

Sequence No. 99

Name(s) shown on return Identifying number

1 Enter the total qualified wages paid or incurred during calendar year 2012 only (see instructions)

a Qualified empowerment zone wages . . . . . . $ × 20% (.20) 1a

b Reserved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1b

2 Enter the amount from line 1a. See instructions for the adjustment you must make to salaries and 

wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

3 Empowerment zone employment credit from partnerships, S corporations, cooperatives, estates, 

and trusts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

4 Add lines 2 and 3. Cooperatives, estates, and trusts, go to line 5. Partnerships and S corporations, 

stop here and report this amount on Schedule K. All others, stop here and report this amount on

Form 3800, Part III, line 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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

instructions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

6 Cooperatives, estates, and trusts, subtract line 5 from line 4. Report this amount on Form 3800,

Part III, line 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see instructions. Cat. No. 16145S Form 8844 (2012)
Form 8844 (2012) Page 2

General Instructions

Section references are to the Internal 

Revenue Code.

Future Developments

For the latest information about 

developments related to Form 8844 and 

its instructions, such as legislation 

enacted after this form and instructions 

were published, go to www.irs.gov/

form8844.

What's New

The empowerment zone designations 

generally expired at the end of 2011. 

However, the American Taxpayer Relief 

Act of 2012 provides for an extension of 

the designations to the end of 2013. To 

extend the designations, state and local 

governments must amend their 

nominations for designation to change 

the termination date to December 31, 

2013. The IRS is working with HUD and 

USDA to provide guidance on amending 

nominations for designation. The 

treatment of parts of Washington, DC, as 

an empowerment zone ended at the end 

of 2011. 

Purpose of Form

Use Form 8844 to claim the 

empowerment zone employment credit. 

For tax years that include December 31, 

2012, the credit is 20% of the 

employer's qualified wages (up to 

$15,000) paid or incurred during 

calendar year 2012 on behalf of qualified 

empowerment zone employees. 

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.

Empowerment Zones

Urban areas. Parts of the following

urban areas were 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

Rural areas. Parts of the following rural

areas were 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 below for a 

list of persons who are not qualified 

employees.

Qualified Employees 

Any person may be a qualified employee 

except the following.

• Any relative of the employer described 

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

152(d)(2)(G).

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 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, later.

• 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.

• Any individual employed by the 

employer in a trade or business of 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.
Form 8844 (2012) Page 3

Note. Certain farming activities are

described in section 2032A(e)(5)(A) or (B).

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.

• The employee is terminated because of 

misconduct as determined under the 

applicable state unemployment 

compensation law.

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

Line 1a—Qualified Empowerment 

Zone Wages

Enter the total qualified empowerment 

zone wages paid or incurred during the 

calendar year 2012. 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, 2012, and ended on March 31, 2013, 

you must figure wages based on the 

calendar year that began on January 1, 

2012, and ended on December 31, 2012. 

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).

Line 2

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.

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 5

Cooperatives. 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.

If the cooperative is subject to the 

passive activity rules, include on line 3 

any empowerment zone and renewal 

community employment credits from 

passive activities disallowed for prior 

years and carried forward to this year. 

Complete Form 8810, Corporate Passive 

Activity Loss and Credit Limitations, to 

determine the allowed credit that must 

be allocated between the cooperative 

and the patrons. For details, see the 

Instructions for Form 8810.

Estates and trusts. If the estate or trust 

is subject to the passive activity rules, 

include on line 3 any empowerment zone 

and renewal community employment 

credits from passive activities disallowed 

for prior years and carried forward to this 

year. Complete Form 8582-CR, Passive 

Activity Credit Limitations, to determine 

the allowed credit that must be allocated 

between the estate or trust and the 

beneficiaries. For details, see the 

Instructions for Form 8582-CR.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.