EDD Backlog Forces CA Employers to Wait for More than a Year for Hiring Tax Credit
California employers taking advantage of a big federal tax incentive to put disadvantaged people to work are waiting a year or longer to have their application processed due to a significant backlog at the EDD.
Assemblyman Jim Patterson will be joined by two California small business owners at a virtual press conference Thursday to ring the alarm bells about a yearlong backlog at the EDD in processing Workforce Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) applications.
WOTC is a federally funded program that gives employers a tax credit of up to $9,000 per person for hiring people on food stamps, veterans, formerly incarcerated felons and people in several other categories.
In order to get the federal tax credit, employers need a certificate from the California EDD confirming their employee qualifies for WOTC. According to the EDD, they are a whole year behind on this process and are just now going through applications employers submitted in June 2021.
The EDD confirmed to Assemblyman Patterson that as of late 2021 there were almost 400,000 applications waiting to be processed. The backlog has likely grown since then however, according to the EDD, updated numbers on this backlog aren’t available until October 2022.
“Once again, EDD is telling people ‘we don’t care…get over it,” Assemblyman Patterson said. “They’ve said it to unemployed people, they’ve said it to victims of fraud. Now they are saying it to small business owners who are trying to do the right thing by helping put people back to work.”
Several local business owners reached out to Assemblyman Patterson for help as they await their certificates for the WOTC tax credit.
WHO:
- Assemblyman Jim Patterson
- Barbara Tryk, Chief Operating Officer | First Health Medical Center
Waiting on a certificate filed on 4/9/21. - Amir Sadaghiani, Owner | ActivMeals
Waiting on certificates for applications filed on 5/19/21 and 7/26/21.
WHEN: Thursday, June 2 at 10:00 am
ZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89574831565
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(From the office of Assemblyman Jim Patterson, 23rd District)
