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  • The State of Pennsylvania is taking advantage of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Fund Act of 2009 to stimulate employers into hiring members of two of the most vulnerable sectors of our workforce as part of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Program. Whether you are an employer, an employee or a self-employed worker thinking of expanding your business by employing workers this information can be of great value to you. This article will provide information on the type of business that can benefit from this tax incentive, what this tax incentive means for your business and how you can apply for it.

    Which Business Types Qualify for These Credits

    This is kind of a trick question, because nearly all businesses qualify for this tax credit regardless of their size, the number of workers they plan to hire and whom the business decides to hire. However, if the business hires a worker in a target demographic, such as Unemployed veterans, felons and disconnected youth, it might be able to claim twice (once for each tax credit) for the same employee.

    The only exceptions are:

    – Businesses already collecting financial assistance for a On-The-Job training program cannot apply for this tax credit until the program ends and regular wages are paid to the employee. The good news about this program is that it requires very little paperwork and therefore provides high returns for a small investment of time and resources.

    – Not-for-profit businesses.

    – Businesses employing relatives. There is another reason not to have family members as employees .

    – Workers you rehire are not eligible for the federal tax credit either. The program does not want businesses to fire workers just to reemploy them under the program. The ideas is to generate new jobs by providing savings to businesses, not to create loopholes to subsidize businesses.

    Work Opportunity Tax Credit

    The Work Opportunity Tax Credit program was launched by the Small Business Job Protection Act in 1996 and was extended by the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007. The American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009 added two extra categories to the program to target specially vulnerable sectors of the workforce. To receive the tax credit a business must fill in the IRS Form 8850 within 28 days of the new employer starting work. The business must also fill in the ETA 9061—a form providing details on the Individual’s Characteristics—and attach it to the ETA 9061 Form.

    You can download the necessary forms and request more information from this link to the Pennsylvania Labor and Industry Department.

    The Self-Employment Assistance Program in Pennsylvania provides unemployed workers with a high risk of exhausting their unemployment benefits before they find employment with the chance of starting their own business. The program started as a trial in the states of Washington and Massachusetts but has now spread to the states of Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Oregon. Although all of these states have slight differences in their programs they follow the same standard model and can be analyzed as if it were one.

    This article will look into the details of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Self-Employment Assistance Program and how it affects Pennsylvania workers who wish to use unemployment benefits to support their financial needs why they build up their own business.

    How to apply?

    The Pennsylvania Self-Employment Assistance Program is rather unique in that, strictly speaking, you cannot apply for it; you must be invited. The invitation depends on a profiling system which filters workers who are likely to return to the workforce or have the assets, experience or know-how start a business without assistance. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has not published how the profiling system works exactly but it is based on the Massachusetts experimental model that got the Self-Employment Assistance Program started in the late 1990s. This profiling system is designed to make the program as cost-effective as possible by helping those who are most likely to become a financial burden to the state and exhaust their weekly benefits.

    Benefits

    The benefits offered to participants in the Self-Employment Assistance Program in Pennsylvania are the same benefits offered to any unemployed worker. Whatever you are entitled to under the general unemployment insurance program, you will receive in the Self-Employment Assistance Program. Your benefits amount is dependent on your total income before you lost your employment. If you do not qualify for unemployment insurance benefits, you will not qualify for the Self-Employment Assistance Program.

    Program

    The Self-Employment Assistance Program in Pennsylvania offers participants courses on business management, technical assistance in the industry they choose and information on the requirements to start a business. While you are enrolled in these courses you will not be required to search for work and you can use time not spent in training to launch your business.

    For those that do not qualify for the Self-Employment Assistance Program there are similar programs that provide training and assistance. However, under those programs you will be expected to search for work and accept any suitable employment offers.

    Not sure what to do when you worked in a different state to Pennsylvania? This may help.

    Generally, unemployed workers who receive unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania both live and work in the State of Pennsylvania. However, in some cases military, federal and other workers live and work in different states. So, where do you apply if you lived or worked in a state different to Pennsylvania. Usually workers should apply for UI benefits from the state where they worked. After all, it was the registered employer from that state that paid unemployment tax to the UI Agency of that State. However, in some occasions states can take over the cost of unemployment insurance through an interstate unemployment claim. If you are resident in Pennsylvania, we recommend you either visit a Career Link Office, visit Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Agency website or phone 1-888-334-4046.

    Nevertheless, it is likely you will need to contact the Interstate Unit of the state you either live or worked in. The directory below provides a list of the contact details for the interstate unemployment insurance units in the United States. Note there is also a Canada Interstate Unit for workers who live or worked in Canada.

     

    Alabama

    Multi-State Unit (#01)

    Industrial Relations Bldg.

    Montgomery, AL 31604

     

    Alaska

    Interstate Unit (#02)

    P.O. Box 3-7000

    Juneau, AK 99801

     

    Arizona

    Interstate Liable Office (#03)

    Department of Economic Security

    P.O. Box 6666

    Phoenix, AZ

     

    Arkansas

    Interstate Unit (#05)

    P.O. Box 3137

    Little Rock, AR 72203

    California

     

    Interstate Claims Office (#06)

    P.O. Box 752

    Sacramento, CA 95804

     

    Colorado

    Interstate Unit (#08)

    1210 Sherman Street

     

    Denver, CO

    Connecticut

    Interstate Section (#09)

    Employment Security Division

    Hartford, CT 06115

     

    Delaware

    Interstate Unit (#10)

    801 West Street

    Wilmington, DE 19899

     

    District of Columbia

    Interstate Section (#11)

    Employment Security Bldg.

    6th and Pennsylvania Ave. NW

    Washington, DC

     

    Florida

    Bureau of Unemployment Compensation (#12)

    Benefit Section-Caldwell Bldg.

    Tallahassee, FL 32304

     

    Georgia

    Interstate Payment Unit (#13)

    P.O. Box 38184

    Atlanta, GA 30334

     

    Hawaii

    Unemployment Insurance Division (#15)

    Liable Interstate Unit

    P.O. Box 4278

    Honolulu, HI 96813

     

    Idaho

    Benefits Bureau

    Interstate Claims Unit (#16)

    P.O. Box 35, 317 Main Street

    Boise, ID 83735

     

    Illinois

    Interstate Benefit Office (#17)

    Div. Of Unemployment Compensation

    P.O. Box 7397

    Chicago, IL 60680

     

    Indiana

    Interstate Unit (#18)

    Employment Security Division

    P.O. Box 7022

    Indianapolis, IN 46207

     

    Iowa

    Interstate Unit (#19)

    Employment Security Commission

    1000 East Grand Avenue

    Des Moines, IA 50319

     

    Kansas

    Interstate Section (#20)

    Employment Security Division

    (State Labor Department)

    401 Topeka Boulevard

    Topeka, KS 66603

     

    Kentucky

    Interstate Unit (#21)

    Division of Unemployment Insurance

    Department of Economic Security

    P.O. Box 452

    Frankfort, KY 40602

     

    Louisiana

    Interstate Subunit (#22)

    Department of Employment Security

    P.O. Box 44094, Capitol Station

    Baton Rouge, LA 70804

     

    Maine

    Interstate Office (#23)

    P.O. Box “P”

    Augusta, ME 04330

     

    Maryland

    Interstate Claims Division (#24)

    1100 North Eutaw Street

    Baltimore, MD 21201

     

    Massachusetts

    Dept. of Employment Security (#25)

    Interstate Unit

    P.O. Box 8400

    Boston, MA 02114

     

    Michigan

    Interstate Benefit Unit (#26)

    7310 Woodward Avenue

    Detroit, MI 48202

     

    Minnesota

    Interstate Unit (#27)

    390 North Robert Street

    St. Paul, MN 55101

     

    Mississippi

    Interstate Unit (#28)

    P.O. Box 1699

    Jackson, MS 39205

     

    Missouri

    Interstate Service (#29)

    P.O. Box 59

    Jefferson City, MO 65102

     

    Montana

    Interstate Unit (#30)

    P.O. Box 1728 ESD Building

    Helena, MT 59601

     

    Nebraska

    Interstate Unit (#31)

    P.O. Box 4600

    State House Station

    Lincoln, NE

     

    Nevada

    Interstate Unit (#32)

    500 East 3rd Street

    Carson City, NV 89701

     

    New Hampshire

    Liable State Unit (#33)

    32 South Main Street

    Concord, NH 03301

     

    New Jersey

    Assistant Director

    Benefit Payment Services (#34)

    Room 603, Labor Bldg.,

    John Fitch Plaza

    Trenton, NJ 08625

     

    New Mexico

    Interstate Unit (#35)

    P.O. Box 1928

    Albuquerque, NM 87103

     

    New York

    Out-of-State Resident Office (#36)

    P.O. Box 1559

    Albany, NY 12249

     

    North Carolina

    Interstate Claims Unit (#37)

    P.O. Box 27967

    Raleigh, NC 27611

     

    North Dakota

    Interstate Unit (#38)

    P.O. Box 1537

    Bismark, ND 58505

     

    Ohio

    Interstate Claims Unit (#39)

    P.O. Box 1618

    Columbus, OH 43216

     

    Oklahoma*

    Interstate Unit (#40)

    Employment Security Commission

    Will Rogers Memorial Office Bldg.

    Oklahoma City, OK 73105

     

    Oregon

    Interstate Unit-Emp. Div. (#41)

    875 Union Street, NE

    Salem, OR 97311

     

    Pennsylvania

    Interstate Claims Office (#42)

    Bureau of Employment Security

    P.O. Box 3561

    Harrisburg, PA 17121

     

    Rhode Island

    Interstate Unit (#44)

    P.O. Box 1058

    Providence, RI 02903

     

    South Carolina

    Interstate Claims Section (#45)

    P.O. Box 1477

    Columbia, SC 29202

     

    South Dakota

    Interstate Unit (#46)

    607 North Fourth Street

    Aberdeen, SD 57401

     

    Tennessee

    Interstate Unit (#47)

    Hull State Office Bldg.

    Nashville, TN 37219

     

    Texas*

    Interstate Unit (#48)

    TEC Building

    Austin, TX 78778

     

    Utah

    Interstate Unit (#49)

    P.O. Box 11600

    Salt Lake City, UT 84147

     

    Vermont

    Interstate Unit (#50)

    P.O. Box 488

    Montpelier, VT 05602

     

    Virginia

    Interstate Unit (#51)

    P.O. Box 1360

    Richmond, VA 23211

     

    Washington

    Interstate Unit (#53)

    P.O. Box 2561

    Olympia, WA 98504

     

    West Virginia

    Multistate Unit (#54)

    California and Washington Streets

    Charleston, WV 25305

     

    Wisconsin

    Interstate Unit (#56)

    P.O. Box 2479

    Casper, WY 82602

     

    Puerto Rico

    Interstate Claims Unit (#72)

    Bureau of Employment Security

    505 Munoz Rivera Avenue

    Hato Rey, PR 00918

     

    Virgin Islands

    Director

    Virgin Islands Employment Security Agency (#78)

    Charlotte Amalie

    St. Thomas, VA 00802

     

    Canada

    Interstate Claims Unit (#99)

    Box 4500

    Belleville, Ontario, Canada

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