NORWICH – Chenango County employers have until the end of the year to hire veterans and receive special tax credits as the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors Work Opportunity Tax Credits is currently set to expire Jan. 1. Since President Obama signed the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 into law, the tax credits, which are a subsection of the act, have benefited employers and veterans alike. Business owners can receive up to $9,600 in tax credits for each qualified veteran they have employed, providing them with an extra incentive to hire wounded or unemployed veterans.

With the recent end of the Iraq War, the number of unemployed veterans has increased, and decreasing that number may become an even greater challenge with the impending withdrawal from U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Subsequently, increasing the number of employed veterans has garnered the attention and efforts of numerous U.S. policy makers.

“Only the veterans portion of the The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) was renewed in 2011 and it was expanded to include more categories of veterans,” said Chenango-Delaware-Otsego CDO Workforce Business Services representative Alan Sessions. “We still continue to accept certifications in the hope it will be renewed.”