When it comes to business and employment opportunities
, not much can be done when you are dealing with disasters. For example, you can imagine the thousands of people who were affected by disasters like Hurricane Katrina. This is where disaster relief tax credit can help. Basically, these are credits that are given to businesses to help them rebuild and to also help people to rejoin the workforce in the aftermath of a huge disaster. The federal government with other local governments helps to build infrastructures and facilities that have been destroyed by disasters.
There are actually two kinds of disaster relief tax credit that are employer-related. One major one is the WOTC or the work opportunity tax credit that is given to employers who help people who were displaced personally and financially during Hurricane Katrina. The other one is known as employee retention credit and this is for the employers who actually retain their employees even when there was a huge disaster. Many businesses are good enough to have done this after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Of course, there are requirements for the disaster relief tax credits that the businesses will be able to enjoy. One example is that businesses that wish to get credited 40% of the first $6000 in some states for each employee that is retained can do so if they have not more than 200 employees during the tax year before the disaster. Another example is that the business must be conducting operations right after the disaster and that the business was not able to operate on the day or the date after the day of the disaster. These are some of the requirements that businesses need to be able to qualify for disaster relief tax credits and it is a good thing so that they can make substantial savings and their employees will also be able to improve their lives.