HOUSTON, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — alliantgroup applauds the passage of the Disaster Tax Relief and Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2017. The legislation was recently signed into law by the president and includes several provisions designed to deliver targeted tax relief to victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
Among many other provisions, the new legislation allows for qualifying businesses with locations within the disaster zones to seek a retention tax credit for paying their employees throughout the timeframe the company was impacted by the disaster. Employers can seek a 40 percent credit for wages paid to employees (up to a maximum wage base of $6,000) during the period the business location became inoperable due to the hurricane(s) up until the date the location resumed operations—or until January 1, 2018, whichever comes first. However, the credit cannot be taken on the same wages used to calculate the WOTC program for an eligible employee during the same period.
In addition to this tax relief, the bill modifies the requirements for purchasing flood insurance and provides additional tax incentives for individuals and businesses. The legislation specifies that private flood insurance offered outside of the National Flood Insurance Program satisfies the requirement for homeowners to maintain coverage on properties that have federally-backed mortgages and are located in a flood zone. The legislation also modifies several tax provisions for individuals and businesses in areas affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. The affected provisions include those related to early withdrawals and loans from retirement plans, employment-related tax credits, deductions for charitable contributions and personal casualty losses, and income requirements for the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit.
Outside of these modifications, the legislation also extends several expiring federal aviation and public health programs.
“This legislation will provide much needed relief to the people, communities and businesses that are still recovering from these devastating storms,” said Dhaval Jadav, alliantgroup CEO. “We know the road to rebuilding the areas affected by storms this season is a long one and the support of our national government it needed.”
alliantgroup’s mission is one of education and awareness. Our firm exists to help U.S. businesses and their CPA advisors properly identify and claim the government-sponsored tax incentives designed for their benefit. To date, alliantgroup has helped more than 12,000 American businesses claim over $6 billion in federal and state tax credits, incentives and deductions. The firm is headquartered in Houston and has offices across the country, including in New York, Chicago, Indianapolis, Boston, Irvine, Sacramento, Orlando and Washington, D.C. For more information on alliantgroup’s services or the firm’s charitable initiatives and relief efforts during Hurricane Harvey, please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
