Form 8850, the Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Credit, is filed with your state workforce agency (SWA), not the IRS, and it must arrive no later than the 28th calendar day after the new hire’s first day of work.1Internal Revenue Service. Work Opportunity Tax Credit The form has two parts: a pre-screening section the job applicant fills out and signs, and an employer section that identifies the business, records the offer and start dates, and checks the boxes for any targeted group the applicant appears to belong to. You submit it together with either ETA Form 9061 or ETA Form 9062, and only after the SWA sends back a certification notice can you claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) on your return.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8850
One threshold point before the mechanics. The WOTC applies only to individuals who began work on or before December 31, 2025, and the IRS marked Form 8850 as “no longer in use” in March 2026 because the credit’s authorization has lapsed.3Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8850, Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for the Work Opportunity Credit4Internal Revenue Service. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit Is Available Until the End of 2025 If you hired qualifying workers during 2025 and haven’t yet received SWA certification, keep pursuing those claims. The credit has lapsed and been retroactively restored several times before, and in the 2015 lapse the IRS gave employers an extended window to submit Form 8850 for gap-period hires once reauthorization passed.5Congress.gov. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit The filing mechanics below are what applied while the credit was active and what would likely apply again if Congress renews it.
The 28-Day Deadline Runs the Whole Process
Form 8850 must reach the SWA no later than 28 calendar days after the new hire’s start date. Miss it by a day and the claim for that employee is gone. There are no extensions for administrative delays, slow mail, or internal backlogs.1Internal Revenue Service. Work Opportunity Tax Credit
This is where most employers lose credits they were otherwise entitled to. Screening happens during the hiring process, then the paperwork sits on someone’s desk. The clock starts on the employee’s first day, so the practical answer is to build the Form 8850 submission into onboarding and have both signatures in hand on or before day one.
The Applicant Pre-Screening Section
The applicant completes their part first, and it should be done on or before their first day of work. They provide their legal name, current address, and Social Security Number, then answer a series of yes-or-no questions about their background: receipt of government assistance, military service, felony conviction, long-term unemployment, and similar screening questions. Those answers are what tell you which targeted group boxes to check in your section.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8850
The applicant must sign and date the form to certify their answers are accurate. An unsigned form is invalid, and the SWA will not process it. Chasing signatures after someone has already started work eats into the 28-day window, and a form that never gets signed kills the credit entirely.
Accuracy in the identifying fields matters as much as the signature. A transposed digit in a Social Security Number or a wrong address will come back as a rejection, and by the time you learn about it, the deadline may be behind you.
The Employer Section
Your section records the business’s legal name, address, Employer Identification Number, and a contact person the SWA can reach with questions. You also enter two dates that anchor the process: the date the job was offered and the date the applicant started work. The 28-day clock runs from the start date.
Based on the applicant’s pre-screening answers, you then check the boxes for the targeted group or groups the new hire may belong to. If the applicant’s answers suggest more than one category could apply, check every plausible box. The SWA makes the final determination and can issue certification under whichever category fits, but only among the boxes you actually checked. You cannot go back later and add a category that wasn’t on the original submission, so an unchecked box that should have been checked is a lost credit.
You sign the form to certify that the certification request is made in good faith. Both signatures, applicant and employer, must be in place before the form goes to the SWA.
Attach ETA Form 9061 or Form 9062
Form 8850 does not go to the SWA alone. It must be accompanied by either ETA Form 9061 or ETA Form 9062, which supplies the detailed evidence the SWA needs to verify eligibility.6U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a WOTC Certification Request
ETA Form 9061, the Individual Characteristics Form, is what most employers use. You complete it from the applicant’s responses during pre-screening, filling in details such as dates of benefit receipt, unemployment duration, or veteran status.
ETA Form 9062, the Conditional Certification form, applies when a participating agency (a state workforce agency, vocational rehabilitation center, or veterans’ program) has already pre-screened the applicant and identified them as a likely WOTC-eligible candidate before you hired them. If the applicant arrives with a completed 9062, submit that instead of filling out a 9061.
Either way, the supporting form travels with Form 8850 inside the same 28-day window. The SWA will not process a standalone Form 8850.
Where to Send It
Every state has a designated WOTC coordinator, usually inside the state department of labor or workforce development agency. The Department of Labor maintains a directory of state workforce agencies.6U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a WOTC Certification Request Do not send the form to the IRS.
Submission methods vary. Some states accept only physical mail, others operate online portals, and a few accept both. Check the specific SWA’s website for current instructions. If you operate in multiple states, file with the SWA in each state where the employee actually works, not where your headquarters is located.
Once the SWA has your package, it reviews the information against federal and state records and mails back either a certification notice or a denial. Processing times vary widely by state. The certification notice is the document that authorizes you to claim the credit; without it, you have no basis to take the credit even if the hire clearly qualifies.
After Certification: Claiming the Credit
With the SWA certification in hand, calculate the credit on IRS Form 5884, Work Opportunity Credit. It then flows to Form 3800, General Business Credit, where it is applied against your tax liability.7Internal Revenue Service. Employers Must Certify Eligibility of New Hires to Claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit The path is the same whether you file as a corporation, partnership, S corporation, or sole proprietor.
Tax-exempt organizations take a different route. They can claim the WOTC only for hiring qualified veterans, and they use Form 5884-C rather than Form 5884. The credit for a tax-exempt employer offsets payroll taxes instead of income tax.8Internal Revenue Service. About Form 5884-C, Work Opportunity Credit for Qualified Tax-Exempt Organizations Hiring Qualified Veterans
Records to Keep
Keep the original Form 8850, the accompanying Form 9061 or 9062, and the SWA certification notice for at least three years after filing the return on which you claimed the credit. Without these documents, the credit will be disallowed on audit.9Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records? If a return underreports income by more than 25%, the IRS has six years to assess additional tax, so holding records longer than three years is prudent when there is any question about a return’s accuracy.
Retain copies even when the SWA denies certification. Denial records document that you followed the screening process in good faith and answer questions later about why you did or did not claim a credit for a particular employee.
Common Ways the Credit Gets Lost
Some restrictions catch employers who thought they had a valid claim. The credit is not available for rehired employees, regardless of how long the person was away or which targeted group they might otherwise fall into.1Internal Revenue Service. Work Opportunity Tax Credit
You also cannot go back and add a targeted group that wasn’t checked on the original Form 8850 filed within the 28-day window. If you checked one box and the employee actually qualified under a different group that you left unchecked, the credit for that other group is gone. Check every plausible box the pre-screening answers support and let the SWA sort it out.
Hours worked matter as well. The employee must perform at least 120 hours of work before any credit can be claimed, and the full credit rate requires at least 400 hours. A qualifying hire who leaves before hitting 120 hours produces no credit, no matter how cleanly the paperwork was filed.