HR 2964: Improved Employment Outcomes for Foster Youth Act of 2019

This bill expands the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to include the hiring of qualified foster care transition youth.

(The WOTC permits employers who hire individuals who are members of a targeted group [e.g., qualified veterans, ex-felons, SSI recipients] to claim a tax credit equal to a portion of the wages paid to those individuals.) 

Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include foster care transition youth as members of targeted groups for purposes of the work opportunity credit.

Defines a “qualified foster care transition youth” is any individual who is certified by the designated local agency as 

• not having attained age 27 as of the hiring date, and 

• having been in foster care after attaining the age specified in provisions of the Social Security Act related to the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (currently 18 years of age).