H.R. 2313 – Small Business Relief and Job Creation Act

AI-Generated Summary

Updated April 15, 2026 at 3:16 PM UTC

The Small Business Relief and Job Creation Act adds a temporary tax credit for small businesses that hire unemployed workers in 2018 and 2019. The credit reduces the amount of wages that can be claimed for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, making it cheaper for qualifying employers to add full‑time staff. It applies only to small businesses that meet size or revenue limits and to workers who are officially unemployed or were laid off before 2018.

Key Provisions

Creates a new subsection in the Work Opportunity Tax Credit that lets eligible small businesses claim a credit for hiring certain unemployed individuals during 2018‑2019.
Defines an eligible small business as one with either $20 million or less in gross receipts or 100 or fewer full‑time employees, and that elects to use the credit.
Defines an eligible unemployed individual as someone certified as unemployed under state or federal law in the year before hiring, or someone whose prior job ended before Jan 1 2018.
Requires the hired worker to be full‑time (average 30 hours/week) for the credit to apply.
Sets the credit at 7.5 % of qualified wages for 2018 and 5 % for 2019 (instead of the standard 40 %).
In counties where unemployment exceeds the national rate, the credit rises to 15 % in 2018 and 10 % in 2019.
Raises the wage cap for the credit from $6,000 to $75,000 per employee.
Applies to employees hired after Dec 31 2017, regardless of other Work Opportunity Credit rules.

Legislative Activity

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2 earlier actions

HouseIntro Referral Latest Action

Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H4114)

May 4, 2017

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HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

May 3, 2017

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Ways and Means Committee

May 3, 2017

HouseIntro Referral

Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H4114)

May 4, 2017

Floor Debate

1 member

What members said about H.R. 2313 on the floor

1 Democrat

Rep. Jerry McNerneyD-CA-9 · May 4, 2017

Mr. Speaker, this is National Small Business Week, and I rise to celebrate the more than 27 million small businesses in the United States of America and the 31,000 that are in my congressional…

Bill Text

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Introduced in HouseIssued May 3, 2017

I

115th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2313

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 3, 2017

Mr. McNerney (for himself, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. Clarke of New York, and Mr. Ryan of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to encourage hiring unemployed individuals.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Small Business Relief and Job Creation Act.

2.

Temporary work opportunity credit for small businesses

(a)

In general

Section 51 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

(l)

Small business credit for hiring certain unemployed individuals during 2018 and 2019

(1)

In general

In the case of an eligible unemployed individual who begins work for an eligible small business during 2018 or 2019, the taxpayer may elect to treat such individual as a member of a targeted group for purposes of this subpart, subject to the modifications in paragraph (5) and in lieu of treating such individual as a member of any other targeted group.

(2)

Eligible small business

For purposes of this subsection, the term eligible small business means any person if—

(A)

either—

(i)

the gross receipts of such person for the preceding taxable year did not exceed $20,000,000, or

(ii)

in the case of a person to which subparagraph (A) does not apply, such person employed not more than 100 full-time employees during the preceding taxable year, and

(B)

such person elects the application of this subsection for the taxable year.

For purposes of subparagraph (A)(ii), an employee shall be considered full-time if such employee is employed at least 30 hours per week for 35 or more calendar weeks in the taxable year.

(3)

Eligible unemployed individual

For purposes of this section, the term eligible unemployed individual means any individual—

(A)

who is certified by the designated local agency as being eligible to receive unemployment compensation under State or Federal law during the 1-year period ending on the hiring date, or

(B)

whose employment with the employer was terminated before January 1, 2018.

(4)

Employee must be full-time

No wages shall be taken into account with respect to any individual for any taxable year unless such individual is employed by the employer an average of at least 30 hours per week in the taxable year (in the case of the taxable year during which the individual begins work, beginning with the day the individual begins work).

(5)

Modifications

For purposes of this subsection, the modifications described in this paragraph are as follows:

(A)

Percentage of wages

Subsection (a) shall be applied—

(i)

in the case of wages paid or incurred by the employer during 2018, by substituting 7.5 percent for 40 percent, and

(ii)

in the case of wages paid or incurred by the employer during 2019, by substituting 5 percent for 40 percent.

(B)

Qualified wages during 2018 and 2019 taken into account

Subsection (b)(2) shall be applied by substituting during 2018 and 2019 for during the 1-year period beginning with the day the individual begins work for the employer.

(C)

$75,000 wage limitation

Subsection (b)(3) shall be applied by substituting $75,000 for $6,000.

(D)

Double credit in counties with high unemployment

(i)

In general

In the case of an employer located in a county which is a high unemployment county for the month during which the employee begins work for the employer, clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) shall be applied by substituting 15 percent and 10 percent for 7.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

(ii)

High unemployment county

For purposes of this subparagraph, the term high unemployment county means, with respect to any month, a county for which the rate of unemployment exceeds the national rate of unemployment (as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor).

(E)

Credit to apply for all 2018 and 2019

This subsection shall be applied without regard to subsection (c)(4).

(F)

Certain rehires eligible

Subsection (i)(2) shall not apply to an individual whose employment with the employer was terminated before January 1, 2018.

.

(b)

Effective date

The amendments made by this section shall apply to employees hired after December 31, 2017.