Up to $10,000 per employee.

Section 1396 of the Internal Revenue Code. A 20 percent credit on the first $15,000 of qualified wages paid to each employee who lives and works in a designated Federal Empowerment Zone (FEZ). Up to $3,000 per qualifying employee per year. 805 census tracts across 40 federally designated zones. All designations ended 31 December 2025.

The credit covered tax years through December 31, 2025 and is no longer available for 2026 wages, but you can still claim it for 2023, 2024 and 2025 by amending those returns. Under section 6511 the window closes three years after the date each return was filed, not three years after the tax year, so there is no single cliff. For 2023 it starts closing in March 2027 for partnerships and S corporations that filed on time, April 2027 for on-time C corporations and individuals, and autumn 2027 if you extended. 2024 and 2025 follow a year and two years later. Tell us when you filed and we will give you your actual date.

For additional context, see this overview of Federal Empowerment Zone tax credit services from a leading accounting firm.

Your browser fetches the FEZ polygon file from a public CDN, geocodes each address through the U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder API, and runs the point-in-polygon test locally. The only data that ever reaches a VentoKredit server is a count of qualifying employees and the customer-defined pseudo-IDs that qualified. Real names, real IDs, and home addresses never leave your device.

A top-tier global accounting firm under retainer. The firm runs a Federal Empowerment Zone calculation engine and writes an MLTN (more-likely-than-not) tax opinion on each engagement. The opinion unlocks tax insurance, satisfies FIN 48 / ASC 740 recognition, and gives your auditors comfort under audit-defense scenarios.

The IRS typically takes 12 to 24 months to process amended-return refund claims. Some customers choose to get paid sooner by selling the refund to an outside buyer. VentoKredit produces the proof documentation and an MLTN (more-likely-than-not) tax opinion that any such buyer needs to evaluate the asset. We do not broker, refer, or facilitate the sale; the customer engages directly with a buyer of their choice.

We prepare a structured proof file built to the same standard an insurance carrier or financing partner would need. The MLTN (more-likely-than-not) tax opinion is the underwriting input. You decide whether to buy tax-credit insurance with a partner of your choice, sell the receivable, or simply file with the IRS and wait. We don't sell or broker insurance; we produce the docs that any of those paths require.

A tiered Engagement Fee at Order signing, scaled to your expected refund. The Engagement Fee is a prepayment that gets credited against the Processing Fee, which is a percentage of the certified gross FEZ credit plus the same percentage of any interest the IRS pays in connection with that credit. Total customer cost is the Processing Fee.

Tax opinion authoring fee is billed separately by the accounting firm. Optional tax insurance is paid by you directly to the carrier. If you choose to sell the certified refund as an asset to a third-party buyer, the purchase terms are between you and the buyer.

Specific pricing is shared during intake review, after we’ve confirmed eligibility. Sign up for a quote.

We are §1396 specialists, not generalists, and we are built around the mid-market tier where the boutiques charge enterprise rates and the ERC mills do not specialize. Our retainer relationship with a top-tier global accounting firm gives us top-tier audit-ready proof at mid-market economics.