A federal credit codified in 1993. An estimated 80-85% goes unclaimed because eligibility is hard to calculate. We do that for you.
Backed by a top-tier global accounting firm. More-likely-than-not tax opinion. Financeable.
Check eligibility in 60 seconds. The eligibility check requires no login and no personal data, and runs entirely in your browser. Once you engage VentoKredit, payroll data is shared under our standard NDA and data-handling terms.
Estimate based on ~263,000 employed FEZ residents (Census ACS table B23025) times up to $9,000 per qualifying employee over the 2023 to 2025 lookback window, times an estimated 80 to 85 percent historical unclaimed share. Unclaimed share derived by comparing JCT empowerment-zone tax-expenditure estimates (JCX-48-24, FY 2024 to 2028) against the Census-based maximum theoretical credit.
§1396 requires services to be performed inside an EZ tract. We'll show you whether your office qualifies.
Track record
Our data-engineering platform, working with the same top-tier global accounting firm, has delivered $17M+ in federal tax credits to U.S. mid-market businesses across other refundable-credit programs. VentoKredit applies that same platform and accounting partnership to the §1396 Empowerment Zone credit.
Independent reference
For additional context on Federal Empowerment Zone tax credit services from a top-tier accounting firm:
Federal Empowerment Zone tax credit servicesReal-world math
Consider a representative scenario: a freight forwarder with a single facility in a Detroit Empowerment Zone tract. In this illustrative case, a 60-second eligibility check would show roughly 65 of 215 employees living in qualifying tracts. Across 2023, 2024, and 2025, that points to approximately $585,000 in retroactive credit. A scenario like this is easy for a generalist CPA to miss, because §1396 is rarely top of mind.
Hypothetical scenario for a representative single-location FEZ logistics company with concentrated local hiring. Math: 65 qualifying employees (30% of total workforce) × $9,000 maximum per-employee credit over 3 years (20% of the first $15,000 of wages, 3-year retroactive). Actual refunds depend on per-employee wages, tract designation, and audit posture.
How it works
Paste up to 500 addresses. The browser geocodes each one and runs the FEZ tract test locally. You see a count of qualifying employees and a refund estimate in 60 seconds.
No account. No PII. No commitment.
Sign the agreement on your phone. Pay the engagement fee by credit card. Upload payroll once; it's encrypted in transit and handed off to our accounting partner.
5 minutes total. No PDFs to download.
Our top-tier global accounting firm partner backs the claim with a More-likely-than-not tax opinion. We prepare the structured proof file the IRS, your auditors, and any financing partner would need. You decide whether to file with the IRS and wait, sell the refund to an outside buyer, or pursue another path. We produce the docs; you pick the path.
Financeable. Audit-defended.
What you receive
Two weeks after we receive your payroll, you get a complete proof file. File it with the IRS, or sell the refund to an outside buyer.
Per-employee tract validation, wage caps applied, ready for Form 8844.
Tax opinion letter from a top-tier global accounting firm. Independent professional opinion supporting the position taken.
Proof file structured for any outside buyer of the refund. They issue funds; we prepare the docs. Or file direct with the IRS.
Why VentoKredit
No login, no PII, no phone call.
A top-tier global accounting firm at SMB economics.
Independent professional opinion supporting the FEZ claim. Suitable input for FIN 48 evaluation and audit defense.
Proof file structured for any outside buyer of the refund, if you choose to sell.
The eligibility check runs client-side. VentoKredit never sees PII during the eligibility check.
FAQ
No. The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) was a 2020–2023 pandemic-era credit claimed on Form 941, with no historical track record and a wave of enforcement actions against aggressive promoters.
The Federal Empowerment Zone Employment Credit is IRC §1396, codified by Congress in 1993, claimed on Form 8844, with 30+ years of IRS rulings, audit history, and zero ERC-style enforcement activity. Different statute, different form, different audit posture, different pedigree.
We do not provide ERC services and do not work with ERC mills.
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. 322 active FEZ tracts across 38 federally designated zones.
The credit covered tax years through December 31, 2025 and is no longer available for 2026 wages. It you can still claim it for tax years 2023, 2024, and 2025 by amending those returns. The window closes about three years after each return's original due date (April 2027 for 2023 wages, April 2028 for 2024, April 2029 for 2025).
For additional context, see this overview of Federal Empowerment Zone tax credit services from a top-tier 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 a More-likely-than-not tax opinion on each engagement. The opinion 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 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 the IRS and your auditors would expect. You decide whether to file directly with the IRS and wait, sell the receivable to an outside buyer, or pursue tax-credit insurance through a carrier of your choice. For clients who request it, we will prepare the insurance-underwriting documentation any A-rated tax-credit insurance carrier would need. We don't sell or broker insurance — it's an opt-in path the client initiates if they want coverage on IRS denial.
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. Book a 15-min call 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.
The stack behind every refund
Engagement capacity
We accept 10 Tier-1 engagements per quarter.
Q2 2026 cohort intake closes June 30. Each engagement begins after a brief intake review. We work with companies that have qualifying employees in designated tracts. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll tell you in 24 hours.
Signing the agreement takes 5 minutes. Proof runs in your browser, encrypted, never on our servers.
We'll respond within one business day.
IRC §1396. Backed by a top-tier global accounting firm. More-likely-than-not tax opinion. Financeable.
Track record: our data-engineering platform, with the same top-tier global accounting firm, has delivered $17M+ in federal tax credits across other refundable-credit programs for U.S. mid-market businesses. The same platform and partnership now apply to §1396.
We'll respond within one business day.