H.R. 2029 has been amended with the The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act to both renew and expand various credit programs. In particular, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program (WOTC) will be renewed for a period of 5 years, with a retroactive start date of January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2019. Also included in the renewal of WOTC is an expansion in which a new target group has been added to the existing 9 groups. The new target group is the long-term unemployment recipient, which includes individuals who have been receiving federal or state unemployment compensation for a period of at least 27 consecutive weeks prior to their hiring.

Other incentives included in the amendment are the New Market Tax Credit program, also renewed for a period of 5 years, as well as the Indian Employment Tax Credit program and Empowerment Zone program, which are both renewed until December 31, 2016, and Research and Development Tax Credit program, which is made permanent by this amendment.

It is expected that the House will be voting on the amendment most likely on Thursday.