Employer Credit for Hiring a Recently Deployed Veteran — $2,400 Then $4,800
A nonrefundable credit for an employer who hires a qualified recently deployed veteran: up to $2,400 in the first year and up to $4,800 in the second, carried forward up to five years. The veteran must have separated with an honorable or general discharge within the two years before employment begins.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
A nonrefundable credit for an employer who hires a qualified recently deployed veteran: up to $2,400 in the first year and up to $4,800 in the second, carried forward up to five years. The veteran must have separated with an honorable or general discharge within the two years before employment begins.
What it's worth: Up to $2,400 to the employer in year one and $4,800 in year two
- The tax commission describes a nonrefundable credit available to taxpayers who hire a qualified, recently deployed veteran.
- A qualified veteran is described as a person mobilised to active federal military service in an active or reserve component of the armed forces who received an honorable or general discharge within the two-year period before the employment begins.
- The credit may be claimed for two years — up to $2,400 in the first year and up to $4,800 in the second — with a five-year carryforward.
- The credit is nonrefundable; an amount greater than tax due is carried forward rather than paid out.
- The $7,200 figure shown is the two years added together and goes to the employer, not to the veteran.
Who is entitled to it
- The credit follows the hire of the veteran.
- Your discharge is within the range the credit is written for.
- Your home is in Utah.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
Deadline: With the employer’s return, for each of the two years- 1Count backwards from your separation date. The credit needs the discharge to fall in the two years before the employment begins, so it is worth raising early in a job search rather than late.
- 2Say it in the interview and put a number on it: up to $2,400 the first year and up to $4,800 the second. That second-year figure is what keeps a new hire employed through a lean quarter.
- 3Show the DD Form 214 to establish mobilisation to active federal service and the character of discharge.
- 4Point the employer at the tax commission page. The credit is claimed on their return and there is a code for it.
- 5Explain the carryforward if the employer is a small business with little tax due — five years of carryforward means the credit is not wasted on a thin year.
- 6The federal work opportunity credit is separate, and the state guide describes the two as combinable where the veteran meets both sets of criteria. Let the employer’s accountant check that.
- Form
- Claimed by the employer on its state income tax return
- File with
- Utah State Tax Commission — the employer files, not the veteran
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- Annual
- Claimed once a year.
Sources
- authority · published policyUtah State Tax Commission — Veteran Employment Credit, citing Utah Code §59-10-1031 (qualified recently deployed veteran definition; up to $2,400 first year and $4,800 second year; nonrefundable; five-year carryforward)
- operating · published policyUtah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs — 2026 resource guide, Veteran Employment Tax Credit (separate from the federal work opportunity credit, and combinable where the veteran meets both sets of criteria)
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