Federal Empowerment Zone Credits (FEZ)
Credits tied to where your business and your people are located.
Overview
Empowerment Zone incentives encourage business activity and hiring inside designated areas. If your business operates in a zone and your employees live in that same zone, wages you already pay may generate a credit. Location does the qualifying work here — not job title.
Who qualifies
- Businesses with a location inside a designated zone
- Employees who both live and perform substantial work in the zone
- Employers who can document addresses and work locations
How much is available
The credit is calculated as a share of qualified wages per eligible employee, subject to annual limits that are updated by federal guidance.
Required documentation
- Business address verification for each qualifying site
- Employee residency verification
- Payroll records mapped to zone locations
- Zone designation evidence for the tax year
Important deadlines
- Zone designations are reviewed and can change year to year
- Wages are counted per calendar year
- Claims follow your normal business return schedule
How the process runs
Map your locations
We check each of your sites against current zone boundaries.
Match your workforce
Employee addresses are matched to the same zone.
Calculate qualified wages
Payroll is filtered to only the wages that count.
Package the claim
You get documentation that stands up to review.
Examples from the field
Urban logistics warehouse
One of four facilities sat inside a zone, and most of its staff lived nearby — a large share of payroll qualified.
Neighborhood healthcare clinic
A single-location employer discovered its entire team lived within the same zone.
Common questions
Programs that often pair with this one
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