ESL classes onsite, Is there a tax break?

jbanda

We are a MFG. company in texas, many of our employees don't speak English, so as an additional benefit we hire a ESL instructor and we are implementing ESL classes on site, the classes are voluntary and the employees are off the clock, we currently have over 100 employees taking classes, does anyone know if there is a tax benefit for this?

Thanks in advance

Don D

You may want to run this question by the Texas Workforce Commission, or whatever they've changed their name to. You may also find that your area community college system has funds available for this and it won't cost you a dime. In our case, if our employee teaches the class after hours, that employee is paid by the college to do it. If he does it on company time, the college pays the company an hourly rate for his instruction. That wasn't your question, but funding mechanisms ARE out there for instructional purposes especially as it relates to the workplace, under the workforce investment act that replaced JTPA that replaced CETA that replaced MDTA. Some states do give industrial tax credits similar to the old Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (TJTC) federal program of several years ago.

marc

We give ESL and Spanish GED classes here in Nevada. We also fund several Family Resource Centers throughout Northern Nevada that are free to clients that come through the agencies. I would bet that Texas has similar agencies and services. Much of our funding for this activity is directly budgeted at the State level. If you do not have ready access to a Family Resource Center type of agency, try contacting the State and ask if the services are available. It mostly targets income qualified individuals and you find many of the newly arrived falling into those categories.

Hope this helps. Good luck.