On March 18, 2010, President Obama signed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act. If you hire a person who has been unemployed for 60 days (or worked less than 40 hours during that period) after February 2, 2010 and before January 1, 2011, you will qualify for a 6.2 % payroll tax incentive. What this means is that you will not be required to pay the employer’s share of Social Security taxes for 2010. Medicare taxes would still apply and this non-payment would not affect the employee’s ultimate benefits. For each worker retained for at least a year you will also get an additional credit of $1,000 per worker. The IRS will develop a form for new hires to sign regarding their unemployment. The credit will be claimed on the quarterly employment tax return.