What kind of tax credit does Walmart get for each employee who receives SNAP benefits
Executive summary
Employers get a specific federal tax credit — the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) — for hiring people who have received SNAP for at least three of the prior 15 months; the WOTC was extended through Dec. 31, 2025 and applies to qualifying wages (IRS guidance) [1]. Advocacy and research groups also frame SNAP as an indirect public subsidy to low-wage employers because employees’ benefits enable them to afford food purchased at large retailers like Walmart, which captures a large share of SNAP spending [2] [3].
1. What the law actually offers: WOTC for hiring SNAP recipients
Federal tax law gives employers a targeted wage-based tax credit — the Work Opportunity Tax Credit — for hiring certain disadvantaged workers, including individuals whose family has received SNAP for at least three months in the 15-month period ending on the hiring date. The IRS describes WOTC as a general business credit administered jointly with the Department of Labor and confirms the WOTC was authorized through December 31, 2025 [1].
2. What WOTC means in dollar terms — and what the sources do not supply
The IRS page in the provided reporting identifies the WOTC as available for wages paid to qualifying hires and lists SNAP recipients among eligible target groups, but the cited material does not state the exact per-employee dollar amount Walmart or any employer receives for a hire who qualified via SNAP status [1]. Available sources do not mention a company‑specific per-employee WOTC payout for Walmart; the IRS text describes program eligibility and duration but not a company’s realized totals [1].
3. Two different ways “tax credit for SNAP employees” gets discussed in public debate
Policy and advocacy reports frame the question broadly in two ways: first, as the narrow federal WOTC tax benefit for hiring individuals from specified groups (the statutory program discussed by the IRS) [1]; second, as an argument that public assistance programs like SNAP effectively subsidize low wages because taxpayers cover part of workers’ living costs while employers benefit from consumer purchasing power — an indirect subsidy argument advanced by nonprofits and researchers [2] [3]. Both threads appear in the sources but they are distinct: one is a formal tax credit; the other is an economic critique of wage and benefit structures.
4. How large retailers factor into the SNAP economy
Multiple sources document that Walmart is a dominant retail outlet for SNAP spending: Walmart captures a substantial share of SNAP dollars (reported as roughly 18–24% in different pieces), making it both highly exposed to SNAP funding changes and a major beneficiary of SNAP-driven sales [4] [2] [3]. Researchers use that market share to argue that SNAP benefits indirectly subsidize large employers whose workers rely on those benefits [2].
5. Evidence and counter-evidence in the reporting
The IRS source is straightforward and legalistic: it confirms WOTC’s existence, eligible groups and the statutory window, but not company-level receipts [1]. Independent studies and advocacy reports (Americans for Tax Fairness; Union of Concerned Scientists) present an analytical frame that taxpayers subsidize big employers via public benefits like SNAP and estimate billions in combined subsidies to Walmart, though those reports aggregate many subsidy streams, not just WOTC [5] [2] [3]. The provided materials do not include Walmart’s internal accounting of WOTC claims or precise per-employee WOTC amounts claimed by Walmart.
6. Why the distinction matters for public debate
Conflating the formal WOTC (a hire-based federal tax credit) with the broader critique that SNAP indirectly subsidizes employers’ low wages blurs legal subsidy versus social‑policy critique. The IRS WOTC is an explicit, administrated credit tied to hiring outcomes [1]. The indirect-subsidy argument is an economic interpretation connecting SNAP benefit flows and corporate revenue or public cost burdens [2] [3]. Both influence policy discussions — one through tax law, the other through calls for wage and safety‑net reform.
7. What reporting does not answer and what you should watch next
Available sources do not report the specific dollar amount Walmart (or any employer) claimed under WOTC per SNAP‑qualified employee, nor do they provide company-level totals for WOTC claims; the IRS source explains eligibility but not firm-specific claims data [1]. To get concrete per-employee or company totals, one would need employer tax records, IRS aggregate claim data, or statements from Walmart — none of which appear in the documents provided [1].
8. Bottom line for readers
There is a statutory tax credit (WOTC) that can apply when employers hire people who have received SNAP for a qualifying period, and the IRS confirms WOTC’s availability through 2025 [1]. Separately, researchers and advocacy groups argue SNAP functions as an indirect public subsidy to low‑wage employers — a broader economic critique supported by data showing Walmart’s large share of SNAP spending but not by evidence of a discrete “per-employee SNAP tax credit” paid directly to Walmart beyond the WOTC framework [2] [3] [4].