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Small business owners with fewer than 50 employees are now eligible for a tax break if they continue to pay employees called to active duty in the U.S. military. The tax credit was included in the recently passed H.R. 6081, the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008.

The legislation, which was passed by the House and Senate in May and signed into law by the president in June, allows small business owners with fewer than 50 employees to claim a tax credit of 20 percent of wage differential payments as long as they continue to pay reservists some or all of their former compensation and the payments do not exceed $20,000. The credit applies to payments made after June 17, 2008, and before Jan. 1, 2010.