Employee Retention Tax Credit Application

ERTC, or the Employee Retention Tax Credit application, is a tax credit that employers can claim to help retain their employees. The ERTC provides a non-refundable tax credit based on specific employment-related expenditures.

This blog post will cover everything an employee and employer need to know about the tax credit — how the credits work, eligibility, qualified wages, and more.

What is the Employee Retention Credit?

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Businesses of all sizes can claim a refundable credit on qualified employee wages. This includes particular health insurance fees paid to employees. Further, it encourages companies and organizations to keep their workers on payrolls.

Like the Disaster Tax Relief Act, the government created the Employee Retention Credit program in response to the economic and pandemic situation. It incentivizes small, medium, and large businesses with a refundable tax credit for keeping their payroll during 2020 and 2021.

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the maximum credit amount of qualified wages taken for each worker for all calendar quarters is up to 10,000 USD. On the other hand, the max credit available is 5,000 USD for eligible employers for wages paid to every employee.

In addition, the credit is also available to all qualified employers of any size that pay qualified wages to their employees. However, additional rules may apply to employers below one hundred and under 500 workers.

How Do the Credits Work?

The American Rescue Plan Act stipulates that business establishments must get the non-refundable amounts of the employee retention tax credit against Medicare taxes rather than against Social Security taxes in 2020.

However, the changeovers will only apply to wages paid after the last day of June 2021. This should not alter the total credit payment. If the organization's gross income dropped substantially between 2020 and 2021 than 2019, it might be qualified for the ERC.

Similarly, the surplus is refunded to the eligible employer if the credit surpasses the employer's total liability of either Medicare or Social Security. This, however, relies on whether before the 30th of June in 2021 or after any calendar quarter. At the end of the calendar quarter, business enterprises will reconcile the quantities of credits on the employer's Form 941.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) notice is crucial in comprehending how to apply changes to Form 941, which is necessary to claim the ERC. On the other hand, Form 941-X is to retroactively file for the applicable quarter or quarters in which employers paid the qualified wages.

What Employers or Businesses Qualify for the Employee Retention Credit?

Hospitals, 501(c) institutions, universities, and colleges, following the execution of the state's Rescue Plan Act, can qualify for employee retention credit (ERC).

Earlier, the Consolidated Appropriations Act expanded the ERC qualifications to include businesses that took loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). It has lenders from the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan who initially were not eligible to claim a tax credit.

Below are the prerequisites to qualify for an employee retention credit.

• Businesses considered essential
• A business employer with a significant drop in gross receipts
• Business enterprises shuttered but were able to continue their operations intact through telework.
• A trade that was discontinued or had to decline business operating hours due to a government order.

On the other hand, to get qualified as a Recovery Startup Business, they must bear the following:

• The company has begun carrying on trade after the 15th of February 2020.
• The company has an annual gross receipt that does not exceed one million dollars.
• The company is not eligible for the ERTC under partial or total suspension of business operations and a decline in gross receipts.

Employers (not from Recovery Startup Business) who ordered and received an advance payment of the ERTC for salaries paid during the fourth quarter of 2021 are mandated to reimburse the advancements by the due date of the fourth quarter of 2021.

The advance expenses resulted from filing Form 7200s, Advance Payments of Employer Credits Due to COVID-19. Moreover, the IRS Notice 2021-49 clarified that these recovery startup businesses might use all the total qualified wages for credit, regardless of the number of workers they have.

What Wages Qualify When You're Calculating the Retention Credit?

All employee's wages and compensation are subject to Federal Insurance Contributions Act or FICA taxes. Remember that companies can only take credit on paychecks that are not under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has multiple ways of computing qualified health expenses, depending on every situation or concern. They may not add any after-tax values, or they can also add the employee and employer pre-tax share.

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On the other hand, when specifying the qualified wages to add, the business employer should first know the number of full-time people working for them. According to the Affordable Care Act or ACA, a full-time employee is a person who has worked at least 30 hours per week.

This also applies to those who have rendered a hundred and thirty hours in any calendar month in 2019. You may have difficulty filing for the ERC if you have fewer full-time employees.

Are Tipped Wages Included in Qualified Wages?

Under Notice 2021-49, the qualified tipped wages must be subject to FICA taxes. It must consist of any tips over twenty dollars in the calendar month. But those amounting to less than twenty dollars per month and are not subject to FICA wages could not qualify for the employee retention credit (ERC).

Things You Must Know Before Filing the Employee Retention Credit This 2023

Compiled and listed below are the things every employer and employee needs to know before filing ERC this year.

How to Claim Employee Retention Credit

It is pretty straightforward. First, all employers should fill out Form 941, Schedule R. To qualify for employee retention credit. The employers should have either experienced decreased gross receipts or turmoil in company functions.

Note that all enterprise sizes can qualify for ERC, unlike PPP loans. Moreover, employers do not have to demonstrate a decline in their revenues, but the ERC grant is automatic if they present a drop.

The credit is equivalent to fifty percent of the qualifying paychecks spent on each worker through the end of 2021. Aside from that, employers must hold their workforce at pre-pandemic ranks.

Check the key concerns, including, but not limited to, those listed below:

• If the company was under a full or partial suspension of business operations, can they point to the governmental order that triggered their suspension of operations? Do they have records for that?
• Can they prove they have experienced a notable decline in gross receipts or were subject to a total or partial break of operations?
• If they have received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, have they examined their wage allocation across PPP loan forgiveness and employee retention credit?
• Have they computed and documented their average number of full-time employees in 2019?

However, there are some challenges, including the following:

• The IRS may audit the company's refund and potentially disallow it. If they are determined ineligible for the ERC, they must repay it with interest and possible penalties.
• Processing amended documents and issuing refunds could take up to 9 months to a year or even longer.
• There is limited guidance regarding the IRS safe harbor for ERC qualifications under a partial suspension of company operations.

How to Calculate Employee Retention Credit

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Like claiming, calculating the employee retention credit (ERC) is simple — to evaluate the employee retention credit, employers should specify the number of their eligible employees and the whole amount of qualifying wages paid to every one of them in the pertinent quarter.

The government limits the qualifying salaries to 10,000 USD per employee for every applicable quarter. For workers who get paid more than 10,000 USD in qualifying wages during a particular quarter, their employers should calculate only 5,000 of those salaries towards the credit.

After determining the total amount of the qualified wages paid, multiply it by 50 percent. To ensure precision, confer with a qualified tax consultant or advisor about employment tax deposits.

How Much is the Employee Retention Credit

As mentioned, the maximum credit amount for qualified wages for each worker is 10,000 USD. This denotes that the total credit an employer can receive is up to 5,000 USD per employee.

To be eligible for the retention credit, an employer must suspend operations or at least share a significant decrease in gross receipts due to a governmental order associated with the pandemic.

In addition, employers should have retained their employees during particular periods in the pandemic and have paid them at least 600 USD in qualified earnings. These salaries must include hourly pay, wages, commissions, and other types of remuneration.

How to File for Employee Retention Credit

First, firms must file for an employee retention credit (ERC) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). While they are at it, they should provide essential information about their firm and employees. On top of that, employers should also present documentation that shows they have been negatively affected by the pandemic.

The following step is for the IRS to review their application and decide whether the said firm is fit for the employee retention credit (ERC). Once authorized, the credit will reflect the employees' coming payroll taxations.

Essential Questions To Learn About The Employee Retention Tax Credit

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The following section lists essential questions to help employees and employers learn more about the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) and how it can benefit their businesses.

Is the employee retention credit taxable income?

The Employee Retention Credits or ERCs are not deemed taxable gains for employees. It implies that employees will not have to pay extra taxes on paychecks that the ERC already covers.

On the other hand, the employee retention credit must be under the business expense for employers. Employers can use them to offset the taxes they owe.

The employee retention credit (ERC) is a valuable tariff relief measure for employers and employees. In addition, it can support retaining key employees during various challenging periods.

Can I claim both the employee retention credit and PPP?

Absolutely, but employers need to take a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to get the ERTC. Fortunately, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), legislated in December 2020, established that those smaller businesses could get the credit as long as they fulfilled all prerequisites and observed all the regulations.

What can I spend the ERC on?

The ERC is the same as reimbursement. However, employees and employers cannot just spend the credit wherever they want. If employers can claim up to 50 percent of 10,000 USD in salaries for every quarter per worker, they can qualify for the employee retention credit (ERC).

Do I have to pay back the ERC?

No, not necessarily. The government treats ERC as reimbursement in the form of employer credits. It means the fund is what the government owes the worker. In simpler terms, it is like a loan that does not need any payback.

How much is the ERC in 2023?

The employee retention credit this year (2023) for each employee is up to 26,000 USD or 11,000 USD on average. The cut depends on the wages, health care costs, and other personnel expenses or fees business owners have disbursed through the pertinent term.

How long does it take before getting an employee retention credit refund?

Based on the recent announcement from the IRS, employers' Form 941s should expect to result in reimbursement between six to ten months from the filing period. The qualified businesses may receive their credits within six months to one year.

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Final Thoughts – Employee Retention Tax Credit

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is an effort made by the government to encourage businesses of all sizes to keep their employees on the payroll. This is functional throughout the whole duration of the global health crisis.

Although businesses can no longer disburse wages to claim ERC, they still have until 2025 to reflect the credits on their payrolls — the timeline must be during the pandemic. Further, employers should retroactively claim the credits' retention by making an amended tax return.