The ERTC was established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 to provide financial support to businesses, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. ERTC provides businesses with up to $26,000 per eligible employee in refundable payroll tax credits, against their 2020 and 2021 payroll taxes.

Yes, you are able to retroactively claim the ERTC. We will help you do this by preparing a deliverable package that includes the applicable amended forms, to be filed with the IRS, as well as the evaluation and analysis of your business operations and payroll, plus preparation of necessary documents and supporting information to claim the ERTC.

You're not alone! Only about 15% of businesses are very familiar with ERTC, and only about 20% of businesses have claimed ERTC. The reason for this is because the ERTC was, originally, not widely available to businesses. Subsequent federal legislation has expanded eligibility of small businesses and increased maximum funds available to each business.

You can qualify for up to $26,000 per employee: up to $7,000 in each of the first three quarters of 2021 (that’s up to $21,000 total per employee in 2021) and up to $5,000 total per employee in 2020. Easy Tax Credits will analyze your business operations during Covid-19, your payroll, and your PPP loans (if applicable), to maximize your ERTC amount.

You can qualify for ERTC in numerous ways, including any one of the following:

1) Revenue reduction: you can qualify in 2021 if you had a 20% reduction in revenues in one quarter of 2021 versus the corresponding quarter of 2019 and had 500 or fewer full-time employees in 2019. You can qualify in 2020 if you had a 50% reduction in revenues in one quarter of 2020 versus the corresponding quarter of 2019 and had 100 or fewer employees in 2019.

2) Government closure: Governmental orders that required a full or partial suspension of your operation. These orders can manifest themselves as it relates to your business in numerous ways, which could include transitioning to remote work or supply chain issues, so let Easy Tax Credits assist you in determining whether or not you qualify for ERTC.

3) Recovery startup business: You started or acquired a business after February 15, 2020.  Recovery startup businesses have a very unique set of ERTC requirements and do not necessarily need to fulfill a revenue reduction or government closure to qualify.

You do not need both a revenue reduction and government closure to be eligible. Full-time employee count for ERTC is determined in a unique way; see “What is considered a full-time employee for ERTC? Are owners or their family members considered full-time employees?” ERTC eligibility is determined on a quarter-by-quarter basis, meaning that you might be entitled to a credit in some quarters but not in other quarters. Additionally, if you qualify for one quarter then you automatically qualify for the following quarter.

It's complicated—that's why we're here! At a very basic level, after deducting for disallowed wages mandated by the ERTC legislation, you multiply up to $10,000 of each employees qualified wages in 2020 by 50%, and you multiply up to $10,000 per quarter of each employees qualified wages in the first three quarters of 2021 by 70%, for quarters for which you qualify, with eligibility determined on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

You must have at least five full-time employees in 2020 or 2021. To qualify for 2021, you must have had 500 or fewer full-time employees in 2019; to qualify for 2020, you must have had 100 or fewer full-time employees in 2019 (see FAQ below, “What is considered a full-time employee for ERTC?”). Since these exclusionary maximums are based on 2019 full-time employee count, it is possible for a company to be have 500 or fewer employees in 2019 but have grown to over 500 employees in 2020 or 2021 and still qualify for ERTC.

Additionally, if you paid employees while they were not working, regardless of your 2019 full-time employee count (e.g., 2019 full-time employee count over 500), you could still qualify for ERTC for these employees that you were paying while they were not working.

It is not necessary that you qualify for every year or every quarter to be able to claim some ERTC funds.

100%! Many of the businesses that we have successfully helped were previously told by their accountants that they don’t qualify for ERTC. Our team of lawyers and accountants are true experts with ERTC, having helped businesses to claim hundreds of millions of dollars of ERTC funds. Because we understand all of the nuances of the ERTC law, we are able to help maximize ERTC funds for our clients. Book a free, no obligation fifteen-minute call with one of our experts today—it might be the best fifteen minutes you’ve spent all year! (Note: just because an accountant might have overlooked a client’s eligibility does not mean the client necessarily has a bad accountant! Many great accountants are unfamiliar with ERTC for understandable reasons. ERTC is a tax credit to payroll taxes, which is very different from other tax credits. Business accountants usually don’t deal with payroll taxes; that’s the job of the payroll processor. However, payroll processors don’t usually deal with tax credits; that’s the job of the business accountant. So ERTC falls into a weird gray area of accounting purgatory! Furthermore, the legislation for ERTC has changed significantly since the program was first introduced, and the government has not publicized the program like it did with PPP. Plus, ERTC is a very complicated, yet one-time, program.)

Yes. It is a common misconception that if you received PPP funds, which were fully forgiven then you do not qualify for ERTC. While ERTC cannot be applied to the same wages that received PPP forgiveness, we will work with you to identify the wages that were not part of your PPP forgiveness and thus are still eligible for ERTC.

It’s pretty simple. You provide us with your: revenues, by quarter, in 2019, 2020 and 2021; PPP documents (if applicable); and readily-available payroll information. Our experts are always here to answer your questions about documentation.

For ERTC, a full-time employee is an employee that worked, on average, at least 30 hours per week. This is not the same as full-time equivalents. (For example, with ERTC, ten employees that each worked 20 hours would equal zero full-time employees, and ten employees that each worked 50 hours would equal ten full-time employees.) If one or multiple members of the same family own in aggregate at least 50% of the business, then none of those family members count as a full-time employee and neither do any of their own family members. This calculation determines your 2019 baseline employee count to be compared with the exclusionary maximums. (See FAQ above, “What's the minimum or maximum number of employees you work with?”)

Yes! It is a common misconception that businesses cannot claim ERTC for their part-time employees. While part-time employees are not counted towards the company ERTC exclusionary maximum number of 2019 employees, part-time employees’ wages can be included in your ERTC claim.

Oftentimes yes!

The Easy Tax Credits advantage includes: low fees; no upfront payments or deposits; a full bespoke 360° analysis of your business to maximize your ERTC; documentation for audit mitigation; real human customer service based in the U.S.; and a team led by attorneys, accountants and former government officials that have helped businesses claim hundreds of millions of dollars in ERTC. We provide every one of our clients with a report comprising our analysis and calculations for determining your ERTC amount.

We calculate and document everything for you! This includes:

Initial consultation to understand wage policies that you put in place/or modified regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

Identification and documentation of your aggregation status and members.

Analysis of your full or partial suspension of business operations, normalized to facilitate accurate Qualified Wage calculations.

Evaluation of your payroll and healthcare premium data to appropriate units of measurement to facilitate the calculation of Qualified Wages based on your organization’s facts and circumstances.

Analysis of documentation provided by you, based on relevant statutory and regulatory guidance, to ascertain your qualified wage eligibility for employees providing services under the 2020, and 2021 Full Time Employee thresholds.

Analysis of documentation provided by you, according to relevant statutory and regulatory guidance, to ascertain your eligibility as an Employer based on the applicable gross receipts threshold for the years 2019, 2020, 2021.

Collection and documentation of your source data and contemporaneous documentation supporting the qualification of employees and Qualified Wages paid, including but not limited to your IRS Form 941 and United States Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) information.

Analysis, calculation and documentation of your qualified wage limitation across all entities in the aggregated group.

Calculation of the exclusion of wage amounts on a per-employee basis that would have otherwise been allowed for other applicable tax credits.

Preparation of your ERTC calculation for all applicable calendar and fiscal quarters.

Preparation of “Methodology Memorandum” documenting the analysis process, and method to identify and validate Qualified Wages.

Compilation of a “Deliverable Package,” including Methodology Memorandum and supporting documentation, for submission by you to the IRS in respect of your ERTC payment, and a related invoice containing the estimated Fee for services rendered (which is not due until you receive your ERTC from the IRS).

Customer service support to you via phone and email consistent with industry best practices.

Sure! Below is our proven step-by-step process for maximizing your ERTC claim.

1) Submit your basic contact information on EasyTaxCredits.com.

2) Book a free, no obligation, fifteen-minute phone consultation with one of our ERTC experts by using the online scheduling calendar link.

3) Speak with an Easy Tax Credit expert, who further evaluates your business' eligibility.

4) Complete the Easy Tax Credits customer agreement, sent to your email address.

5) Provide us with the necessary information and documents, which your Easy Tax Credits expert will guide you through.

6) Receive a deliverable package from Easy Tax Credits that contains our full analysis and ERTC eligibility justification of your business as well as the forms that you need to submit to the IRS.

7) Mail the applicable forms from your Easy Tax Credits deliverable package to the IRS by following our fool-proof IRS submission instructions. 

8) Receive your ERTC funds from the IRS via check.

9) Contact Easy Tax Credits to let us know that you received your ERTC funds and to pay your invoice.

Once we receive all of the information that we request from you, we aim to send you a final deliverable package within one to two weeks.

The IRS timeline for processing ERTC funds is, unfortunately, completely outside of our control. Currently we are seeing IRS timelines of anywhere from three to twelve months for businesses to receive their ERTC funds from the IRS. We work with a tax credit tracking service that allows us to provide you with an up-to-date processing status of your ERTC funds.

We are encouraging all of our clients to claim their ERTC by June 2023. Typically businesses must file an amended tax return within three years from the original filing deadline; ERTC is a tax credit for your 2020 and/or 2021 payroll taxes.

You certainly can have your accountant assist you with your ERTC, but keep in mind that your accountant is likely an expert in business income tax returns, whereas the ERTC is specific to your payroll taxes. These are actually very different tax specialties! Additionally, because the ERTC program is incredibly complex and nuanced, it is to your advantage for a firm with deep expertise in ERTC to assist you and thus maximize your ERTC. You work too hard to be someone else’s guinea pig!

Being designated as an Essential Business does not preclude you from claiming ERTC.

We have lots of experience helping businesses that use PEOs (e.g., ADP, Paychex, TriNet) claim their ERTC. Claiming ERTC through a PEO is much less straightforward than without a PEO. Easy Tax Credits will take care of navigating through the unique processes that your PEO has established for claiming your ERTC.

No. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was a loan program established by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), for which a business could qualify for full forgiveness of the PPP loan. PPP provided small businesses with funds to pay up to eight weeks of payroll costs including benefits, and funds could also be used to pay interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities. The ERTC, on the other hand, is a tax credit against your payroll taxes and is not a loan (so not subject to repayment). ERTC is also not the same as the SBA’s Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).

If you are a business whose trade or business operations were fully or partially suspended during a calendar quarter due to a governmental order, you might be eligible for ERTC. These government orders can manifest themselves as it relates to your business in numerous ways, which could include transitioning to remote work or supply chain issues. Each situation is unique and requires its own analysis. We are proud of our commitment of providing a bespoke analysis to each one of our clients.

Yes! Businesses that started or were acquired on or after February 15, 2020, are eligible to receive up to $100,000 in ERTC and do not necessarily need to have a revenue reduction or a government closure to qualify. Some of these businesses might also qualify for additional funds based on the revenue decline eligibility standard and thus be eligible for more than $100,000.

It is possible and very fact dependent. Please book a free, no obligation fifteen-minute call with us to discuss your unique situation further.

In this case, you will receive a check for the difference from the IRS. However, since you likely already filed the applicable payroll taxes for 2020 and 2021, your ERTC payment will be delivered to you as a check from the IRS.

The IRS will send you a check for your ERTC amount.

Unlike the PPP, the ERTC is not a loan so you do not have to repay your ERTC.

Anything! Unlike with funds from PPP, the funds from ERTC are unrestricted.

They’re the same thing! Some people refer to ERTC as the Employee Retention Tax Credit, and other people refer to it as the Employee Retention Credit (ERC).

ERTC reduces your payroll taxes, thus increasing your net income. Please see IRS guidance HERE and always consult your business’ tax advisors.

No, it is not necessary for us to run a credit check.

We use technology that meets industry best security protocols.

We receive a fee based on a percentage of the ERTC that we calculate and document you are due from the IRS.

With Easy Tax Credits, unlike with other tax credit consulting firms, you don’t pay for our services until you receive your ERTC check from the IRS.

Easy Tax Credits provides each of our clients with a robust deliverable package comprising our analysis and documentation that can be provided to the IRS to support the ERTC calculations. If in the rare event the IRS were to find your ERTC was disallowed, then Easy Tax Credits would refund you the applicable fees you paid to us.

Easy Tax Credits offers a free, no-obligation phone call. Click “BOOK A CALL” on our website to schedule a call with one of our expert consultants. You can also call 1-234-CREDITS (1-234-273-3487). Our consultants—real, U.S.-based humans!—are always available to assist our clients.