Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit

COVID-19 has caused hardships and unprecedented challenges for businesses and organizations all over the world. Many employers faced decreased revenues, increased costs, and disruptions of operations as a result of lockdowns.

To help employers retain their employees and provide them with health benefits during this difficult time, the U.S. government has introduced the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a refundable tax credit that can offset some of the payroll costs for eligible employers.

The ERC is a program that was introduced by the CARES Act of 2020. Subsequent legislation was passed in 2021 and in 2023 to extend and modify it. This article will describe what the ERC does, how it operates, and explain how to claim it.

For a brief reading of what the Employee Retention Credit or ERC is, take a look at this video from the YouTube channel “ERC Specialists”. You can also continue below to read an in-depth explanation of ERC.

What is Employee Retention Credit? Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit

Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC), is a refundable tax credit for organizations and businesses with employees who have been affected by COVID-19. The ERC was established by the CARES Act of 2020 and extended and modified in subsequent legislations in 2021 and in 2023. The ERC aims to encourage employers to keep their workers on the payroll and provide them with health benefits during the crisis.

Main Features and Advantages

Credit is a fixed percentage of qualifying wages and health care costs paid by employers to employees.
The percentage and limit will vary depending on when the credit is claimed. In 2020, the 50% percentage and $5,000 limit per employee is applicable for the entire calendar year. In 2021, 70% of the employees will be eligible for the maximum. The limit per employee is $7,000. For 2023, the percentage will be 70% for the two first quarters and 40% for the two last quarters. The limit per employee per quarter is $10,000. Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit
The credit is fully refundable, meaning that if the amount of the credit exceeds the employer’s payroll tax liability, the excess will be paid to the employer as a refund.
The credit can be claimed by employers who experienced a significant decline in gross receipts or a full or partial suspension of operations due to a qualifying government order related to COVID-19. In addition, employers who qualify as recovery-startup businesses for 2023 can also claim the credits.
Credits may be obtained by filing a revised employment tax form (Form 941X) or reducing employment deposit amounts in anticipation. By submitting Form 7020, employers can request an early payment of their credit.

> > Click Here to Find Out if You are Eligible for ERC < <

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for Employee Retention credit (ERC), employers must meet either of two main criteria.

The employer’s company or organization has been suspended, either fully or partly, by an order of the government due to COVID-19 at a particular calendar quarter in 2020/2021
The employer’s gross receipts for a calendar quarter in 2020 or 2021 were less than 50% (for 2020) or 80% (for 2021) of its gross receipts for the same quarter in 2019

The recovery startup rule also applies to businesses that began operating after February 14, 2020 and had average annual gross receipts not exceeding $1 million. These businesses are eligible for the ERC, regardless of whether their business has been suspended or if revenue has declined.

Business Suspension

A business or organization is considered fully or partially suspended by a government order if:

The order limits travel, commerce or group meetings as a result of COVID-19
The order will affect the operation of the business or the organization
This order is applicable to any calendar quarter of 2020 or 2021

Some examples of orders from the government that could cause a business to be suspended are:

Stay-at-home orders prohibiting the operation of non-essential businesses
Certain businesses have curfews that limit their hours of operations
Limits on the capacity of a business that limit how many customers or clients it can serve
Travel bans or restrictions that affect the ability of a business to transport goods or services

Employers must take into account the following to determine whether a business has been suspended in full or in part by an order of government:

The nature and extent of the order, and its impact on the operation of your business
The order’s duration, frequency, and alignment with the calendar quarters
The extent and severity of the impact of the order on the revenues and expenses of the business

Revenue Decline

A business or organization is considered to have experienced a significant decline in gross receipts if:

The gross revenue for any calendar-quarter in 2020 was less than 50 percent of the gross revenues for the same period in 2019.
The gross revenue for any quarter of 2021 was less than 80% that for the same period in 2019.

Gross receipts can be defined as all the money received by an organization or business from any source during their annual accounting period, without deductions. Gross receipts include:

Sales of goods & services
Rents, dividends, and annuities are examples of income streams that include interest, dividends.
Gifts, donations, and contributions Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit
Membership fees and dues
Gross business income

To compare gross revenues for different quarters an employer can use:

It should use the same method of accounting, either cash or accrual, that it used for its federal income tax returns for 2019.
The same quarters in the calendar year as those used for the federal employment tax returns (Form 941) filed by 2019 and 2020/2021
It is the same income sources that were reported on the federal income tax returns for 2019.

Recovery Startup Business

A recovery startup is a business:

Begun carrying on any business after February 15th, 2020
If you have average annual gross revenues of less than $1 million in any three tax-year period that ends with the tax-year preceding the calendar quarter for credit determination.

Even if it does not meet the criteria for revenue decline or suspension of business, a recovery startup can still qualify. Recovery Startup Businesses are still subject to some restrictions and special rules.

The maximum amount of credit per quarter is $50,000
The credit will only be available to employees who have paid wages in the third quarter and fourth of 2021
All recovery startup businesses are subject to an aggregate cap of $250,000,000.

> > Click Here to Find Out if You are Eligible for ERC < <

Credit Amount Calculation

The ERC has different rules and amounts for different periods of time and different types of employers. The ERC is affected by the following main factors:

How much business income dropped compared to 2019.
What number of employees did the employer have in 2019 and 2020/2021?
The amount of money paid by the employer to each employee as well as their health insurance during pandemic

Employers must complete and send IRS forms to claim ERC. The forms must include the total amount paid by the employer to employees, their health insurance coverage and the reasons why they are eligible for the ERC. The IRS will review the forms and pay the money back to the employer. The employer may use the money in order to pay their employees’ health insurance premiums, or get refunds for their payroll tax.

The ERC will no longer be available. The ERC started in March 2020 and ends in September 2022. The employer has to claim the ERC before it expires or becomes unavailable. The employer must also spend the money properly and not waste any of it. Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit

Below is more detailed information on the credit amount and calculation of ERC.

Time Period

Different laws introduced, amended and terminated the ERC in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Credit amounts vary depending on when they are claimed. The table below summarizes key differences and features of the ERCs for each time period:

Time Period	Law	Eligible Employers	Credit Rate	Qualified Wages
2020	CARES Act	Employers with business suspension or revenue decline of more than 50%	50% of qualified wages up to $10,000 per employee per year	Wages paid from March 13 to December 31, 2020
Q1-Q3 2021	CAA and ARPA	Employers with business suspension or revenue decline of more than 20%	70% of qualified wages up to $10,000 per employee per quarter	Wages paid from January 1 to September 30, 2021
Q3-Q4 2021 (Recovery Startup Business)	ARPA	Recovery startup businesses with average annual gross receipts of no more than $1 million,	70% of qualified wages up to $10,000 per employee per quarter (subject to a $50,000 cap per quarter),	Wages paid from July 1 to December 31, 2021,
Q4 2021 – Q3 2022 (Severely Financially Distressed Employer)	ARPA and IIJA	Employers with a revenue decline of more than 90%	70% of qualified wages up to $10,000 per employee per quarter	Wages paid from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022

Number of Employees

The number of eligible employees will affect the calculation and definition of health insurance and qualified wages. Employers are classified as small or large employers based on their number of full-time workers (FTEs), and the period in which they were employed. This table summarizes thresholds and rules to determine the size of an employer for each period.

Time Period	Small Employer Threshold	Large Employer Threshold
2020	Less than or equal to 100 FTEs in 2019	More than 100 FTEs in 2019
Q1-Q2 2021	Less than or equal to 500 FTEs in 2019	More than 500 FTEs in 2019
Q3-Q4 2021	Less than or equal to 500 FTEs in any calendar quarter in either calendar year beginning after December 31, 2019, and ending before July 1, 2021. If an employer did not have in either calendar year beginning after December 31, 2019, and ending before July 1, 2021, the employer is treated as a small eligible employer if it had less than or equal to 500 FTEs in any calendar quarter beginning after June 30, 2021. For recovery startup businesses, the employer size is irrelevant. For severely financially distressed employers, the employer size is irrelevant if the employer had a revenue decline of more than 90%. Otherwise, the same rules as Q1-Q2 2021 apply.	More than 500 FTEs in any calendar quarter in either calendar year beginning after December 31, 2019, and ending before July 1, 2021. If an employer did not exist in either calendar year beginning after December 31, 2019, and ending before July 1, 2021, the employer is treated as a large eligible employer if it had more than 500 FTEs in any calendar quarter beginning after June 30, 2021.

To count FTEs for a given year or quarter, an employer must use the following steps:

Count the number of employees who worked at least 30 hours per week (or at least 130 hours per month) for each month in the year or quarter
Add up the total hours worked by all other employees (who are not counted as FTEs) for each month in the year or quarter
Divide the total hours by120and round down to the nearest whole number
Add the number of FTEs from Step One and Step Three for each month in the year or quarter
Calculate the average number of FTEs by adding up the monthly totals and dividing by 12 (for a year) or 3 (for a quarter)

Earnings and Costs of Health Insurance

Qualified wages refer to wages paid during a period when the business is suspended or revenues are declining. The list of qualified wages includes tips, bonuses, commissions, and severance payments, as well as sick leave, family leave, severance, and other compensation. Qualified wages include health insurance costs for eligible employees such as co-pays and deductibles.

The calculation of qualified wages, health insurance costs and employer size depends on the time period. The table below summarizes rules and examples in different scenarios. Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit

Employer Size	Time Period	Qualified Wages and Health Insurance Costs	Example
Small	2020	All wages and health insurance costs paid to any employee, regardless of whether the employee worked or not	An employer with 80 FTEs in 2019 paid $8,000 in wages and $2,000 in health insurance costs to an employee in 2020. The employer had a revenue decline of more than 50% in Q2 2020. The qualified wages and health insurance costs for Q2 2020 are $10,000.
Small	Q1-Q3 2021	All wages and health insurance costs paid to any employee, regardless of whether the employee worked or not	An employer with 400 FTEs in 2019 paid $12,000 in wages and $3,000 in health insurance costs to an employee in Q1 2021. The employer had a revenue decline of more than 20% in Q1 2021. The qualified wages and health insurance costs for Q1 2021 are $15,000.
Small	Q3-Q4 2021 (Recovery Startup Business)	All wages and health insurance costs paid to any employee, regardless of whether the employee worked or not (subject to a $50,000 cap per quarter)	A recovery startup business that began operations in March 2020 paid $9,000 in wages and $1,000 in health insurance costs to an employee in Q3 2021. The business had average annual gross receipts of $800,000. The qualified wages and health insurance costs for Q3 2021 are $10,000.
Small	Q4 2021 – Q3 2022 (Severely Financially Distressed Employer)	All wages and health insurance costs paid to any employee, regardless of whether the employee worked or not	An employer with 600 FTEs in Q2 2019 paid $11,000 in wages and $4,000 in health insurance costs to an employee in Q4 2021. The employer had a revenue decline of more than 90% in Q4 2021. The qualified wages and health insurance costs for Q4 2021 are $15,000.
Large	2020	Wages and health insurance costs paid to an employee for the time that the employee did not work (up to the amount that the employee would have been paid for working an equivalent duration during the 30 days immediately preceding the period of economic hardship)	An employer with 120 FTEs in 2019 paid $10,000 in wages and $2,000 in health insurance costs to an employee who worked full-time (40 hours per week) in 2020. The employer had a business suspension due to a government order in April 2020. The employee did not work for two weeks in April 2020. The qualified wages and health insurance costs for April 2020 are $2,308 ($10,000 x2/52+$2,000 x2/52).
Large	Q1-Q3 2021	Wages and health insurance costs paid to an employee for the time that the employee did not work (up to the amount that the employee would have been paid for working an equivalent duration during the 90 days immediately preceding the period of economic hardship)	An employer with 550 FTEs in 2019 paid $15,000 in wages and $5,000 in health insurance costs to an employee who worked full-time (40 hours per week) in Q1 2021. The employer had a revenue decline of more than 20% in Q1 2021. The employee did not work for three weeks in Q1 2021. The qualified wages and health insurance costs for Q1 2021 are $5,769 ($15,000 x3/13+$5,000 x3/13).
Large	Q3-Q4 2021 (Severely Financially Distressed Employer)	All wages and health insurance costs paid to any employee, regardless of whether the employee worked or not (only if the employer had a revenue decline of more than 90%. Otherwise, the same rules as Q1-Q32021 apply.)	An employer with 700 FTEs in Q4 2019 paid $12,000 in wages and $6,000 in health insurance costs to an employee who worked full-time (40 hours per week) in Q4 2021. The employer had a revenue decline of more than 90% in Q4 2021. The qualified wages and health insurance costs

> > Click Here to Find Out if You are Eligible for ERC < <

Claim and Report the Credit

To claim the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), an employer must file a federal employment tax return (Form 941) or an adjusted employment tax return (Form 941-X) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The employer will need to declare the qualified wages paid and the health insurance expenses paid for eligible employees. They must also report the credit claimed.

Form 941

Form 941 is used to report the employer’s quarterly federal tax liability, including income tax, social security tax, and Medicare tax. Form 941 also allows the employer to claim the ERC for current or future quarters. Form 941 is used by employers to:

ERC reduces taxes that employers have to deposit at the IRS.
Request an advance payment of the ERC if the credit exceeds the taxes that the employer has to deposit Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit
Carry over any excess credit into the following quarter

The employer should:

Use the latest version 941 which reflects updates and changes in the ERC.
Follow the instructions and worksheets provided by the IRS for calculating and reporting the ERC
Use Line 1c to report on the health insurance and wages that eligible employees have received.
Use Line 13d when reporting the credit for each quarter.
Use Line 13f for any advance payment received from IRS.
If you need to receive an advance payment, use Line 24.
Use Line 25 to report any excess credit that can be carried forward to subsequent quarters
Sign and date Form 941 and attach any supporting documents or schedules

Tips and resources on how to complete Form 941 include:

Use electronic filing services (efile) and online services to submit the Form 941 faster, more securely
Check the IRS website for updates, FAQs, and guidance on Form 941 and the ERC
Need clarification? Contact an IRS agent or tax professional.

Form 941-X

Form 941-X is used to correct errors or make adjustments on a previously filed Form 941. Form 941-X also allows the employer to claim the ERC retroactively for past quarters. Form 941-X can be used by the employer to: Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit

Claim a refund or credit for overpaid taxes due to claiming the ERC
Report any additional wages or health insurance costs that are paid to employees who are eligible but not reported on Form 951.
Correct any errors or omissions you find on Form 941, which may affect your credit claim.

To avoid making common errors and fill out the Form 941-X correctly, employers should:

Use the latest version of Form 941-X that reflects the changes and updates made by the laws that affect the ERC
The IRS has provided worksheets to help you calculate the ERC.
Use Part 2 to indicate which lines of Form 941 are being corrected or adjusted
Use Part 3 to explain your corrections or adjustments on Form 941.
Line 24 is used to report additional wages and health insurance premiums paid to eligible employees.
Line 25 should be used to declare any additional amount claimed as a credit each quarter
Use Line 26 when reporting any refund or credit that you have requested as a result of claiming your ERC
Sign the form 941-X, date it and include any documents or schedules that you wish to attach.

Here are some tips and resources to help you fill out Form 941X:

You must file a separate 941X form for each quarter you are correcting or adjusting. Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit
Fill out Form 941-X immediately after you find an error in Form 941
Updates, FAQs, and guidance about Form 941X and ERC can be found on the IRS website.
For clarifications or help, you can contact the IRS.

Deadline and Statute of Limitations

The deadline for filing Form 941 is generally the last day of the month following the end of each quarter. For example, Form 941 for Q1 of 2021 (January to March) is due April 30, 2020. If an employer has made all the required deposits for the quarter in a timely manner, they can file Forms 941 on the 10th of the second month. The end of the quarter. For example, Q1 2020 (January to March) requires that Form 941 be returned by May 10, 2021. Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit

The deadline for filing Form 941-X is generally three years from the date that the original Form 941 was filed or two years from the date that the tax was paid, whichever is later. For Q1 2020, (January-March), the Form 941 must be filed by April 30th 2020. If an employee filed Form 941 in April 2020 and paid their tax in April 2020, the deadline to file the Form 941 X is April 30 2023. If an employee filed Form 941 April 30, 2020 and paid tax June 15, 2020 the deadline for submitting Form 941 X is June 15, 222.

> > Click Here to Find Out if You are Eligible for ERC < <

Conclusion

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is a valuable tax benefit that can help employers who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic keep their employees on the payroll and reduce the impact of the pandemic on their businesses or organizations.

The ERC is a refundable tax credit that varies depending on the time period, the number of employees, and the amount of qualified wages and health insurance costs paid to eligible employees. The ERC is claimed by filing IRS Form 941 or 941-X and reporting qualified wages, health insurance costs, and the credit amount claimed for each quarter.

Do not miss out on this opportunity if you’re an employer that meets the ERC eligibility criteria. The ERC does not last forever. It has a deadline, and there is a statute of limitations for claiming the ERC. To avoid making common mistakes, you should fill out the forms correctly using the information and tips in this article. You can also contact the IRS or a tax professional for assistance or clarification if needed.

ERCs are a powerful tool that can help your company or organization, as well as your employees. You can use it to retain employees, keep your cash flowing, and recover after a pandemic. We hope this article has helped you understand more about the ERC and how to claim it. Thank you for reading. Stay safe.

> > Click Here to Find Out if You are Eligible for ERC < <

Employee Retention Credit 2023 Reddit

What is ERC and what does it do?

Employee Retention Credit – This tax credit is available to employers for keeping their employees employed during the COVID-19 epidemic.

The CARES Act created the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 in March 2021. Later, the CAA (Consolidated Appropriations Act), in December 2020, was amended and expanded by ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021), in March 2021.

Does everyone qualify for the ERC program?

ERCs are not available to all. It is only available to employers who have retained employees and paid their wages to them between March 13, 2020, and December 31, 2021.

There are also criteria for eligibility; more details can be read above, but here are the highlights:

A government-issued order temporarily or permanently suspended the organization or business due to COVID-19.
Their gross receipts in a quarter of 2020 or 2021 are less than the percentage of their gross revenue in the same quarter of 2019.
They are a recovery startup business that began operations after February 15, 2020, and has average annual gross receipts of no more than $1 million.

How much is the ERC?

The amount ERC received by a business or organization will depend upon several factors.

Among these factors are the time period, employee count, amount of qualifying wages and health insurance cost paid to eligible workers. If you want a more detailed explanation, read the above article.

How to claim the ERC?

To claim ERC benefits, an employer needs to file Form 941X or federal employment tax reform with the IRS.

Employers must submit quarterly reports detailing the amounts of the tax credit, the wages paid and the health insurance premiums that they have claimed to be reimbursed.

When is the deadline to submit the ERC form?

There are two different deadlines to file the ERC Forms: Form 941 (Form 941-X) and Form 941 (941).

Form 941 deadline is typically the last of the month following each quarter. Meanwhile, the deadline for Form 941-X is generally three years from the date that the original Form 941 was filled. It is also possible to choose a date of two years following the date on which the tax was paid.