Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California

COVID-19, the pandemic that has swept across the globe in recent years, has brought unprecedented challenges and hardships to businesses and organisations around. Many employers have experienced reduced revenues, higher expenses, and disruptions to their operations because of lockdowns, distancing from social media, and health-and-safety measures.

In order to help employers retain employees and offer them health benefits in this tough time, the U.S. Government has introduced the Employee retention credit (ERC), which is a tax credit refundable that can be used by eligible employers to offset some payroll costs.

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 explain what the ERC is, how it works, and how to claim it for different time periods and eligibility criteria.

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 the Employee Retention Credit? Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California

Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is a refundable credit available to tax-exempt and for-profit organizations and businesses that have employees who were affected by COVID-19. The ERC has been created by the CARES Act for 2020. It was further extended and modified with subsequent legislation in 2021, 2023. The ERC was created to encourage employers in crisis to keep workers on their payrolls and provide them health insurance.

Main Features and Benefits

The credit is a percentage of wages and health insurance premiums paid by eligible employees. There are limits per employee, per quarter.
The credit amount and percentage vary according to the time period in which it is claimed. For 2020, the percent is 50%, and the limit is $5,000 for each employee per year. For 2021, the percentage will be 70%, and the limit per quarter is $7,000 for each employee. For 2023, the percentage is 70% for the first two quarters and 40% for the last two quarters, and the limit is $10,000 per employee per quarter. Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California
The credit is fully refundable. If the amount of credit exceeds an employer’s liability for payroll tax, the excess will then be paid back to the employer.
Employers can claim this credit if they experienced a significant decrease in gross receipts due to an order from the government relating to COVID-19. Alternatively, for 2023 only, employers who are considered recovery startup businesses can also claim the credit.
Credits can be claimed either by amending your employment tax return (Form 941)-X or by reducing your employment tax deposit in anticipation of receiving the credit. Employers can request an advance payment by submitting Form 7200.

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Eligibility Criteria

Employers who wish to qualify for Employee Retention Credit (ERC) must meet two main criteria.

A government order suspended the employer’s organization or business in full or part due to COVID-19 for a calendar quarter of 2020 or 2021
Gross receipts of an employer for a quarter calendar in 2020 or in 2021 are less than half (for 2020) and 80% (for 2021) their gross receipts from the same period in 2019.

A special rule is in place for businesses that have started operating after February 15, 2020, and whose average gross receipts per year are no more than one million dollars. These businesses can qualify for the ERC regardless of business suspension or revenue decline.

Business Suspension

A government order can either suspend or fully suspend a company or organization if the following conditions are met:

The order prohibits travel, group meetings, and commerce due to COVID-19
The order has a direct impact on the operations of an organization or business
This order is applicable to any calendar quarter of 2020 or 2021

These are some examples:

Stay-at-home orders that restrict non-essential businesses from operating
Certain businesses have curfews that limit their hours of operations
Capacity limitations that reduce the amount of customers or clientele that a firm can service
Bans on travel or restrictions on the ability to transport goods or service by a business

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 scope of the order and how it affects the operations of the business
The length and frequency of your order and the way it corresponds to the calendar quarters
The magnitude and impact of the order upon the revenue and expenses of a business

Revenue Decline

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

The gross receipts of any calendar quarter in 2020 are less than half the gross receipts of the same quarter in 2019.
The gross receipts from any calendar quarter during 2021 are less than 80% compared to the same quarter’s gross receipts from 2019.

Gross receipts are the total amount that a business or organization has received or accrued from all sources, during its annual accounting period. Gross receipts consist of:

Sales of goods and services
Rents, dividends, and annuities are examples of income streams that include interest, dividends.
Gifts, donations, and contributions Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California
Membership dues
Gross profit from business or trade

To compare gross receipts between different quarters of the year, employers must use:

The same method of account (cash, accrual or accrual) was used in filing the federal income tax return.
The same quarters in the calendar year as those used for the federal employment tax returns (Form 941) filed by 2019 and 2020/2021
The same sources of income that it reported on its federal income tax return for 2019

Recovery Startup Business

A startup that is in recovery can be defined as

You must have started your business after the 15th of February 2020
Average annual gross receipts not exceeding $1 million during the three-year period ending on the tax year immediately preceding the calendar quarterly for which the credit will be determined

It does not matter if a business meets the criteria of revenue decline or business suspension, a recovery-startup business qualifies for the ERC. However, there are some limitations and special rules that apply to recovery startup businesses, such as:

The maximum credit available 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.

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Credit Amount Calculation

ERCs have different rules and amounts depending on the length of time and type of employer. The ERC is primarily affected by:

How much the employer’s business was affected by the pandemic, either by having to close or reduce operations due to government orders or by having a big drop in income compared to 2019
The number of employees that the employer has in 2019 or 2020/2021 and whether or not they worked during the pandemic
How much the employer paid to each employee and their health insurance during the pandemic

To claim the ERC, the employer must fill out and submit a form to the IRS. 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 verify the forms, and then give the money to your employer. The employer can use the money to pay their employees and their health insurance or to get refunds or credits for their payroll taxes.

The ERC won’t be around forever. It began in March 2019 and will finish in September 2020. The employer must claim the ERC prior to its expiration or becoming unavailable. Employers must also use the money well and not waste it. Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California

You can find more information below on ERC calculation and credit amount.

Time Period

In 2020, 2021, & 2022, different laws were passed to introduce, amend, and terminate the ERC. The amount of the credit varies according to the time period that it is applied for. 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 affects the calculation of qualified wages for employees and their health insurance costs. According to the time frame and number of full-time equivalents (FTEs), an employer can be classified as a small employer or large employer. The table below summarizes the rules and thresholds for determining employer size in each time 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 are wages paid to eligible employees during a period of business suspension or revenue decline. Other forms of compensation are also included in qualified wages, such as tips, bonuses and commissions. Qualified wage also includes the cost of health insurance for eligible employees. This may include premiums, deductibles, co-pays, or co-insurance.

The size of an employer’s business and the period in which they operate will determine the definition and calculation for qualified wages and health care costs. The table below summarizes rules and examples in different scenarios. Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California

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

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Claiming and Reporting 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. The employer can also claim the ERC in Form 941 for future or current quarters. The employer can use the Form 941 for:

ERC reduces the amount that employers must deposit with the IRS in order to pay taxes.
You can ask for advance payment if your ERC exceeds the amount of taxes you have to pay. Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California
Any excess credit can be carried forward to the next quarter

To fill out Form 941 correctly and avoid common errors, the employer should:

Use the latest Form 941, which reflects all the updates and changes made to the ERC by new laws.
Follow the instructions and worksheets provided by the IRS for calculating and reporting the ERC
Use line 11c to report qualified wages paid and health insurance premiums paid to eligible employees
Use Line 13d when reporting the credit for each quarter.
Use Line 13f to declare any advance payments received from the IRS.
Use Line 24 to request a credit advance if necessary
Use Line 25 to report any credit excess that can be carried over to the next quarter.
Sign and date Form 941 and attach any supporting documents or schedules

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

Use online services (e-file or online filing) to submit Form 941, faster and with greater security.
The IRS website has updated FAQs on the ERC and Form 941.
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. The employer can also claim the ERC retroactively by using Form 941X. Form 941-X can be used by the employer to: Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California

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.
Correction of errors or omissions on Form 941 which affect credit amount claimed

Employers should avoid these common mistakes when filling out Form 941 X and ensure that they are filled out correctly.

Use the latest form 941X that reflects changes to laws that are applicable to 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 for explaining why form 941 has been corrected or adjusted
Use Line 24 to declare any additional qualified wages or health insurance costs paid by eligible employees.
Use Line 25 to claim any additional credit for each quarter.
Use Line 26 when reporting any refund or credit that you have requested as a result of claiming your ERC
Attach any supporting documents and schedules to Form 941-X.

Tips and resources on how to complete Form 941 X include:

Fill out a separate form 941-X per quarter being corrected or recalculated Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California
If you discover an error on Form 941 or make an adjustment, file Form 941X as soon as you can.
Visit the IRS website to get the latest updates, FAQs, and guidance regarding Form 941-X, the ERC, and other forms.
Contact the IRS or a tax professional for assistance or clarification if needed

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. The employer can still file Form 941 if they have deposited their taxes on time. The following quarter. For example, Q1 2020 (January to March) requires that Form 941 be returned by May 10, 2021. Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California

The deadline to file Form 941-X generally is three years after the date the original Form 941 is filed, or two years after the date the tax is paid. For Q1 2020, (January-March), the Form 941 must be filed by April 30th 2020. If an employer files Form 941 by April 30, 2020 and pays the tax on April 30 2020, then the deadline to file Form 941-X will be April 30, 2023. If an employer files Form 941 in April 2020 and pays the tax on June 15 2020, they have until June 15 2022 to file Form 941.

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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 (Eligible Employees Credit) is a tax credit that can vary depending on the time frame, the number and type of employees employed, and the amount paid in wages and insurance to employees eligible for the credit. The ERC credit can be claimed with IRS Forms 941 or 941X by reporting to them the qualified health insurance and wages costs as well as the amount claimed each quarter.

If you are an employer who meets the eligibility criteria for the ERC, you should not miss this opportunity to take advantage of this tax benefit. The ERC does not last forever. It has a deadline, and there is a statute of limitations for claiming the ERC. You should file your forms as soon as possible and use the tips and resources provided in this article to fill them out correctly and avoid common errors. You can also contact the IRS or a tax professional for assistance or clarification if needed.

ERCs can be a huge help to your organization or business and its employees. It can help you retain your workers, maintain your cash flow, and recover from the pandemic. We hope this article has helped you understand more about the ERC and how to claim it. Stay safe and thank you for reading.

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Employee Retention Credit Taxable Income California

What is ERC and what does it do?

Employee Retention Credit is an employer tax credit available to employers who kept their employees on payroll during COVID-19.

It was created in March of 2020 by the CARES Act and later extended and amended by the CAA Act of December 2020 (Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021).

Does everyone qualify for the ERC program?

The ERC is not available to everyone. Only employers who paid wages and retained employees between March 13, 2019, and December 31, 2020, are eligible.

Below are some details about eligibility.

A government order has suspended the business or organization (wholly or partially) due to COVID-19.
Their gross receipts for a calendar quarter in 2020 or 2021 were less than a percentage of their gross receipts for the same quarter in 2019.
These businesses are recovery startups that have been in operation since February 15, 2020. They also generate gross revenues of no more than $1 million on average per year.

How much does the ERC cost?

The amount of ERC that a company will receive depends on a number of factors.

Some of these include the time period and number of employees. Others are the amount paid in qualified wages or health insurance to eligible employees. You can read the article above for a more detailed explanation of how ERC is calculated.

How do I claim my ERC?

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

Employers are required to report each quarter the total amount claimed as a credit and the wages and insurance premiums paid by eligible employees.

When is the deadline to file the ERC Forms

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 can also be from two years from the date that the tax was paid, with the later date being the more preferred one.