How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements

COVID-19 has caused hardships and unprecedented challenges for businesses and organizations all over the world. Due to lockdowns and social distancing as well as health and safety measures, many employers have seen their revenues and expenses drop, while operations are disrupted.

To help employers keep their employees, and to provide them with health insurance during these difficult times, the U.S. federal government has created the Employee Retention credit (ERC), an refundable tax credits that can offset some of payroll costs for employers who qualify.

The ERC has been in place since 2020 when the CARES Act was passed. Later, in 2021 and again in 2023, it was modified and extended by new legislation. This article will provide an overview of the ERC and its workings, as well as how to apply for it in different time periods.

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? How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements

Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a refundable tax credits, is available for tax-exempt businesses or organizations with employees that were affected in any way by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The ERC is a refundable tax credit that was created by 2020’s CARES Act and has been extended and changed by subsequent legislations of 2021 and 2023. The ERC is designed to encourage employers to retain their employees and offer them health benefits in times of crisis.

The Main Features and Benefits

Credit is a fixed percentage of qualifying wages and health care costs paid by employers to employees.
The percentage and the limit vary depending on the time period for which the credit is claimed. In 2020, 50% of the employees will be eligible for the credit, with a maximum limit of $5,000 per employee. In 2021, 70% of the employees will be eligible for the maximum. The limit per employee is $7,000. For 2023, there will be a 70 percent percentage for the initial two quarters of the year and a 40 percent percentage for the last two. There will also be a limit of $10,000 per employee each quarter. How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements
The credit amount is fully refundable, meaning if the credit exceeds your employer’s tax liability on payroll, you will receive the excess as a reimbursement.
Employers who have experienced a significant drop in gross receipts or a complete or partial suspension of their operations as a result of a government order relating to COVID-19 can claim the credit. In addition, employers who qualify as recovery-startup businesses for 2023 can also claim the credits.
The credit may be claimed by filing a modified employment tax return (941-X), or by reducing the employment tax deposits to prepare for the credit. By submitting Form 7020, employers can request an early payment of their credit.

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Criteria for Eligibility

To qualify for the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), an employer must meet one of the following two main criteria:

The employer’s business or organisation was suspended in whole or in part by a government decree due to the COVID-19, during a quarter calendar of 2020 or 21
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 are eligible for the ERC, regardless of whether their business has been suspended or if revenue has declined.

Business Suspension

A government order may suspend a business, or even partially suspend it.

The order restricts the commerce, travel and group meetings that are prohibited by COVID-19
The order will affect the operation of the business or the organization
Order applies to any calendar year in 2020 or 21

Examples of government orders which can lead to a suspension of business include:

Stay-athome orders restrict non-essential enterprises from operating
Businesses are restricted in their operating hours by curfews
Limits to the number of clients or customers that a company can serve
Travel bans and restrictions that restrict the ability for a company to transport services or goods

To determine if the business was partially or fully suspended by an official order, employers must consider:

The nature and extent of the order, and its impact on the operation of your business
The duration, frequency of the orders and their alignment with the four quarters calendar.
The impact of an order on revenue and expenses

Revenue Drop

It is considered a significant decrease in gross revenue if a business has:

The gross receipts for any calendar quarter in 2020 were less than 50% of its gross receipts for 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 refer to the total of all money received or accrued during a company’s annual accounting period. Gross receipts include:

Sales of Goods & Services
Interest, dividends, rents, royalties, and annuities
Contributions are gifts, donations and grants How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements
Membership fees and dues
Gross profits from trades and businesses

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

The same method for accounting (cash-based or accrual-based) that was used to file the federal income Tax return for 2019
It will use the same calendar year quarters for 2019/2021 as it did to file its federal Employment Tax Returns (Form 941).
It is the same income sources that were reported on the federal income tax returns for 2019.

Recovery Startup Business

The recovery startup business is one that:

Began carrying on any trade or business after February 15, 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

A recovery startup business can qualify for the ERC regardless of whether it meets the criteria of business suspension or revenue decline. However, there are some limitations and special rules that apply to recovery startup businesses, such as:

The maximum credit per quarter will be $50,000
The credit is only applicable to wages paid for the third and fourth quarters of 2021
Credits for recovery startups are subject to a maximum of $250 million.

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Credit Amounts and Calculation

There are different ERC rules and amounts for different employers and periods of time. The ERC is primarily affected by:

How much of the employer’s income was affected in 2019 by the pandemic.
Employer’s number of employees in 2019 or 2021, and whether the employee worked or not.
How much each employee received from their employer and how they were covered by health insurance in the pandemic

Employers must complete and send IRS forms to claim ERC. The form must show the amount the employer paid for their employees’ health insurance, and how they qualified for the ERC. The IRS will then check the forms before giving the money to employers. The money can be used by the employer to pay for health insurance, to pay employees, or refunds on payroll taxes.

The ERC will no longer be available. It began in March 2019 and will finish in September 2020. The employer must claim ERC before the expiration date or when it becomes unavailable. The employer must also spend the money properly and not waste any of it. How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements

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

Time Period

The ERC has been introduced, modified, and terminated in different laws between 2020 and 2021. The credit amount depends on the period for which you claim it. The following table summarises the main features and differences between the ERCs of 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. A small employer or a large employer is determined by the number of employees who worked full-time (FTEs) in 2019 and the time period. The table below summarizes all the rules and thresholds that determine an employer’s size.

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)

Qualified Wages and Health Insurance Costs

Qualified Wages are wages that eligible employees receive during periods of suspension or decline in revenue. The list of qualified wages includes tips, bonuses, commissions, and severance payments, as well as sick leave, family leave, severance, and other compensation. Qualified salaries also include the costs of providing health coverage to eligible workers, including premiums, copays, deductibles, and coinsurance.

The calculation of qualified wages, health insurance costs and employer size depends on the time period. The following table summarizes the rules and examples for different scenarios: How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements

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

For the Internal Revenue Service to grant the Employee Retention credit (ERC), employers must file either a federal tax return for employment (Form 941), or an amended tax return for employment (Form941-X). The employer must declare the wages and health insurance premiums paid to eligible employees, as well as the credit amount claimed each quarter.

Form 941

Form 941 is used by employers to report their quarterly federal tax liabilities, which includes income tax, Medicare tax, and social security tax. Form 941 is used by the employer to claim ERC for the current quarter or future. Form 941 can be used by the employer to:

ERC reduces the amount that employers must deposit with the IRS in order to pay taxes.
The employer can request an advanced payment of the ERC credit if it exceeds taxes that they have to deposit. How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements
You can carry forward any credit balance to subsequent quarters

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

Use the most recent version of Form 941, which reflects any changes or updates to the ERC laws.
For calculating and reporting your ERC, follow the IRS’s instructions and worksheets.
Use Line 11c for the amount of qualified wages and health benefits paid to eligible employees
Use Line 13d for the credit claim amount per quarter
Line 13f is used to report any advance payment of credit received by the IRS
Use Line 24 if you require an advance credit payment.
Line 25 is the place to enter any excess credit which can be carried to a subsequent quarter.
Sign and date Form 941, and include any supporting documents and schedules.

The following are some resources and tips for filling in Form 941.

Form 941 can be submitted faster and more securely by using electronic filing (efile) or online services
Check the IRS website for updates, FAQs, and guidance on Form 941 and the ERC
Contact the IRS or a tax professional for assistance or clarification if needed

Form 941-X

The Form 941 X is used for corrections and adjustments to a Form 941. The employer can also claim the ERC retroactively by using Form 941X. The employer can use Form 941-X to: How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements

Claim refunds or credits for taxes overpaid due to the ERC
Report additional qualified wages and health insurance costs paid to eligible employees that were not reported on Form 941
You can correct any errors or omissions that may have affected the credit claimed amount on Form 941.

Employers can avoid common mistakes by filling in Form 941X correctly.

Use the latest version 941-X to reflect the updated laws and regulations that impact the ERC.
Follow the IRS instructions and worksheets for calculating the ERC and reporting it.
Use Part 2 for indicating which lines of the Form 941 need to be corrected or adjusted
Use Part 3 of Form 941 to explain why it is being amended or corrected
Line 24 is used to report additional wages and health insurance premiums paid to eligible employees.
Line 25 is the place to enter any additional credit claims for each quarter.
Use Line 26 to report any credit or refund due to the ERC claim.
Sign the form 941-X, date it and include any documents or schedules that you wish to attach.

You can find some helpful tips on how to fill out the Form 941-X here:

Filter a separate Form 941/X for every quarter that needs to be corrected or adjusted How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements
Fill out Form 941-X immediately after you find an error in Form 941
Visit the IRS website to get the latest updates, FAQs, and guidance regarding Form 941-X, the ERC, and other forms.
You can also contact a tax expert or the IRS for clarification or additional assistance.

Deadline and Statute of Limitations

The last day to file Form 941 usually falls on the last month after the end of each quarterly period. For example, Q1 2020 (January-March) Form 941 will be due on April 30, 2021. 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. After the end quarter. Form 941 for the first quarter of 2021 (January – March) is due on May 10, 2021. How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements

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 of 2020 (January through March), the deadline for Form 941 to be filed was April 30, 2020. If the employer has filed Forms 941 and paid tax by April 30th 2020, they have until April 30th 2023 to submit Form 941X. If an employers filed Forms 941 and paid taxes on June 15, 2019, the deadline is June 15, 2022.

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Conclusion

Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC), is a valuable financial benefit that helps employers to keep their employees employed and reduces the impact COVID-19 has on their organization or business.

The ERC can be claimed by filing Form 941 or Form 941-X with the IRS and reporting the qualified wages and costs of health insurance paid to eligible workers. You can claim the ERC by submitting Form 941 to the IRS. This form will ask you for the number of employees, the amount paid in qualified wages and insurance costs each quarter, and how much credit is being claimed.

Do not miss out on this opportunity if you’re an employer that meets the ERC eligibility criteria. The ERC cannot be claimed forever. There is a deadline to claim it and a statute that limits its use. Use the resources and tips provided in this article to ensure that you fill out your forms correctly and avoid common mistakes. If you need clarification or assistance, you can contact the IRS.

The ERC is a great tool for both your business and employees. It will help you to keep your employees, maintain a healthy cash flow, as well as recover from pandemic. This article is intended to help you better understand the ERC, and how it can be claimed. Thank you for reading. Stay safe.

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How To Report Employee Retention Credit On Financial Statements

What is ERC?

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.

Who is eligible for the ERC?

ERC eligibility is not universal. Employers who retained their employees and paid them wages between March 13, 2020, and December 31, 2021, are eligible.

More details are available above. But here are some of the highlights.

A government-issued order temporarily or permanently suspended the organization or business due to COVID-19.
Their gross revenues for a quarter calendar in 2020 or in 2021 were lower than a percentage compared to their gross revenues for the same period 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 is the ERC?

The amount of ERC a company or organization receives will depend on several factors.

Among these factors are the time period, employee count, amount of qualifying wages and health insurance cost paid to eligible workers. The article above provides a detailed explanation on how ERC is calculated.

How do I claim my ERC?

To receive the ERC, employers must file with the IRS a Form 941-X (revised employment tax returns) or a Federal Employment Tax Reform.

The employer must report the qualified wages and health insurance costs paid to eligible employees and the amount of credit claimed for each quarter.

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. For Form 941X, the deadline is three years following the date on which the original form 941 was filed. It is also possible to choose a date of two years following the date on which the tax was paid.