The ERTC is a refundable credit that can be claimed by businesses on qualified wages and certain health insurance costs paid to employees. Employers that qualify, as well as borrowers who took out a loan under the initial PMP, can claim credit for 50 percent of qualified wage payments, up to $10,000 per worker annually, for wages paid from March 13 through December 31, 2020. Employers who are qualified, including PPP beneficiaries, can claim a credit up to 70% on eligible wages paid. Additional, the maximum amount of qualified wages that are eligible for the credit is $10,000 per employee per quarter.
Examples of Employer's Eligibility that Qualify for an Employee-Retention Tax Credit
For those who need to know how to change Form 941 in order to claim credit, the IRS notice is a good reference. You can retroactively file Form 941X to claim the credit for the quarter in question where the qualified wages were earned.
Here are some tips to help you make employee retention credit a reality. First, ensure your credits are always accessible to employees. Your credits should be easy to understand. Employees should be able to easily earn credits by offering a variety opportunities to do so. Fourth, ensure that rewards are attractive enough for employees to want them.
Notice 2021-49 of the IRS clarified that Recovery Startups can use all qualified employee wages to claim the credit. Noting that this is determined for each quarter, it should be noted that the determination of whether this category applies to them is done using quarterly assessments. If one of the two other categories, gross receipt decline or partial suspension, applies to 3rd Quarter but not to 4th Quarter, they will not be considered a recovery start-up in that quarter. However, they could still qualify for recovery startup status in the 4th Quarter.
This was evident with the PPP loans, and it is currently with the Employee Retention Tax Credit. Retroactively, the ERTC deadline was January 1, 2022. However, it has been pushed back to October 1, 2021. This resulted in qualification changes.