“Free money” might be on the way for businesses because now they might be eligible for Employee Retention Credit or ERC Program through the CARES act.
Initially ERC was not applicable for businesses that applied for the Paycheck Protection Program or PPP – however that is no longer the case.
Businesses owners are invited in an upcoming event this Thursday, which will be hosted by the ERC group, where they can not only network, they can also learn if they are eligible for the ERC program as well.
“So we are having an event at 5:30 this Thursday at the VIP Chinese Restaurant. It is open to any employers that had employees during the pandemic, it is completely free for them. We ask that you do RSVP in advance, you can RSVP by emailing us at, info@gotERC.com, but really we’re going to have free drinks, free food, we’re having some raffles, everything like that. It’s really just an opportunity for business owners to get together and network – there hasn’t been a lot of that since the pandemic so we’re really trying to get everyone together,” said ERC Group Tax Consultant Tina Azarvand.
In an interview with PNC, Azarvand gave details on what the ERC program is, saying, “Initially anyone who took a PPP loan was actually prohibited from filing for the ERC. Congress actually changed that rule and said that businesses that took a PPP loan can also now go back and file for ERC and there’s still over a year left to do that.”
When asked how businesses can apply for the Employee Retention Credit program, Azarvand said that’s where her group comes in to help.
“Our firm we handle the whole process and then we do an analysis free of charge for any business. So we’ll let them know whether or not they’re eligible for the program. For them it’s really a matter of gathering some documents and we handle all the applicable research and the filings, everything like that. All they have to do is provide the records for us.”
Those documents can include, quarterly profit and loss statements, quarterly payroll information, quarterly payroll tax returns as this is the payroll tax credit with the IRS, and the PPP loan applications as well.
As for how much businesses can receive if they are eligible for the program, Azarvand says, “you can get up to $26K per employee refunded to you from the IRS for having paid people from the pandemic. It’s based on the wages, tips, and any healthcare benefits that were paid on behalf of those employees.”
Azarvand added that their firm will handle finding out how much businesses are eligible to receive per employee if they qualify.
“There’s a huge misconception with this program that you need to have suffered a reduction in your Gross receipts to qualify, but one of those big changes with this program is that the IRS actually issued guidance on how to qualify and businesses impacted by government orders. So think of a restaurant that couldn’t fill their capacity because of restrictions, they can qualify through those dates regardless of their gross receipts. So even if they were able to keep afloat during the pandemic and they didn’t lose enough money to qualify for round 2 of PPP that doesn’t prohibit them from ERC. Because there’s two completely separate tests and people don’t know that because that guidance wasn’t issued for another year,” she said.
Business owners have until 3:30pm tomorrow to RSVP for the event.
