Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC): Critical Eligibility Questions

Has your accountant mentioned the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC)? An ERC is a financial benefit from the federal government that employers receive in the form of a refundable, advanceable tax credit. Many employers will be able to claim up to $28,000 per employee. (MP’s payroll services experts have been able to help hundreds of clients claim an ERC of over $100,000 with our ERC services.) For those employers that are still unsure if their business or nonprofit organization might be eligible for an ERC, MP’s HR and payroll experts offer simple qualifying questions. Just one “yes” answer may be enough to qualify an organization for significant pandemic financial aid via an Employee Retention Credit.

16 Critical ERC Eligibility Questions

1. Did your business ever need to operate at a lowered capacity during the pandemic due to government orders?

2. Was your business ever impacted in its ability to serve clients or customers due to supplier chain issues created by government orders during the pandemic?

3. Were employee hours ever limited by government orders?

4. Did you need to reduce hours to clean and sanitize due to government orders?

5. Did you need to reduce hours to limit the selling of alcohol due to government orders?

6. Were your employees ever unable to use your physical workspace or your organization’s physical assets due to government orders?

7. Did your employees ever need to work remotely due to government orders, resulting in a limitation on their performance?

8. Was there every any restriction on the use of your organization’s physical space due to government orders, thus affecting its ability to serve customers and clients?

9. Did your business ever have a limitation on its gatherings due to government orders, thus affecting its operations?

10. Was there ever a partial or complete shutdown of your organization due to government orders?

11. Were your employees ever unable to go to work due to the pandemic or government orders?

12. Did any government orders obstruct your business from operating at its maximum capacity?

13. Were your employees ever restricted from working on-premises due to government orders?

14. Did your clients or customers need to socially distance in your business locations due to government orders?

15. Were your hours limited in any way due to government orders?

16. Did your business ever experience a disruption from your service providers due to government orders?