Tax credits under this program are fully refundable to eligible employers. To be eligible, employers needed to keep employees on their payroll. The non-refundable portion is the employer's portion of the social security tax. The notice includes guidance on how employers who received a PPP loan can retroactively claim the employee withholding tax credit.
In addition to the Employee Retention Credit, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) established COVID-19 tax credits. For most taxpayers, the refundable credit exceeds payroll taxes paid in a credit-generating period. The credit is deducted from the employer's share of the Social Security tax, but the excess is refundable according to normal procedures. The employee withholding credit is a fully refundable tax credit that eligible employers claim against certain labor taxes.
Instead, the employer must reduce the wage deductions on your income tax return for the tax year in which you are an eligible employer for ERC purposes. Learn more about this tax credit option by exploring the Q&As Employee Retention Credit below. If your credit ends up being greater than your Social Security tax liability, you will receive a refund from the IRS. The Employee Retention Credit is available to churches and other faith-based organizations that were affected by government-mandated capacity restrictions for meetings or experienced significant decreases in gross revenues.
COVID-19 tax credits help employers pay for coronavirus-related paid sick and family leave under the FFCRA. For more information on the employee retention credit, visit the Cherry Bekaert ERC Guidance Center or contact Martin Karamon. Because the coronavirus adversely affects businesses across the country, there are a number of coronavirus payroll tax credits available to help employers. Previously, the Consolidated Appropriations Act expanded qualifications to include businesses that applied for a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), including borrowers from the initial PPP round who were not originally eligible to claim the tax credit.
The retroactive termination of the Employee Retention Credit caused a lot of confusion and concern about penalties for both business owners and accountants. If an employer discovers that they were an eligible employer during a previous quarter in which they did not claim the ERC, they can claim the credit retroactively by filing an adjusted quarterly federal income tax return from the employer or a request for reimbursement on IRS Form 941-X. The IRS has security barriers in place to prevent salary increases that would count toward the credit once the employer is eligible for the employee retention credit.
