Why Employee Retention Tax Credit And Ppp

First reason, the employee retention credit for both 2020 and 2021 is now readily available to PPP recipients, but naturally you can't double dip. You can't get PPP for the hundred thousand dollars you paid your workers and then turn around and declare the employee retention credit on those wages. The federal government doesn't look too fondly on paying your payroll for you through the PPP and then you claiming a credit versus the taxes you pay the federal government on those salaries that the federal government paid for you. That makes sense. Now, there's some preparation here. If you got PPP and you are eligible for the employee retention credit, then when you do your PPP forgiveness application, you require to select the very best covered period that will get you complete PPP forgiveness however likewise maximize your employee retention credit.



For PPP forgiveness, you desire to fill up that payroll bucket with as lots of expenses as possible that don't count for employee retention credit functions. You can't claim the employee retention credit on state unemployment insurance contributions, but state joblessness insurance coverage contributions count toward PPP forgiveness, see? So you 'd want to dump all your state unemployment insurance contributions on your PPP forgiveness application to leave as much ordinary wages as possible to take the employee retention credit on.

So this can get really technical really fast and it's really situation particular in regards to optimizing PPP vs. ERC and my firm has tools to figure this stuff out for you, I'm not going to go into all that here, but just understand that you really have to do the math when doing your PPP forgiveness to ensure you're not leaving anything on the table in regards to the employee retention credit. Another thing to note is you can't subtract the wages you declared the employee retention credit on, and that makes sense too, why should the government offer you a deduction for these salaries that they currently offered you a credit for? Essentially the credit is tax-effected. Alright, sorry for getting a little sidetracked there, I simply enjoy talking about this stuff, however let's discuss another reason that the employee retention credit is more attractive now than it was in 2015, which is that it's simpler to get approved for the employee retention credit in 2021. In 2020, for a quarter to get approved for the employee retention credit, you had to reveal a 50% reduction in gross invoices compared to the exact same calendar quarter in 2019.

In 2021, for a quarter to qualify for the employee retention credit, you only require to show a 20% reduction in gross invoices compared to the very same calendar quarter in 2019. So this suggests much more businesses will qualify. My service, for instance, experienced a 26% decrease in gross receipts, comparing Q1 2019 to Q1 2021, and it was a similar story last year too.

So I didn't receive the 2020 employee retention credit initially, due to the fact that I got very first round of PPP cash and 2nd due to the fact that my service didn't suffer that large 50% decline required to qualify for the employee retention credit last year.But for 2021, at least for Q1, yeah, my organization qualifies. Also, for 2021, for any quarter, you can choose to utilize the lookback quarter, suggesting that, for example, even if your Q1 2021 gross receipts aren't at least 20% lower than your Q1 2019 gross invoices, you can compare for purposes of determining eligibility for the employee retention credit for Q1 2021, you can compare Q4 2020 to Q4 2019. Implication here is that if you get approved for Q1 2021 based upon Q1 2021's gross receipts, you will likewise receive Q2 2021 because you certified in the lookback quarter of Q1 2021.

Exact same thing for Q2 to Q3 and Q3 to Q4, so generally if you simply receive Q1 and Q3 2021, you also receive Q2 and Q4 based upon the lookback. Likewise, even if you didn't have an adequate decrease in profits, you can certify for the employee retention credit if you were required to totally or partly suspend operations in your business during any calendar quarter in 2020 or 2021 due to state or federal orders, in which case you are eligible for the employee retention credit during that period of full or partial shutdown.

Common example, you own a dining establishment, and your guv signed an executive order stating that you require to shut down indoor dining. That is an example of a partial shutdown. Not only are more companies qualified for the employee retention credit thanks to these brand-new laws, making PPP receivers eligible for the employee retention credit though not on the same earnings and making more organizations eligible through the 20% decline limit rather than the 50% decrease threshold, however the 2021 credit is likewise more profitable than the 2020 credit.

This is due to the fact that for 2020, the employee retention credit was equal to 50% of all qualified salaries for 2020, the employee retention credit amounted to 50% of all certified wages you paid workers in between March 12, 2020, and December 31, 2020, with a limitation of $10,000 in salaries for that entire period. So the maximum 2020 credit per employee was $5,000. Okay, however that's absolutely nothing compared to the 2021 credit due to the fact that for 2021, the credit amounts to 70% of certified incomes per staff member paid from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021, limited to $10,000 in wages per staff member ... for that entire period? No. Per quarter. So for 2021 the percentage is more (70% in 2021 vs. 50% in 2020) and you can take it on up to $10,000 in incomes per staff member per quarter, so we're discussing a maximum credit of $7,000 per worker per quarter. If you're eligible all four quarters, $7,000 times four is $28,000. That's right, folks, the optimum 2021 employee retention credit is $28,000 per staff member. That's huge. That's a godsend to many company owner right now. So you see what I indicate now, right, how the employee retention credit has gone from unsightly duckling in 2020 to beautiful swan in 2021, right? And by the method, by the method, certified salaries includes employer-paid health insurance premiums.


If you got PPP and you are qualified for the employee retention credit, then when you do your PPP forgiveness application, you need to pick the finest covered duration that will get you complete PPP forgiveness but likewise maximize your employee retention credit.



Alright, sorry for getting a little sidetracked there, I just enjoy talking about this stuff, but let's talk about another reason why the employee retention credit is more appealing now than it was last year, and that is that it's much easier to certify for the employee retention credit in 2021. I didn't qualify for the 2020 employee retention credit initially, due to the fact that I got very first round of PPP money and second since my company didn't suffer that big 50% decline required to qualify for the employee retention credit last year.But for 2021, at least for Q1, yeah, my service qualifies. Not only are more companies eligible for the employee retention credit thanks to these brand-new laws, making PPP receivers eligible for the employee retention credit though not on the exact same incomes and making more organizations eligible through the 20% decrease limit rather than the 50% decline limit, however the 2021 credit is likewise more rewarding than the 2020 credit.

Not bad, however that's nothing compared to the 2021 credit since for 2021, the credit is equivalent to 70% of certified salaries per employee paid from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021, restricted to $10,000 in incomes per employee ... for that entire time duration?