Why Employee Retention Specialists

Factor, the employee retention credit for both 2020 and 2021 is now readily available to PPP receivers, but of course you can't double dip. You can't get PPP for the hundred thousand dollars you paid your staff members and then turn around and declare the employee retention credit on those earnings. If you got PPP and you are qualified for the employee retention credit, then when you do your PPP forgiveness application, you require to pick the finest covered duration that will get you full PPP forgiveness but also maximize your employee retention credit.



Also, for PPP forgiveness, you wish to fill that payroll container with as lots of costs as possible that do not count for employee retention credit functions. For example, you can't declare the employee retention credit on state joblessness insurance coverage contributions, but state unemployment insurance contributions count towards PPP forgiveness, see? So you 'd wish to discard all your state unemployment insurance coverage contributions on your PPP forgiveness application to leave as much ordinary wages as possible to take the employee retention credit on.

This can get extremely technical really quickly and it's very scenario particular in terms of optimizing PPP vs. ERC and my firm has tools to figure this stuff out for you, I'm not going to dig into all that here, however simply understand that you truly have to do the math when doing your PPP forgiveness to make sure you're not leaving anything on the table in terms of the employee retention credit. Another thing to note is you can't subtract the incomes you claimed the employee retention credit on, which makes good sense too, why should the federal government provide you a deduction for these salaries that they already provided you a credit for? Essentially the credit is tax-effected. Alright, sorry for getting a little sidetracked there, I simply enjoy discussing this stuff, but let's talk about another reason why the employee retention credit is more appealing now than it was in 2015, which is that it's easier to get approved for the employee retention credit in 2021. In 2020, for a quarter to get approved for the employee retention credit, you needed to show a 50% decrease in gross receipts compared to the same calendar quarter in 2019.

In 2021, for a quarter to certify for the employee retention credit, you only require to reveal a 20% decline in gross receipts compared to the very same calendar quarter in 2019. So this indicates much more organizations will certify. My service, for instance, experienced a 26% decline in gross receipts, comparing Q1 2019 to Q1 2021, and it was a comparable story in 2015 too.

I didn't qualify for the 2020 employee retention credit initially, because I got first round of PPP cash and 2nd because my organization didn't suffer that big 50% decrease required to qualify for the employee retention credit last year.But for 2021, at least for Q1, yeah, my organization certifies. For 2021, for any quarter, you can choose to use the lookback quarter, meaning that, for example, even if your Q1 2021 gross invoices aren't at least 20% lower than your Q1 2019 gross invoices, you can compare for purposes of identifying eligibility for the employee retention credit for Q1 2021, you can compare Q4 2020 to Q4 2019. Ramification here is that if you receive Q1 2021 based upon Q1 2021's gross receipts, you will likewise get approved for Q2 2021 because you qualified in the lookback quarter of Q1 2021.

Exact same thing for Q2 to Q3 and Q3 to Q4, so generally if you just qualify for Q1 and Q3 2021, you likewise receive Q2 and Q4 based upon the lookback. Likewise, even if you didn't have a sufficient decrease in income, you can certify for the employee retention credit if you were needed to totally or partially suspend operations in your service during any calendar quarter in 2020 or 2021 due to state or federal orders, in which case you are qualified for the employee retention credit during that period of full or partial shutdown.

Typical example, you own a dining establishment, and your governor signed an executive order mentioning that you require to shut down indoor dining. That is an example of a partial shutdown. Likewise, not only are more services eligible for the employee retention credit thanks to these new laws, making PPP receivers eligible for the employee retention credit though not on the very same incomes and making more businesses eligible through the 20% decrease threshold instead of the 50% decline threshold, but the 2021 credit is also more profitable than the 2020 credit.

This is since for 2020, the employee retention credit amounted to 50% of all certified salaries for 2020, the employee retention credit amounted to 50% of all certified incomes you paid employees between March 12, 2020, and December 31, 2020, with a limitation of $10,000 in wages for that whole period. The maximum 2020 credit per worker was $5,000. Not bad, however that's absolutely nothing compared to the 2021 credit since for 2021, the credit is equivalent to 70% of qualified earnings per worker paid from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021, restricted to $10,000 in wages per employee ... for that entire time period? No. Per quarter. 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 talking about an optimum credit of $7,000 per employee per quarter. If you're eligible all 4 quarters, $7,000 times four is $28,000. That's right, folks, the optimum 2021 employee retention credit is $28,000 per employee. That's big. That's a godsend to numerous entrepreneur today. So you see what I mean now, right, how the employee retention credit has gone from awful duckling in 2020 to stunning swan in 2021, right? And by the method, by the way, certified wages consists of employer-paid medical insurance premiums.


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 best 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 simply enjoy talking about this stuff, however let's talk about another factor why the employee retention credit is more attractive now than it was last year, and that is that it's much easier to qualify 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 cash and second since my company didn't suffer that big 50% decline required to certify for the employee retention credit last year.But for 2021, at least for Q1, yeah, my business certifies. Not just are more businesses eligible for the employee retention credit thanks to these new laws, making PPP recipients eligible for the employee retention credit though not on the very same incomes and making more organizations eligible through the 20% decline threshold rather than the 50% decrease threshold, however the 2021 credit is also more lucrative than the 2020 credit.

Not bad, however that's absolutely nothing compared to the 2021 credit because for 2021, the credit is equal to 70% of qualified earnings per worker paid from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021, limited to $10,000 in earnings per worker ... for that whole time period?