CLAIM YOUR ONCE IN A LIFETIME OVERPAYMENTS…
DID YOU KNOW?
More businesses and nonprofits are receiving thousands in refunds because of amendments made to the CARES Act. If you had W-2 employees, you may be eligible to receive overpayments you made on your taxes for years 2020 and/or 2021 from the U.S. Treasury in the form of a check.
Did your organization receive PPP loans?
Even if you DID, you can now potentially qualify for this one-time tax overpayment. Don’t miss out and assume you don’t qualify, as there are over 1,000 ways to qualify now, because of COVID process impacts that are included in the updated legislation.
If you had W-2 employees during 2020 and/or 2021, would you be opposed to investing 10 – 15 minutes with one of our advisors who can expertly speak to your specific situation?
Click this link or the client rainbow image below, to schedule your complimentary 15-minute call with one of our experts.
Just some of the industries and companies served by Bottom Line Concepts are displayed on the client rainbow image below, the outstanding company my team and I are referring businesses and nonprofits to that had at least 5 full-time W-2 employees…( We are helping smaller organizations that had 2 – 4 employees also. If this is your situation, please get in touch.)
All claims are filed and completed on a contingency basis, no upfront fees for consultations or file work until you receive your funds.
NOTE: I receive compensation as a referral partner, that comes out of the contingency fees our ERC partners charge clients for work performed. 20% of compensation received is donated to causes and charities that I personally support, such as The WILD Foundation, St. Jude, The Rainforest Trust, The American Wild Horse Campaign, The Center for Biological Diversity and World Vision, with plans to increase this giving percentage, as well as adding more causes and charities to this list as things progress.
PARTIAL LIST OF EMPLOYEE RETENTION CREDIT QUALIFIERS & HELPFUL LINKS:
Dear Prospective Applicants,
During the course of our outreach, we are finding that there is much misinformation as well as confusion regarding the Employee Retention Credit program and whether a business or non-profit qualifies.
The CARES Act was first amended in early 2021, and there have been six subsequent amendments. There are now over 1,000 qualifying conditions, a handful of the most common ones are listed below.
Under the original legislation, businesses or non-profits that took PPP loans could not qualify or apply for ERC.
This is now not the case – even if you received PPP loans, you may also be eligible for ERC. It is no longer an “either/or” situation, and the parameters of qualifying have expanded to include operational impacts, not just a percentage reduction in revenues.
Even if your organization did not suffer a revenue reduction, was deemed essential, or even had an INCREASE in revenue, you may still qualify.
SOME EXAMPLE QUALIFIERS FOR THE ERC PROGRAM INCLUDE:
Change in business hours
Shutdowns of your supply chains or vendors
Reduction in workforce or employee workloads
Inability to visit a client’s job site
Additional spacing requirements for employees and customers due to social distancing
Tasks or work that could not be done from home or while transitioning to remote work conditions
Lack of group meetings
Partial or full suspension of operations
Reduction in services able to be offered
A disruption in your business (division or department closures)
Supply chain impacts, i.e., suppliers were unable to make deliveries of critical goods or materials
Change in job roles/functions
Lack of travel, impeded travel or having to make special travel arrangements for employees due to distancing requirements
Here are some important points to consider for your organization:
Even if your business received a PPP loan (or loans) in the past, you may now qualify for the ERC program.
ERC is a refund in the form of a grant (conservative estimate is $7,000 per W-2 employee is the average for organizations that received two PPP loans (Paycheck Protection Program, but this figure will vary)
Organizations do not have to prove loss of revenue; operational impacts that you incurred may make you eligible, independent of revenue. So, even if your organization had an increase in revenues during COVID, you may still qualify for this grant.
We are assisting organizations recover taxes and wages (overpayments) they have already paid into the IRS on their W-2 employees.
To date, Bottom Line has filed over 30,000+ claims successfully, on behalf of U.S. businesses and nonprofits for returned funds totaling over $4.5 billion in refunds due.
These articles will provide additional background on recent developments with the ERC program:
AN OFTEN TYPICAL CPA RESPONSE WHEN IT COMES TO QUALIFYING FOR ERC…
We’ll sometimes hear a prospective client say, “My accountant told me I don’t qualify for the Employee Retention Credit.”
Often, well meaning accountants are basing their evaluation on the lack of a decline in gross revenue for their clients and not may not be fully aware of the qualitative aspect of eligibility, as this is not black and white in terms of numbers alone, rather based on facts and circumstances. Accountants are experts when it comes to financials. This program is a payroll credit and the legislation changes frequently, making it difficult for the majority of accounting professionals not focused solely on ERC filing work to keep up to date.
Meeting the eligibility requirements for a partial suspension is based on a set of determining factors, and leaves uncertainty for many accountants not versed in these complex aspects of the CARES Act. Many prefer to refer their clients to us, as they are not staffed for this, in many cases.
It’s understandable that accountants may only be considering a decline in gross revenue as the sole means to qualify since the program was originally created this way.
The ERC program was updated in March 2021, and the news of this largely flew under the radar for quite some time. Many people are still learning this news today (just recently, Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank fame, who now works directly with our CEO) and have not done enough due diligence on this aspect of the program.
As the program is relatively new, it is possible that an accountant doesn’t have as much experience navigating this arena as a company that primarily specializes in this type of work has.
As mentioned, many CPA firms refer their ERC client work to
Bottom Line Concepts. If you are a CPA firm that would like to explore referring clients to us, or you have a CPA that you feel may be interested in establishing a beneficial partnership, in order to help as many businesses and nonprofits as we can before the program closes, please get in touch and let’s team up!
To recap – as an accountant would typically rely solely on a quantitative data set, they require hard numbers to reach conclusions. This is why they may only consider the decline in gross revenue qualification aspect.
The second, most overlooked way to qualify for ERC is if your business or nonprofit experienced a full or partial suspension of operations. A full suspension of operations would be easy to show since a business would have been directly ordered to shut down their operations.
A partial suspension is based on facts and circumstances and meets the eligible requirements through a qualitative data set, rather than quantitative. It stands to reason that an accountant may be less inclined to navigate this area since it is not supported by hard quantitative data and remains unprecedented.
They may prefer certainty in numbers over a case narrative. And yet it is through this case narrative that a business can legitimately meet the eligible requirements for receiving their ERC refund.
Bottom Line houses leading industry experts in this specialized area of expertise and takes businesses through an extreme vetting process to make sure each client files an ethical and conservative accurate claim.
Why risk giving up thousands or even millions of dollars in tax overpayments that you made, that rightfully belong to your organization, to be used by the government for whatever purpose other than yours?
The federal government allocated 400 billion dollars for the ERC program. Their goal is for businesses and nonprofits to avail themselves of these funds. We are beyond proud to play our part when it comes to helping American businesses and nonprofit organizations receive these life changing funds. Our country and families are stronger and more resilient than ever, thanks to the expansion of the ERC program.
If you’re not opposed to finding out for certain whether you qualify, make the decision this moment and click the big green button below to schedule your appointment and have your questions answered by one of our experts for your specific situation…
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
What is ERC?
ERC, or employee retention credit was a program established by the CARES Act. It is a refundable tax credit that you can claim for your business or non-profit. ERC payments are based on qualified wages and healthcare paid to employees.
When does the ERC program end?
Available for 2020 and 3 quarters of 2021. ERC is claimed on an amended quarterly payroll tax return (Form 941X). Once the IRS processes Form 941X, a check is issued to the taxpayer for the credit amount, plus interest.
The statute of limitations for filing amended payroll tax returns is three years from the due date of the return, meaning to apply for the Employee Retention Tax Credit for the 2nd quarter of 2020, the amended return needs to be submitted by July 2023. So, there’s still time to apply for the credit.
How do I qualify?
There are two ways to qualify.
FULL OR PARTIAL SUSPENSION OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS:
- A government authority required partial or full shutdown of your business during 2020 or 2021. This includes things such as your operations being limited by commerce, inability to travel, restrictions of group meetings, limited lobby/store access. Experiencing supply chain issues is also a factor. All in all, there are approximately 1,200 different operational impacts that you may have experienced that allow you to qualify, which is why we encourage you to have a brief informational call with one of our advisors, no charge or obligation.
GROSS RECEIPTS REDUCTION.
- Gross receipt reduction criteria are different for 2020 and 2021 but are measured against the current quarter as compared to 2019 pre-COVID amounts.
If I didn’t have a decline in revenue, can I still qualify?
There are two ways to qualify; EITHER a nominal change (10% or more) in your operations OR a revenue decline. You do not need a revenue decline to qualify, in fact many businesses had a revenue increase and have still qualified.
If I received a PPP loan(s) can I still qualify for ERC?
Under section 206(c) of the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, an employer that is eligible for the employee retention credit (ERC) can claim the ERC even if the employer has received a Small Business Interruption Loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Is my ERC refund considered taxable income?
The refund is a deduction in the payroll expense for the period that the credit is for. The interest that the IRS pays on the credit is considered taxable income in the period that the payment is received.
Is the commission paid to Bottom Line Concepts a tax deductible expense?
Yes, for example if a company’s ERC refund was $100 and BLC commission was $30 then the company would lose taxable expense deductions for the net $70 and the net effect would be an increase to its taxable income.
Should I be concerned about being audited?
As with any fillings that are done with the IRS there is always a chance that you can get audited but this filing alone isn't something that would necessarily trigger an audit.
With the volume of returns and refunds that the IRS is processing and their short staff levels, it is highly unlikely as the audit rate for employment related tax returns for the last year that the data was available for was under 3 per 10,000 returns.
In the unlikely event that you do get audited, while Bottom Line can’t represent you, the company will assist you by providing all of the supporting documentation to back up the work that was done on your behalf. It is in Bottom Line's best interests to assist clients with any audit challenge, as any payments made to Bottom Line are guaranteed to be returned to the client if their claim was unsuccessful.