Pay a flat fee
Stay compliant
with the IRS
We make the
process easy
But first, why is it important tochoose an ethical
filing partner?
filing partner?
While the ERC has helped hundreds of thousands of small businesses recoup from the impacts of COVID-19, there are a lot of ERC scam promotions out there ready to take your money and leave you in trouble with the IRS.
Here are some things to be aware of:
You need an ethical accounting partner who plays by the rules and makes sure your business stays in good standing.
Our Simple ERC Filing Process
Check Your Eligibility
Schedule a free call with us to determine if your business qualifies.
Crunch the Numbers
Provide us the necessary financials & we will prepare and file your ERC returns.
Deposit Your Refunds
We follow up with the IRS until they mail your checks and you are paid the correct amount.
Check Your Eligibility
Schedule a free call with us to determine if your business qualifies.
Crunch the Numbers
Provide us the necessary financials & we’ll calculate and process your form.
Deposit Your Refunds
We follow up with the IRS until they mail your checks and you are paid the correct amount.
The 2020 and 2021 Employee Retention Credit Helps Businesses Like Yours Recoup from COVID
The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is a cash refund from the IRS to reward businesses for keeping employees on payroll during the Covid 19 pandemic. One key component of the program is that the business must have W-2 employees (not contractors). Businesses who qualify, including nonprofits, are eligible for a cash refund of up to $33,000 per employee.
And yes, there’s still time to file!
Business Qualifications
If you have at least one employee, but less than 500 (The IRS generally excludes any majority S-Corp or C-Corp owners and related family members from the ERC)
And, if ANY of the following points apply to your business, you qualify.
- You were forced to reduce capacity or shut down in 2020 or 2021 due to city, county, or state regulations.
OR - You made 20% less gross revenue in Q1, Q2, or Q3 in 2021 compared to the same quarter in 2019, or you made 20% less in Q4 2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019.
OR - You made 50% less gross revenue in a calendar quarter in 2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019.
OR - Businesses started after February 2020 are eligible to receive up to $50,000 in Q3 2021 and up to $50,000 in Q4 2021 as recovery startups.
Why choose Beach Cities Accounting For Your ERC Filing?
Many complex calculations are involved in receiving the ERC. Specialized knowledge is extremely helpful due to the ever-changing IRS guidance. Of course, businesses want to maximize the benefit of all government programs, including the ERC, PPP loan forgiveness, Restaurants Revitalization Program, COVID sick pay, COVID Family Leave pay, R&D tax credits, and government grants and contracts. However, you are not allowed to double dip between different programs, so submitting correct documentation is essential.
We’ve spent hundreds of hours navigating the nuances between the PPP loan and the Employee Retention Credit to strategically maximize the amount of money we can obtain for our clients.
Our ERC Stats
We've put over
$0 Million
Back into our clients’ bank accounts$0
Average payout to restaurant clients$0
Average payout to non-restaurant clients
FAQ Questions
About ERC
About ERC
The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is an IRS refund designed to give out aid to employers who paid their employees while suffering hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses can qualify in several ways. Eligibility began in March 2020 and extended until the end of 2021 (although not every business is eligible for 4th quarter 2021).
If you are an employer who had employees on payroll in 2020 and/or 2021, you have come to the right place to learn more.
Many businesses received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the pandemic. Companies can receive ERC even if they already received PPP money. You cannot count the same wages for both (no double dipping), but often, there is plenty of payroll to go around for both PPP and ERC even in overlapping periods.
No, the ERC is not a loan. The IRS will send you checks for the ERC.
The IRS does not offer direct deposit for the ERC. The IRS will send checks for each eligible quarter along with interest.
Generally, the payment from the IRS takes three to four months after submission.
2020
You are eligible for up to $5,000 in ERC per employee in 2020. The $5,000 is based on 50% of eligible employee wages and healthcare premiums during the period of eligibility, capped at $10,000 per employee for the entire year.
2021
You are eligible for up to $7,000 per quarter in ERC for each employee in 2021. The $7,000 is based on 70% of all eligible employee wages and healthcare premiums, capped at $10,000 per employee per quarter.
The maximum amount of ERC you can receive for each employee is $26,000 ($5,000 from 2020, and $7,000 from each of the three quarters in 2021). A few businesses can qualify for more than $26k per employee if they started their business after February 15, 2020.
There are three main ways that a business can qualify for the ERC:
1. Significant Decline in Gross Receipts
The gross receipts (revenue) test is the most common and straightforward way for a business to qualify. The calculation is based on comparing quarters in 2020 and 2021 to their respective quarter in 2019. If there was a significant drop in revenue as defined by the IRS that quarter is eligible for the ERC. In 2020, significant means a 50% or greater decline in gross receipts compared to the same quarter in 2019. In 2021, you only need a 20% decline in gross receipts compared to the same quarter in 2019 for it to count as significant. The IRS excludes PPP amounts in the gross receipts test.
2. Full or Partial Suspended Operations due to Government Orders
Businesses qualify based on this criteria if they were forced to reduce capacity or shut down in 2020 and/or 2021 due to city, country, or state regulations. For example, if your city required you to suspend operations for a period, you would be eligible for ERC during the shutdown. Qualifying in this way requires you to figure out the exact dates for mandates and how they affected your business. Moreover, you must show that the shutdown had a nominal impact on your business.
Supply chain disruption from government orders is the rarest and most difficult to prove for ERC qualification. A specific government order must have caused the disruption and it has to have had a direct impact on your business. The mandate must have been in response to Covid-19, not for any other reason. Additionally, your business cannot have been able to source supply in another way.
3. Recovery Start-up Businesses
Finally, if your business started operations after February 15, 2020, and your average annual revenue was under $1 million, you qualify for quarters 3 and 4 of 2021. There is a cap of $50,000 per quarter under this qualification.
Only the wages of W-2 employees can be used for the ERC (if you pay Social Security taxes on an employee’s wages then you know they are a W-2 employee). Payments to independent contractors cannot be used.
As an added bonus, if you provided health care insurance to your employees, a portion of your share of the expense can also be eligible for ERC.
Majority owners of the business and their family members’ wages are not allowed to be used in ERC calculations. See the list below for who is considered a family member:
- Child or descendant of a child
- Brother, sister, stepbrother, or stepsister
- Father or mother or an ancestor of either
- Stepfather or stepmother
- Niece or nephew
- Aunt or uncle
- Son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law
You claim the ERC by amending your 941 with a 941X for each quarter that you qualify. This amendment is then mailed to the IRS. Finally, you wait to receive your checks in the mail!
It depends on where you go. Many firms charge flat fees ranging from 20% to 30% of total ERC refunds. This seems unnecessarily high considering these funds exist to help businesses recover from the pandemic. Look for firms charging based on the difficulty of the calculation, not the amount of ERC. At Beach Cities Accounting we charge a reasonable amount based on the complexity of the calculation. See below for Client Success Examples and fees.
In summary, the Employee Retention Credit is a gift to businesses that kept people employed while they were harmed by the pandemic.
