Updates to employee retention credit present significant opportunities for employers

On Dec. 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) was signed into law, comprising several bills that provide continued economic relief from the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief among this relief is an extended and expanded employee retention credit (ERC), featuring sweeping changes impacting its availability both retroactively and prospectively.

Due to the prospective nature of certain notable changes to the now extended ERC, the CAA, in effect, creates an entirely new credit for 2021 that is separate and distinct from the ERC available for 2020, and appears to offer a significant opportunity for many employers. Employers are strongly encouraged to work with their tax advisors to explore eligibility in both 2020 and 2021, to ascertain if one or more opportunities are presented.

Retroactive changes

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act incentivized employee retention by offering a payroll tax credit based on employee wages paid or incurred from March 13, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020. However, the CARES Act prohibited Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan recipients from also taking an ERC. Given the immense popularity of the PPP, this limitation excluded numerous employers from eligibility for the credit. The CAA changes this by striking this prohibition from the CARES Act and allowing employers to potentially benefit from both the PPP and the ERC. The CAA also codifies certain guidance previously provided by the Internal Revenue Service pertaining to gross receipts for tax-exempt entities and treatment of certain allocable healthcare expenses such as qualified wages.

For those employers that already received a PPP loan in 2020 and are looking to take advantage of the ERC in 2020, it’s important to understand both how the credit works and that the rules remain unchanged for 2020. Broadly, the ERC is a refundable quarterly payroll tax credit against certain employer payroll taxes. The ERC is available to employers of all sizes that have experienced either (1) a full or partial suspension in their operations as a result of governmental order (Suspension Test) or (2) a significant decline (i.e., greater than 50%) in gross receipts due to COVID-19 (Gross Receipts Test).

For the 2020 credit, the amount of the credit is 50% of qualified wages paid or incurred from March 13, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020. Qualified wages are limited to $10,000 per employee for the entire year — allowing up to $5,000 in credit per employee. Wages that can be treated as “qualified” hinge on whether an employer is a large or small employer.