The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) – sometimes called the Employee Retention Tax Credit or ERTC – is a refundable tax credit for certain eligible businesses and tax-exempt organizations that had employees and were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The requirements are different depending on the time period for which you claim the credit. The ERC is not available to individuals.

Eligibility Highlights

The credit is available to eligible employers that paid qualified wages to some or all employees after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2022. Eligibility and credit amount vary depending on when the business impacts occurred. The ERC is not available to individuals.

Generally, businesses and tax-exempt organizations that qualify are those that:

• Were shut down by a government order due to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 or the first three calendar quarters of 2021, or

• Experienced the required decline in gross receipts during the eligibility periods during 2020 or the first three calendar quarters of 2021, or

• Qualified as a recovery startup business for the third or fourth quarters of 2021

Eligible employers must have paid qualified wages to claim the credit.

Eligible employers can claim the ERC on an original or adjusted employment tax return for a period within those dates.