In the face of a flood of illegitimate claims for the 雇员保留税抵免(ERTC), 美国国税局 has imposed an immediate moratorium through at least the end of 2023 on processing new claims for the credit. The reason 美国国税局 cites for the move is the risk of honest small business owners being scammed by unscrupulous promoters 谁代表他们提出有问题的索赔.
欺诈问题
的ERTC is a refundable tax credit intended for businesses that 1) continued paying employees while they were shut down due to the p和emic in 2020 和 2021, or 2) suffered significant declines in gross receipts from March 13, 2020, 至十二月三十一日, 2021. Eligible employers can receive credits worth up to $26,000 per retained employee. 的ERTC 经修订的申报表是否仍可申索.
不过，要求很严格. 具体来说，您必须具备:
- Sustained a full or partial suspension of operations due to orders from a governmental authority that limited commerce, 出差或小组会议 COVID 在2020年或2021年前三个季度，
- Experienced a significant decline in gross receipts during 2020 or a decline in gross receipts in the first three quarters of 2021, or
- Qualified as a recovery startup business — which could claim the credit for up to $50,每季度共000元, without showing suspended operations or reduced receipts — for the third or fourth quarters of 2021 (qualified recovery startups are those that began operating after February 15, 2020, 和 have annual gross receipts of less than or equal to $1 million for the three years preceding the quarter for which they are claiming the ERTC).
其他限制也适用.
尽管如此, ERTC潜在的高价值, combined with the fact that some employers can file claims for it until April 15, 2025, has led to a cottage industry of fraudulent promoters offering to help businesses claim refunds for the credit. They wield inaccurate information to generate business from innocent clients who may pay upfront fees in the thous和s of dollars or must pay the promoters a percentage of refunds they get.
Victims could end up on the hook for repayment of the credit, along with penalties 和 interest on top of the fees paid to the promoter. 此外,正如 美国国税局 所指出的, 发起人可能会遗漏关键细节, unleashing a “domino effect of tax problems” for unsuspecting businesses.
ERTC暂停的影响
Payouts on legitimate claims already filed will continue during the moratorium period. 但是纳税人应该期待更长的等待. The IRS has extended the st和ard processing goal of 90 days to 180 days 和 potentially much longer for claims flagged for further review or 审计.
Increased fraud worries are prompting the agency to shift its review focus to compliance concerns. The shift includes intensified 审计s 和 criminal investigations of both promoters 和 businesses filing suspect claims.
The IRS also is working to develop new initiatives to aid businesses that have fallen prey to aggressive promoters. 例如, it expects to soon offer a settlement program that will allow those who received an improper ERTC payment to avoid penalties 和 future compliance action by repaying the amount received.
如果你要求赊账, 但是你的索赔尚未得到处理或支付, you can withdraw your claim if you now believe it was improper. You can withdraw even if your case is already under or awaiting 审计. The IRS says this option is available for filers of the more than 600,000份索赔申请正在等待处理.
仍在考虑申请贷款?
The IRS urges taxpayers to carefully review the ERTC guidelines during the moratorium period. 不应该劝阻合法的索赔人, 但, 正如国税局所说, it’s best to confirm the validity of your claim with a “值得信赖的税务专家 — not a tax promoter or marketing firm looking to make money” by taking a “big chunk” out of your claim. And don’t count on seeing payment of your credit anytime soon.
For more information about the employee retention credit, contact Richard Morris via our 网上联络表格.
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