Get Your ERC Refund Check - And Keep It After An Audit

Big picture answer: the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (signed March 11, 2021) authorizes up to $26,000 in refunds per employee, but that amount varies substantially based on no less than a dozen factors - timing of revenue declines, partially shutdown operations, timing of receipt of PPP loans & forgiveness, turnover of employees, etc etc.

We do have an ERTC Calculator that will provide you an estimate . . . and it's pretty dang good. We're withing 15% of the actual refund about 90% of the time. But there are some limitations to it, and we disclose to you what those are.

But before estimating your refund, first we have to understand how you qualify.

Other ERTC firms are pitching their "calculator", but it is nothing more than a lead generation form for their sales team.

Check out our new ERTC Pre-Qualification Tool to get a handle on how you qualify based on the two criteria, and then, we will share our Calculator with you if it makes sense.

Our ERTC Pre-Qualification Tool requires NO name, email or phone number. This isn't a trick to get you on a sales call list for the next year.

Let us help you to determine your qualifications, and if you want to work with us - great!

We charge between 12% and 20% of the tax credits you receive (which comes back to you as a refund check unless you owe back taxes).

Why the range?

Each client is different but # of employees, length of qualifying period, reason for qualification, and receipt of PPP funds all figures into how complex the calculation and how large the refund. Generally, the larger the refund, the lower the percentage.

Unlike some other firms, we charge nothing upfront. We invoice you when the US Treasury issues your checks and you pay your invoice once those checks clear your bank.

For non-profits, our rate is a flat 8%. We appreciate our for-profit clients understanding that this rate is below-market and only available to non-profits.

(If you previously visited this webpage and found a different answer here, our opinion on this has changed drastically since having almost two years of experience behind us now - in seeing what clients are getting back from the Payroll Services who have chosen to jump into this ERTC specialty.)

Your Payroll Service does an excellent job of executing the fundamentals of paying your employees, paying your employment taxes and filing your quarterly reports.

However, we have yet to find a Payroll Service that allocates PPP and ERTC as precisely as we do . . . by employee, by day, by hour.

This is especially troubling considering how these companies are positioned as experts in all things payroll . . . and yet they were not built for this level of data analysis. We have consistently seen these services (and I'm even talking about the big ones like AD*, Payche*, He*rtland) under-claiming these credits and charging a hefty fee all the same. But an even bigger deal . . .

Most Payroll Services are asking clients to sign an indemnification waiver before submitting a Form 941-X because the Payroll Service can take no responsibility for the accuracy of the ERTC credits you are claiming. And even more troubling, they are allowing you to claim ERTC by checking a box and attesting that you had a full or partial suspension of opertations.

This is NOT okay!

I invite you to read our Special Report and pay particular attention to our discussion on developing contemporaneous documentation to support your tax position in the event of an IRS audit.  That's a mouthful, I know, but the IRS will have a field day auditing all of these clients who filed their Form 941-X through their payroll company. All they have to ask is "How did you qualify?", and they'll be recovering ill-gotten refunds and penalties and interest by the BILLIONS!

But not to only highlight the negative, there are certainly exceptions to that rule . . .

And there have been plenty of Payroll Services that we’ve worked with who are happy to provide the payroll registers that we need to perform the allocations. And they are happy to file the Amended Form 941-X when they act as a PEO (Professional Employer Organization) and file all their clients' payroll taxes on a single Schedule R

I'll once again shamelessly plug our newest Special Report: The Six Lies ERC Firms Are Using to Bilk Taxpayers.

First, let me say that we are a registered CPA Firm. We report to a State Board of Accountancy and abide by a Code of Ethics.

The ERC "specialists" you see on the TV, hear on the radio, and stuff your mailbox with flyers . . . they are not registered CPA Firms.

If this was as simple as executing math, then I would agree that we're all probably the same.

Eighteen months ago we could demonstrate how we recovered larger refunds than other firms because of how precisely we allocate ERTC and PPP by employee, by day, by hour. We have a team of four data scientists and all they do is break down payroll journals to the Nth degree.

That was how we differentiated ourselves from the other firms. And we still could. We could still make the case for how we legally recover a larger refund than the others. But this point of differentiation has been overshadowed because you now have a far greater risk than leaving a few extra dollars on the table.

Instead, over-selling of the qualifying criteria termed a "full or partial suspension of operations" has introduced a far greater risk to the tens of thousands of taxpayers who are unwittingly claiming credits that they do not qualify for (or that they are unable to support with evidence).

Our competitive advantage now is not that we will help you to legally claim larger refunds because of how we do the math . . . but rather, our competitive advantage is that "We Are Your Safe Harbor" for determining that you legally qualify in the first place.

Not to steal all the thunder from our Special Report, but checking a box on a webform and attesting that you had supply chain disruptions, trouble hiring and retaining workers, and employees didn't come to work because they were sick . . . these are NOT qualifying reasons.

And just because you check a box and receive a huge refund check . . . that is not a standard of success.

That is not how our tax system works. When you claim a credit, a refund is issued. You have not "won" or "had your claim validated" until the IRS has audited your credit claims. And when you can't produce thorough documentation, you'll be paying back all your refunds + interest + penalties.

And lastly, these firms are selling this on the phone to say they will provide audit protection and they will write you a check to make you whole in the event of the IRS recovering those funds and charging you interest and penalties.

Wrong! Read the fine print of their contract. They are only responsible up to the amount of the fees you paid them.

So now, not only will we help you to legally claim more credits, but we are also  your safe harbor to help you avoid penalties and interest.

I know that' some heavy stuff, but seriously . . . grab your copy, no email opt-in required, direct PDF link:
Special Report: The Six Lies ERC Firms Are Using to Bilk Taxpayers

Not to brag, but we pioneered this industry. When others were figuring out how the credits were calculated at their most basic level . . . we were already writing the algorithms to optimize these credits by employee . . . by day.

If you received PPP funds, the precision with which we allocate these funds is critical to ensure there is no "double-dipping" while also maximizing every dollar that is legally owed to you.

Here's an example of why this matters:

Since we allocated wages by employee by day, we may use PPP funds to pay an employee in the morning, and use their afternoon pay as qualifying wages for ERTC. This means that for many clients, we allocate 100% of their PPP funds without having to reduce the maximum allowable credits for each employee (that's up to $5,000 per employee in 2020 or $7,000 per employee per quarter in 2021).

So if you want to know whether the ERTC firm pitching you is truly maximizing your refund, that is the question you need to press them on.

If they are asking for a quarterly summary of payroll . . . then there is no way they can allocate this precisely by day by employee.

Unless they are getting a payroll report showing every employee and the breakout of every paycheck, then you're not working with an "expert".

We most certainly have our own tax attorneys to assist us, but this question comes up when a client wants to qualify based on a partial suspension of operations and they cannot provide us a clear understanding of which government mandates restricted their operations.

While some ERTC firms boast of having attorneys on staff to write memos for their clients, we are fundamentally opposed to that concept.

Instead, we recommend that you engage an attorney independently. We are happy to refer you to attorneys that we know who will do a fine job.

However, we believe there should be a clear separation between the attorney's opinion letter and our firm who is calculating your credits.

Since our fees are based on a percentage of the refunds that you receive . . . and since the size of those refunds are based on the time period that you qualify . . . we do not want there to be even an appearance of a conflict of interest.

If the IRS comes to audit, we want your truth to be that you engaged an independent, third party firm to assess your eligibility and provide an opinion letter . . . and you brought that letter to us, an independent CPA firm.

What more could the IRS expect of you as a taxpayer? With that level of diligence, we can all sleep easy at night.

And to be clear, we do not require (or even recommend) these letters for every client. Less than 2% of our clients have needed these letters and this is really just a function of us being very conservative in our own judgment.

When other firms talk about being "aggressive" with these refunds, that's a position we just won't tolerate.

There's no need for that. Just apply the facts to your situation, execute the math precisely, and sleep easy knowing everything is above board. 

It was true when we started and as far as we know, we're still the only ones. (Although I'm happy to be proven wrong.)

Every other CPA firm offers other services like income taxes, audits, reviews, bookkeeping, and payroll. We've been lucky to form incredible partnerships with many CPA firms who send us their clients - not even wanting a referral fee. They just want to know their client is being taken care of by the best.

Other non-CPA firms are offering ERTC services but they have historically only worked with other tax credits like the R&D credits.

These firms don't answer to a State accounting board with ethics rules. And it is apparent in many of their marketing messages, automated text messages and pushy sales calls wanting a signed engagement letter before you've even talked to anyone.

(If you previously visited our website, this answer has been updated.)

Previously, we were working with an institutional hedge fund that was advancing cash for these credits.

However, as of December 2022, that all changed now that the IRS is doing one heck of a job of processing these returns.

Most clients see at least one refund check in 3-4 months, and many report receiving all checks by then. Since clients are now getting paid so quickly, their appetite for paying fees of 13-18% for their money just a few months quicker, is not appealling.