ERTC Eligibility Review

While we hate the idea of an Eligibility Kickoff Call feeling like a sales call - honestly - this is going to feel salesy.

Our full Done-for-You ERTC services sell themselves. And those Discovery Calls are very to-the-point, cut-n-dry.

But you need this to be a discussion about your current situation . . . how you got to this point . . . who you engaged to execute your original ERTC claims . . . why they said that you qualified . . . what you understand about your eligibility . . . and what level of comfort you need to sleep easy at night.

Our fees are flat and our allegiance is only to you.

While we want to deliver a positive outcome because . . . well, we like you and we want you to have received this money legitimately because you will certainly do more good with it than the government.

We are also mindful that if you don't receive a positive outcome, it is better to receive the bad news from us than it is the IRS.

Jump on an Eligibility Kickoff Call and let's start exploring this together.

When you hired an ERC firm to assist with your claims, they promised you full audit support and/or audit-proof documentation.

What they didn't tell you was that they only intend on supporting the audit by providing the IRS with their calculations based on the data that you provided.

Unfortunately, multiple national ERC promoters have straight up told clients "We submitted your ERTC claims based on the narrative you provided, but you will have to defend your eligibility in an audit."

WHAT?!?!?

But before the calculations even matter, the first question from the IRS is "How did you qualify?"

Therefore, reviewing the real-time documentation of your eligibility from your ERC provider is the first step for any eligibility review.

This may also involve us gathering documents that you provided to your ERC provider (such as narratives, questionnaires, surveys, interviews, emails) so we can piece together the full picture.

The Documentation Review is a flat fee engagement that leads you to one of these outcomes:

This Documentation Review all begins with the Eligibility Kickoff Call.

You've got nothing but hope and a prayer.

Ok, maybe that's a big dramatic.

But based on our initial review of your Eligibility Documentation (or lack thereof), you won't have evidence to support your eligibility during an IRS audit.

If you want to comfortably keep your refunds, you will need to either:

You can jump straight to the Circular 230 Legal Opinion, but there are several reasons why we recommend clients to begin with preparing their own internal documentation.

Preparing Internal ERTC Documentation

The primary component of your Internal ERTC Documentation is your Determination of Eligibility Memo.

This memorandum will provide IRS agents with critical understanding of your business operations, and how it was impacted by governmental orders. But if it was only that simple . . .

As you have seen elsewhere on our website, being impacted by governmental orders alone was not sufficient to qualify for ERTC.

This memo will specifically address all of the relevant points from the IRS's ERTC Guidance, and remain silent on anecdotal evidence and narratives that may demonstrate a lack of understanding of the ERTC qualifying criteria.

Objective: Our team prepares this document as if we are helping the owner to determine their eligibility.

We are ensuring the facts and circumstances support the decision reached by management - that evidence available will suppor that same decision.

We are ensuring that you have demonstrated to the IRS that you claimed these credits in good faith after a thorough understanding of the qualifying criteria.

This document is not signed by JWC ERTC Advisory CPA, but rather we are preparing the draft for management to sign as their own.

Why Prepare an Internal Eligibility Memo First?

For most clients, our work ends with preparing your Determination of Eligibility Memo.

However, some clients will benefit greatly from a Circular 230 Legal Opinion.

For those clients to whom we recommend a Legal Opinion, we still begin with the Determination of Eligibility Memo since it is this stage where facts are gathered, management interviewed and evidence is asserted.

And let's be honest . . . the Memo creation process requires less expertise and carries a lower degree of legal risk for our Firm since the IRS has specific protocols required for forming a legal opinion.

On the next tab we'll discuss why you may prefer a Circular 230 Legal Opinion . . .

If you've made it this far, then you should feel good about your legitimate, legal eligibility for Employee Retention Credits. But depending on the amount of work it took you (and us) to reach this conclusion, you may now question the validity of the math when calculating and claiming the credits.

Truth be told, most ERC firms are pretty good at this part of the process.

Early on we were the first ERC firm to operate with such precision that ERC and PPP were perfectly allocated to maximize both pools of money.

But by the first quarter of 2022, most ERC providers had figured out how to do that as well.

Having said that . . . if the firm that you utilized did not knock it out of the park with determining and documenting your eligibility . . . then you have every right to be a bit nervous that they executed the math correctly also.

Especially when you paid them a hefty 25% commission and they already proved that they were willing to maximize your credit (even if it meant putting you in legal jeopardy during an audit).

Or perhaps your credits were very large and you want a second calculation to ensure your claims were accurate.

If this sounds like your situation, we will essentially work your file with our Done-for-You ERTC team so you have confidence that your other ERC firm isn't setting you up for failure (and a hefty accuracy-related penalty).