Frequently Asked Questions

No. This is not a loan. It’s a refundable tax credit. When we file your ERC claim we request a refund check for you.

This is not a lending program – tax refunds are issued by the US Treasury. Therefore, all eligible employers will receive the funds.

Yes. The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, enacted December 27, 2020, modified the ERC credit rules. One of the modifications included allowing a company to have a PPP loan and still take advantage of the ERC credit. However, you can’t use the same dollar for dollar funds. We take this into account when processing your ERC credit.

The ERC credit is not considered income for federal income tax purposes, but you must reduce any deductible wage expenses by the amount of the credit. Please provide the credit information to your CPA for tax purposes.

This is how the process works: If you wish to move forward, you will sign the engagement agreement, select your desired payment option, and we will gather the data, run the calculations, build your qualification report,  and file your claim. Once filed the IRS is taking 3-5 months to issues checks below $200,000 per quarter and 7-10 months to issue checks that are above $200,000 per quarter.

Yes! There are two possible qualifications for 2020: revenue reduction, or a “full or partial shutdown of your business due to COVID-19”. Specifically the IRS describes this as “A government authority required partial or full shutdown of your business during 2020 or 2021. This includes your operations being limited by commerce, inability to travel or restrictions of group meetings.”

Below are several examples of qualifying events:

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Example 1: A restaurant must close or limit its on-site dining. Such as having to close down every other table, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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Example 2: A business that needs to meet with clients in person and has to cancel meetings due to COVID-19 restrictions.

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Example 3: A business has to reduce their operating hours because COVID-19 restrictions and cleaning requirements.

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Example 4: A business had delayed production timelines caused by supply chain disruptions.

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Example 5: A business with a planned event has to cancel that event, or restrict the amount of people who can attend due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Of course. The challenge is the ERC credit is taken on your payroll returns and not through your business income tax returns, which is what most CPA’s handle. Because of this most CPA’s don’t process this credit, unless they process your payroll in house. This is also a big reason why this credit is so underutilized. Since CPA’s don’t typically handle it and they are the tax experts, it has mostly fallen in a middle ground where few are able to effectively process the credit. Interestingly, we receive a large portion of our clients from CPA’s.

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At Jorns we have decades of payroll experience, which has allowed us to specifically focus to understanding and maximizing the ERC program. In our experience we have found that due to the complexity (the ERC tax code is over 200 pages) and time investment necessary to understand the ERC program, very few are able to effectively maximize this sizeable credit for your business.

Our service charge is based on a percentage of the credit recovered. We calculate and provide our fee with our free analysis. Since we are typically able to recover 10-20% more than someone less familiar with the program, our fee is very affordable. Just like a good CPA, using the right team for this process pays for itself.

You can pay with a check, bank wire, or ACH.

No, if you are majority owner (over 50%) of your company then your wages do not qualify.

Maybe. Wages of owners who have majority ownership, defined as over 50%, do not qualify, nor do the W2 wages of any immediate family members of the owner. In the case an owner has less than 50% ownership, their W2 wages qualify, as do the W2 wages paid to immediate family members.

Remember that this program is taken according to payroll taxes paid, not on income taxes. ERC funds not applied towards owed payroll taxes are treated as an ‘overdeposit’ of taxes that will be requested as a refund check from the IRS.