You may have received advertisements where an unknown company will get you up to $26,000 per employee. Just file with them and you will get free money from the government. Seems too good to be true? Well yes and no.
Yes, you can get up to $26,000 per employee in the form of a refundable tax credit but you should be wary about using an outside source. The Internal Revenue Service has issued a warning about ERTC mills that have sprung up.
There is a better way.
If you co-employ with Cardinal, we can file for the ERTC for you since these employees are under our Federal Employer Identification Number. And there is no charge. Once we get a check from the IRS, we will mail you a check for the same amount. The only hard part for you is determining if you are eligible. And Cardinal is here to help you with this. We can walk you through our ERTC Guide.
ERTC Eligibility
Generally there are two ways to be eligible, if the business was closed due to government order or if there was a drop in revenue. See the chart below for details.
| Employer Eligibility | 2020 | 2021 |
| Closed due to Government Order | Operations fully or partially suspended under government order due to COVID-19. | Same as 2020 |
| Gross Receipts* | Drop of revenue by more than 50% | Same as 2020 |
*This is done on a per quarter basis. You will need to compare quarters Q2, Q3, Q4 in 2020 and Q1, Q2, Q3 in 2021 to corresponding quarters in 2019. For example, a 21% decrease of revenue in 2Q 2021 compared to 2Q 2019 makes you eligible for up to $7000 per employee in 2Q 2021. Please see this chart to outline this process.
We cannot provide legal or tax advice but can work with your CPA, tax advisor, etc to provide what we know about the program. Many are familiar with eligibility but if they are not, we are happy to provide what we do know.
If you want more information on the ERTC and/or want to apply, please email our team at PPP@cardinalservices.com.