ERC suspended: What happens next

On Thursday, the IRS suspended the processing of new employee retention credit (ERC) claims to combat the prevalence of fraud. These measures will help protect small businesses and aim to stop fraud by promoters of ERC mills.

In this episode, Kris Esposito, Director — Tax Policy & Advocacy, AICPA & CIMA, joins April Walker, CPA, CGMA, Lead Manager — Tax Practice & Ethics, AICPA & CIMA, to discuss this important news development and break down the details of the announcement.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• How to find out if submitted claims have been processed (3:53).
• When recently submitted claims will be processed (4:41).
• How to talk to your clients about the IRS announcement (6:22).
• How a new resource can help (7:38).

Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:

To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.

Transcript

April Walker: Hello everyone and welcome to this special edition collaboration between the JofA podcast and the AICPA’s Tax Section Odyssey podcast. I’m April Walker, host of the Tax Section Odyssey podcast, where we offer thought leadership on all things tax facing the profession. Today I’m here with Kris Esposito. She’s a director on the AICPA’s Tax Policy & Advocacy team. And we’re recording this on Thursday, Sept. 14.

You have likely seen some breaking news from the IRS about the employee retention credit. We wanted to hop on here and record, tell you the information we know, and let you know what our next steps are. We’ve been really closely monitoring this evolving issue of third-party ERC promoters over the past couple of years. We definitely been advocating to Treasury and the IRS. We’ve also been providing resources throughout the whole time of ERC since its inception with The CARES Act in March of 2020 to assist tax practitioners as well as taxpayers.

Today, the IRS announced its latest initiative to support small businesses. Kris, I thought maybe you could walk us through the highlights of that announcement.

Kris Esposito: Sure, I’m happy to. Well, due to the big surge of ERC claims and concerns from tax professionals, including the AICPA, and the aggressive marketing tactics by third parties, the IRS announced today a multipronged approach to taper this ERC fraud. They’re doing this by immediately pausing the processing of additional claims. They said that will go at least through the end of the year. So after Sept. 14, there will be no more processing of new claims.

They will be further scrutinizing ERC claims that they already have received and not processed yet. Then they’re also going to offer taxpayers an opportunity to withdraw claims that have not been paid out and that the taxpayer feels they may have done erroneously. So they’re offering that to taxpayers.

There have been about 600,000 new claims that the IRS has received and are awaiting processing. That 600,000, those folks, they’re going to have the opportunity to withdraw their claims if they feel that they have put them in erroneously. But for those folks who have actually willfully filed fraudulent claims or if they conspired to file a fraudulent claim, withdrawing your claim is not going to exempt you from potential criminal investigation and prosecution. But the IRS is actually finalizing details on this withdrawal option. We don’t have all the details yet, but there will be this option. It’s just the IRS needs to finalize the fine print.

Then they’re also going to offer taxpayers a settlement process to come forward for claims that have already been processed but may have been erroneous, but the taxpayer has received the funds. Again, IRS is working out some details, and they’re going to come out with that program soon as well.

Walker: I think they said later in the fall, so we’ll be monitoring that obviously. The opportunity to withdraw should come out soon, very soon, and that will provide the details there. I will share that, as we can help as well as the settlement process. You might have the question that I had when I saw this and was thinking about this, about, “OK, I know I just helped my client file a claim for ERC. It’s probably within that 600,000. How do I know if the claim has been processed or not?” Probably as they have been slowing down, they’ve been saying that for the last couple of months that they’ve been slowing down processes. But our best advice is if you’re in that gray area where maybe it’s been processed, maybe it hasn’t, the best advice we have is to call the IRS and ask as you’re walking through it with your clients on what your next steps are.

All right, Kris, what information did they provide about the timing? We’ve talked about how they’re going to be slower, but what have they provided about when you can expect those claims to be processed, those 600,000?

Esposito: They did say the 600,000 that were recently received, they’re going to be reviewed more intensely. They’re going to be put under the microscope. They said that instead of — they target 90 days for new claims, the IRS does to process them — I know they don’t hit that target all the time, but they’re now targeting 180 days. Because they’re thinking that these 600,000, that most of them don’t qualify for the credit. So they are really going to be looking at them very closely and taking a longer time to do that. They may even ask taxpayers for more information, so it’s going to be a different ballgame now.

Walker: But that’s good from a communication standpoint to your clients, if they are a part of that group that has filed a claim. In this announcement, did the IRS say anything about how many claims are in the process of audit or anything around that topic?

Esposito: Yeah, they have been auditing ERC and keep ramping up the audits of ERC because of the fraud. They did say they have thousands of claims in the audit process. They also have hundreds of criminal cases going on. They are definitely auditing the ERC, and if a lot of these 600,000 are not withdrawn, a lot of them are going to go through audit as well.

Walker: As our listeners are trying to absorb this notice and thinking about with their clients about this announcement, let’s talk through a few good talking points for them.

Esposito: You’ve wanted to, throughout this process, have been in contact with your clients about the ERC, whether it’s because they qualified for the credit or they’ve been contacted by a third-party provider, trying to influence them to apply for the credit. As you’re hearing about this announcement, you want to remind your clients of your past discussions and assure them that you’re available for them, you can assist them, whether that assistance is with support during an audit of an already processed claim or help with the decision to withdraw their claim or to participate in a settlement agreement once those details emerge, if they have claims that were filed erroneously.

And if they filed an ERC claim that hasn’t been paid out, and they believe it’s legitimate, you just want to let them know that, “Hey, your processing times could be a lot slower,” and it may take even more time for them to get the money.

Walker: Just definitely another good opportunity to remind them that you’re here to help advise them every step of the way, you are here and available. Were there any other resources that the IRS provided along with this announcement?

Esposito: They sent out a decision tree, which gives businesses a very broad overview of when a business qualifies. Then they also have red flags associated with third-party providers. If you want to go through this decision tree to figure out, “Do I really qualify or not?”, that’s what that resource is there for.

Walker: I just wanted to highlight — we’ve talked about these on some other episodes, and we’ve talked about them on Town Hall — we’ve talked about our resources that the AICPA have been putting together throughout these years of ERC. We’ve actually opened up, it’s called “Employee Retention Credit: Fact or Fiction”, which is another good companion piece to the IRS — I don’t know if they call it a decision tree, but it is like a decision tree — where it’s walking through the checklist of how you qualify. But I think the “Fact or Fiction” is another nice resource that you can help a client go, “Oh, wait a minute. This is what they told me about how I qualify, and there’s this resource that tells me that I need to think again.” We will definitely put links to those resources in the show notes.

We have other podcasts on this topic, and we’ll put those in there, so take a look if that’s something you’re trying to find more about.

We wanted to just have a quick episode today, but I’d love for you if you wanted to share anything that’s on your mind, Kris, as we wrap up the episode.

Esposito: Well, for years the AICPA has been warning CPAs and taxpayers, as well as the IRS and Treasury, of these dishonest credit mills attempting to take advantage of the ERC and businesses. Because we wanted to put a stop to this or put a pause on this. We appreciate that the IRS is sending this strong message, with this announcement, to these unethical credit promoters. The announcement by the IRS today, it’s made clear that meaningful relief is also going to be made available to small businesses that have been acting in good faith. I think those are important messages from the IRS. I think they did a good job with their latest announcements.

Walker: Thank you so much, Kris, for popping on here with me to record for this breaking news episode. We appreciate your expertise. This is definitely not the last you will hear of us on this issue. As we know more, we will definitely share more. Thank you for listening.

Again, this is April Walker from the AICPA Tax Section. This community is your go-to source for technical guidance and resources designed especially for CPA tax practitioners like you in mind. This is a podcast from AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts, and we encourage you to follow us, so you don’t miss an episode. You can also find us at aicpa-cima.com/tax, and check out our other Odyssey episodes and get access to all the resources mentioned during this episode. Thank you for listening.

AICPA resources

• ERC guidance and resources — The rules to be eligible to take this refundable payroll tax credit are complex. This AICPA resource library will help you understand both the retroactive 2020 credit and the 2021 credit.
• Employee Retention Credit (ERC): Fact or Fiction? — Use this guide to educate yourself and others on common misconceptions surrounding the ERC.
• Employee Retention Credit Decision Tree — Download the ERC decision tree to help you with various decision points when working with clients to protect yourself/your firm from significant risk.