FAQs: Employee Retention Credit under the CARES Act

The Employee Retention Credit under the CARES Act encourages businesses to keep employees on their payroll. The refundable tax credit is 50% of up to $10,000 in wages paid by an eligible employer whose business has been financially impacted by COVID-19.

Frequently Asked Questions

• General Information
• Determining Which Employers are Eligible to Claim the Employee Retention Credit
• Determining Which Entities are Considered a Single Employer Under the Aggregation Rules
• Determining What Types of Governmental Orders Related to COVID-19 May be Taken into Account for Purposes of the Employee Retention Credit
• Determining When an Employer’s Trade or Business Operations are Considered to be Fully or Partially Suspended Due to a Governmental Order
• Determining When an Employer is Considered to have a Significant Decline in Gross Receipts
• Determining the Maximum Amount of an Eligible Employer’s Employee Retention Credit
• Determining Qualified Wages
• Determining the Amount of Allocable Qualified Health Plan Expenses
• How to Claim the Employee Retention Credit
• Interaction with Other Credit and Relief Provisions
• Special Issues for Employees: Income and Deduction
• Special Issues for Employers: Income and Deduction
• Special Issues for Employers: Use of Third Party Payers
• Other Issues

Where can I get more information?

• COVID-19-Related Employee Retention Credits: Overview
• Coronavirus Tax Relief
• New Employer Tax Credits
• Department of Labor's COVID-19 and the American Workplace
• Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program