What Happened To All of Those ERTC Claims?

The Employee Retention Tax Credit was part of the COVID relief packages passed by Congress.  These claims were made by small businesses on their form(s) 941 quarterly payroll reports.

IRS says that 10-20% of filings are clearly erroneous and between 60 and 70% show an unacceptable level of risk of error.  This means that only 10-20% of claims are risk-free or low-risk, according to them.  The IRS says they will begin to process refund claims in this 10-20% group, provided the taxpayer filed the form 941-X before September 14, 2023.  Later-filed claims will continue to be subject to their moratorium on processing until they announce otherwise.

Meanwhile, all ERTC claims stuck in limbo are without recourse.  Of course, they will pay interest on these refunds once they are finally processed.

Who knew it might be improper to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to fake companies so the recipients could buy Lamborghinis and beach houses?  Let’s wait until billions have been paid out in fraudulent claims, then we’ll begin to scrutinize each and every claim…….good job, guys (and gals).