Vasilios “Bill” Kalogredis.
As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) signed by President Donald Trump March 27, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) launched the employee retention credit program designed to encourage businesses, including many of our for-profit and nonprofit health care clients, to keep employees on their payroll amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The employee retention credit provides a fully refundable tax credit to eligible employers equal to 50% of qualified wages (including allocable qualified health plan expenses) paid to employees between March 13 and Dec. 31. The credit is determined quarterly. The maximum amount of qualified wages taken into account with respect to each employee for all calendar quarters is $10,000, so that the maximum credit for an eligible employer for qualified wages paid to any employee is $5,000 (or 50% of $10,000).
