What Is An ERTC Advance And How Can It Help My Small Business? [2024 Edition]
- April 16, 2023
What Is An ERTC Advance And How Can It Help My Small Business? [2024 Edition]
Building a small business isn’t easy. Building a small business during a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic is near-impossible. Along with managing competition, marketing, financial management, staffing, and all of the other challenges associated with running a business, businesses that operated throughout 2020 and 2021 faced the additional challenges of operating a business while confronting a confusing web of government regulations that limited business operations or, in some cases, closed businesses altogether.
To reward businesses that retained employees through this difficult period, the Federal Government established the Employee Retention Tax Credit, a refundable credit for businesses that continued to pay employees during 2020 and 2021. Securing this credit can help businesses still recovering from the pandemic and ensure their continued operations and viability. In addition, your small business may qualify for an ERTC Advance loan, a way to make sure that your business has the ready funds to meet your obligations and take advantage of opportunities for growth.
What Is The ERTC?
The Employee Retention Tax Credit (also known as the “ERTC” or “ERC”) is a refundable tax credit for businesses that continued to pay their employees during government shutdowns and slowdowns in business occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ERTC was introduced as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act in 2020. The ERC has since been amended three separate times: in March of 2020 by the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Relief Act of 2020 (“Relief Act”), the American Rescue Plan (“ARPA”) Act of 2021, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”), also in 2021.
The ERTC provides eligible employers with a credit against certain employment taxes. Eligible employers include those who have experienced a full or partial suspension of operations due to government orders related to COVID-19, or a significant decline in gross receipts.
For 2020, the ERTC was available for 50% of the wages paid up to $10,000 per employee, capped at $5,000 per employee. For wages paid after January 1, 2021, and before October 1, 2022, the ERTC can be applied to 70% of qualifying wages of up to $10,000 per quarter — a maximum of $28,000 per employee through September 30, 2021.
Qualified wages include wages and health plan expenses paid to eligible employees between March 12, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Eligible employees include those who were retained and paid during a qualifying period, regardless of whether they were actively working or not.
What Is An ERTC Advance?
An ERTC Advance (also known as an ERTC Bridge or an ERTC Loan) is a short-term loan that is used to make the funds from your pending application for the ERTC available to your business immediately. An ERTC Advance can ensure that your business has the ready cash to operate and thrive, and eliminates the need to wait for government approval of your application while your application is pending.
While there is no official timeline for IRS processing of ERTC applications, processing and approval of claims can often take 8-12 months. This lengthy processing time can mean that funds owed to businesses are delayed for months, if not more than a year. Securing an ERTC Advance can ensure that funds are available immediately.
However, securing an ERTC Advance loan is not without risk — an application that is denied by the Internal Revenue Service in whole or in part may make it difficult to repay an ERTC Advance. The ERTC is complex. Therefore, it’s important that businesses looking to secure an ERTC Advance ensure that their application is as comprehensive and airtight as possible before securing financing of an ERTC claim. Ensuring that your claim has been evaluated by experienced professionals and is backed by legal research and thorough review can provide security and peace-of-mind as your small business pursues its claim. At ERTC Funding, we thoroughly evaluate and review your claim, ensuring that the funds you apply for are the funds you’ll receive.
What Can An ERTC Advance Loan Do For Your Small Business?
The flexibility of an ERTC Advance loan offers a number of advantages for a small business. An ERTC Advance loan can add predictability and stability to your business’s cash flow, ensuring that your business has all of the funds you require to operate on a day-to-day basis, without requiring you to wait for the vagaries of government processing of claims.
An ERTC Advance loan can also help your business take advantage of opportunities as they arise, allowing you to buy out a competitor, acquire inventory at a discount, or expand your business on your timeline, not the government’s.
How ERTC Funding Can Help
ERTC Funding is your partner at every step of the ERTC application process. Our talented, experienced team of experts will carefully analyze your claim to ensure you qualify for the maximum refund possible, complete your IRS filing, and work with our network of partners to find you the best possible ERTC Advance loan for your business. Your business can qualify to finance your approved ERTC claim in as little as one to two weeks, ensuring that your business receives the funds it’s entitled to on a timeline that works for your business.
Unsure If Your Business Qualifies?
The ERC is a complex program, and many employers are unsure whether they qualify – especially when it comes to analyzing partial suspensions of operations. Fortunately, ERTC Funding is here to help! We’ve assisted many clients with determining their eligibility to claim the ERC based on Full or Partial Suspension of Operations (FPSO), a Significant Decline in Gross Receipts (SDGR), or as a Recovery Start-up Business (RSB) – and we would love to help you!
ERTC Funding’s ERC professionals, tax experts and legal counsel can help evaluate whether or not your business qualifies for the ERC and assist with the claiming process. Our proprietary ERC allocation/optimization software can also help ensure that, if your business is eligible, no available funds are left on the table! As an added bonus, due to the oftentimes-significant delays in IRS processing of ERC claims, ERTC Funding also offers upfront financing options that may be available if your business needs the money now.
