Form-Related Guidance on Early Termination of Employee Retention Credit Provided

The IRS has informed that taxpayers who are not recovery startup businesses are not eligible for the employee retention credit for wages paid after September 30, 2021 due to the amendments by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The Act limits the availability of the employee retention credit in the fourth quarter of 2021 to recovery startup businesses taxpayers.

Taxpayers who are no longer eligible to claim the employee retention credit for wages paid after September 30, 2021 might have already reduced their employment tax deposits looking forward to claiming the employee retention credit for the fourth quarter of 2021. Some taxpayers might have already requested an advance payment of the employee retention credit for the fourth quarter of 2021 by submitting Form 7200. In case the Form 7200 hasn’t been processed, the IRS will use the taxpayer’s explanation of whether it is a recovery startup business while determining whether the Form 7200 claiming the employee retention credit in the fourth quarter of 2021 must be accepted.

Taxpayers will still include that advance payment of their employment tax return for the fourth quarter of 2021 if they have already received that quarter’s employee retention credit advance payment that is no longer eligible to claim the employee retention credit for that quarter as it is not a recovery startup business. Such taxpayers might have a balance due when it files that employment tax return.

More information for the taxpayers to understand if they need to take any additional action regarding these amounts is available at www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/early-termination-of-the-employee-retention-credit-for-most-employers.