Get ERC Refund Protection.
Neither PEOs nor their customers should face the IRS alone.
Since its inception, the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) program has been difficult to understand, and the IRS has struggled to provide consistent, reliable guidance. ERC was created by Congress to aid businesses in surviving and recovering from the financial stress created by a pandemic-era government.
We’re here to help, regardless of what stage your customers’ ERC claims (and your documentation) may (or may not) be in.
- Worried about potential IRS ERC audits?
- Can your customers buy an ERC Warranty?
- How should a PEO allocate IRS interest paid on ERC claims?
- Will your customers’ ERC workpapers hold up to IRS scrutiny?
- Has a customer’s (your) ERC claim been denied?
- Are you in the middle of an IRS ERC audit?
- Do PEOs have to accept new ERC claims from customers?
Ways we help PEOs
ERC Claim Review Services
Many PEOs have ERC questions regarding customer eligibility, recordkeeping, and scams. We confidentially examine ERC claim documentation and calculations prepared to claim benefits under the laws and regulations governing the ERC.
Isn’t it better to know whether you and/or your customers may have a problem or not?
ERC Claim Remediation Services
After completing an ERC Claims Review, additional steps may be required to reasonably claim benefits under the laws and regulations governing the ERC program.
We help PEO customers (you) strengthen their (your) ERC claim documentation and calculations.
IRS Representation and ERC Defense Services
Have any of your customers received a notice from the IRS about their (your) ERC claim? Your customers should never have to meet with the IRS alone. We work with them to support their (your) ERC eligibility and defend them (you) through the federal payroll tax audit or IRS notice process.
IRS ERC Interest Calculation Services
ERC claims are treated by the IRS as overpayment balances. IRS is obligated to compute and pay interest on overpayment balances. We help PEOs to:
- Verify the proper amount of interest owed by the IRS for each ERC claim has in fact been paid
- Ensure customer interest allocation methods are consistent with both IRS’s entity type specific interest rules and PEO customer contractual obligations
ERC Warranty & Audit Defense Services
Your customers (you) should be prepared to never have to meet with the IRS alone. That is our job. We cover ERC related claw-backs, interest, and penalties for great claims. We provide PEO customers peace of mind for about $20 per employee per month.
ERC Claim Preparation Services
Regardless of whether a PEO wants to accept any new ERC claims from its customers, the deadline to claim ERC for payroll taxes paid in 2021 is April 15, 2025.
The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) remains a payroll tax refund from the United States Treasury Department applicable to businesses who kept employees on payroll during the pandemic, and therefore is something that PEOs still need to contend with.
Get Peace of Mind Now
Calculating Interest owed on ERC claims for PEO customers
Interest computations for overpayment balances are complex.
- IRS sets interest rates to calculate interest on overpayment balances.
- Daily compounding rates are impacted by changes in Federal short-term rates, the legal structure of the taxpayer, the size of the ERC claim, and whether interest compounding occurs over a leap year for a given Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return.
After the IRS processes your ERC claim (Form 941-X), you the PEO are responsible for making sure each of your customers receives their respective overpayment (the ERC refund interest) owed.
This exercise is typically somewhat problematic as IRS neither discloses the math behind their interest computations nor provides an allocation schedule for the customers you previously provided EINs for on Schedule R.
How do PEOs calculate how much Interest IRS owes for ERC claims?
We provide the tools required to calculate interest owed to the PEO by the IRS for overpayment balances related to ERC claims.
How do PEOs calculate how much interest each customer is owed?
We provide the tools required for the PEO to calculate interest related to each Customer’s ERC payroll refund.
What is best practice for PEO customer interest calculation reporting?
Our IRS Interest Calculation service bridges the process gaps between PEOs, their aggregated ERC claims, their customers, and IRS. Our tool generates interest statements for PEO customers.
Received ERC but want to be protected: Can I get a warranty?
Yes. We warranty qualified ERC claims.
PEO customers can purchase ERC refund protection (ERC Audit Defense) services so that they (you) never have to face the IRS alone, allowing them (you) to focus on operating their business.
- Peace of mind for about $20 per employee per month
- No long-term contract (no fixed term)
- Customers shouldn’t need their CPA to apply for protection. The process takes minutes
- Protection starts immediately upon the submission of their ERC Audit Defense application and first month’s payment
- Your customers should have to meet with IRS alone. That is our job
- We cover ERC related claw-backs, interest, and penalties for great claims
Strategic Partnership Opportunity
- PEO offers IRS Representation and Defense (ERC Audit Defense) services available to customers that have claimed ERC
- PEO collects monthly fees from customers enrolled in the ERC Audit Defense program as part of the normal customer payroll funding process
- PEO earns a revenue share
ERC Audit Defense fee Revenue Shares are:
- Calculated as a percentage of gross ERC Audit Defense revenues and paid monthly
- Remitted to us on a net basis
- Monthly recurring in nature
- Expected to continue for the duration of the IRS ERC audit period – about six years
See How ERC Audit Defense Works
Apply for Protection
PEO customers fill out our application. A CPA should not be required to answer the questions. The process takes minutes.
Receive Protection
Protection starts immediately upon the submission of an ERC Audit Defense application and first month’s payment.
Document
Customers upload supporting documents. We help make sure everything needed to support ERC eligibility is IRS audit ready.
Peace of Mind
PEO customers should never have to meet with the IRS alone. That is our job. We cover ERC related claw-backs, interest & penalties for great claims.
ERC claim review: Prepared for an IRS ERC audit?
Regardless of whether a PEO customer used their CPA, a large accounting firm, or responded to an unsolicited ad, call, email or text from an ERC promoter, their (your) ERC documentation may not meet IRS’s current eligibility requirements.
- Do they (you) have a complete set of workpapers?
- Will their ERC preparer really protect them (you) in an IRS audit?
- What does protection look like?
Current proposed legislation provides the IRS a six-year window to audit ERC claims. Neither you nor your customers want to be caught off guard with non-compliant workpapers.
Our ERC Audit Defense platform automatically screens and risk scores ERC claims and facilitates the aggregation of support required to defend ERC program eligibility to the IRS.
Isn’t it better to know whether you (and your customers) may have a problem or not?
Strategic Partnership Opportunity
IRS Code and applicable regulations are clear. PEOs and their customers will each be liable for employment taxes owed because of any improper ERC claim for employment taxes reported on the federal employment tax return the PEO filed claiming the credit, inclusive of interest and penalties.
PEOs can mitigate this risk:
- ERC Audit Defense warrant
- ERC Claim Reviews. Confidential ERC risk reports for customer claims to understand potential exposure before an IRS audit
- ERC Claim Remediation services. Address and fix ERC claim deficiencies before an IRS audit
- Documentation of risk and compliance communication attempts with PEO customers.
IRS has flagged an ERC claim for review or denial: How to navigate an IRS audit?
The statutes that created the ERC were broadly worded. This means that many if not most Taxpayers should be eligible under a plain reading of those statutes. The IRS does not have the legal authority to add restrictions that would reduce a PEO customer’s eligibility to claim COVID-19 credits – that was Congress’s prerogative. This is good news for PEOs.
If a PEO customer receives an inquiry from the IRS about an ERC payroll refund claim, it is important that the PEO be made aware. It is equally as important for the customer to engage with a team of qualified tax professionals with demonstrated ERC claim preparation and audit defense expertise as soon as possible.
We work with PEO customers (you) to support ERC eligibility and defend them (you) through to the completion of the audit process. This includes meeting and formally corresponding with the IRS auditor on the customer’s behalf and defending them through the highest level of appeals.
IRS has adopted a variety of playbooks for approaching taxpayers with ERC claims. Depending upon a number of factors, including your customer’s size, industry, profitability, legal entity type, and congressional district, the nature of the questions and their approach will differ. Understanding this process, as well as the laws (and politics) governing the ERC program, is critical to preparing a defensive strategy.
We’re here to help:
- We help PEO customers prepare for and engage with the IRS throughout the ERC audit.
- We defend PEO ERC business practices. Clear messaging and a unified front (PEO and PEO customer) is critical when engaging with IRS.
What ERC enforcement tactics are the IRS using?
IRS is rolling out many different enforcement techniques when it comes to challenging ERC claims — some traditional, others less so. An awareness of key IRS movements, which include the 20-plus ERC related actions that IRS has already taken as well as those that are still expected to come, is essential when strategizing an ERC claim defense.
What are the consequences of failing an ERC audit?
IRS employs various methods to halt what it considers improper ERC claims. Among other things, it has asserted interest and penalties, strong armed concessions during audits, deterred the filing of refund suits in court, and encouraged the return of ERC amounts through recent settlement programs.
How long does the IRS ERC audit process take?
The short answer is many months. A typical IRS ERC audit provides the taxpayer a month to respond to the first of several information data requests (IDR). It is not uncommon for these IDR responses to exceed fifty pages. It is also not uncommon to receive follow on requests for additional materials and interviews with more than one IRS agent.
Submitting New ERC Claims: Can PEO customers still claim ERC?
The short answer is yes. Regardless of the complexities associated with being an Aggregate Form 941 filer, the impact of IRS’s processing moratorium on ERC claims, IRS’s strong encouragement for PEOs not to file amended Form 941-Xs until prior versions have been processed, pending legislation that could retroactively sunset the ERC program, PEOs (seemingly incredulously) still have an obligation to claim ERC when requested to do so by a customer, or risk lawsuits.
Under current law, the deadline to claim ERC for payroll taxes paid in 2021 is April 15, 2025.
We’re here to help.
- We determine whether there is a basis for PEO customers to claim ERC, if they have not done so already.
- We identify, analyze, calculate, and document the ERC payroll refund that PEO customers may be eligible to receive from IRS (assuming no precluding retroactive legislation).
- We ensure consistency in ERC program eligibility determination and workpaper documentation standards.
How to claim ERC
The process for PEO customers wishing to (still) claim ERC:
Interview
A tax professional guides the PEO customer through a thirty minute working session and then requests certain documents be provided through a secure portal. We then identify, analyze, calculate, and document the ERC payroll refund amount they are eligible to receive from IRS.
Amend Returns
We work with PEO customers to help prepare the documentation required to claim ERC for eligible quarters. We work with PEOs to prepare the requisite forms (Schedule R) in anticipation of filing (another) amended payroll tax return(s), when (if) permitted by IRS (and Congress).
IRS Refund Check
PEOs receive ERC claim payments directly from IRS. We get paid after a PEO receives its ERC payroll refund.
Peace of Mind
Our business was founded to help review, remediate, and defend ERC claims. This is our primary business. We will be here for you and your customers when you need us.
We are execution focused CPAs, tax attorneys, operators, and technologists with extensive ERC Program knowledge bolstered by Big 4 trained ERC preparers, claims management specialists, and IRS audit defense teams.