Streamed: Saturday October 2, 2021
Duration: 22 minutes
Language: English
About This Webinar
In this brief webinar, we will show you how our deep knowledge of tax and employment tax law can help your business maximize the ERC credits available.
Transcript
Steve Moskowitz:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending our Employee Retention Credit Webinar. I’d like to introduce my colleagues, attorneys Liz Prehn. Liz, want to say hi.
Liz Prehn:
Hello everyone.
Steve Moskowitz:
And attorney Cliff Capdevielle. Cliff, you want to say hi.
Cliff Capdevielle:
Hi, Cliff here.
Steve Moskowitz:
Well, I always get excited about taxes. Everybody that knows me, knows that. But, I’m extra excited about this one because the government is literally giving money away. You say, “Steve, how can that be? What do you mean, giving away money? They are literally giving money away and we’re going to talk to you. We’re going to tell you about it. And we’re going to tell you how to get it. So we have the ERC, Employee Retention Credit. The government is giving, they say a credit, they actually write you a check. The IRS writes you a check for up to $33,000 per qualified employee for 2020 through 2021.
So that means if you have 10 qualified employees, you can get up to $330,000. 20, up to 660,000 and so on. And this is very different than PPP. A lot of you in the audience got PPP. This is a lot different. First of all, when PPP first came out, you had to choose between PPP or this, the ERC, Employee Retention Credit. Now you can have both, so you’re not barred by having it. Next, a real problem with PPP is the government set aside a specific amount of money and said, “When the money runs out, that’s it. It’s over. Goodbye.” This program is unlimited. There’s no such set aside. This is US Treasury. Also, you don’t have to spend it a certain way. You don’t have to ask for forgiveness. They just give you the money. The best way to think about it, this is a stimulus program. And it’s a stimulus program, just like the individuals. Remember when the government just sent those checks to individuals and said, “Here’s some free money. Spend it as you will.” That’s what this is for employers.
Now, what do we have to do to be eligible? You have to meet one of two requirements. The first one is closure, government ordered closure, partial or full. And what I found in practice, there’s an awful lot of people that qualify and they don’t realize that, there’s so much confusion about a partial closure. And what we have here is, is some examples. Look at the restaurants. The restaurant could be open every day for takeout and delivery, but not for dining. They are partially closed for that period. Then later on, the government says, “Okay, you can use 25% of your dining room.” Once again, we have a partial closure because they can’t use 75%, or the dentist weren’t allowed to use aerosols. That’s a partial closure, or the gyms weren’t allowed to operate inside, that’s a partial closure, or the construction companies weren’t allowed to enter people’s houses and do things, that’s a partial closure.
So the bottom line is, we really, really want to spend some individualized time with you. And there’s another slide, we’re going to talk about that, to see, do you qualify under this? But if you don’t, you have a second way. If you’ve had a decline in gross revenue in 2021 by 20% or more, 2020, 50%. And for those of you that have trouble sleeping, any one of us here in the firm can provide you with a mind numbing way that you have to calculate this. We decided not to punish you and knock you out in this webinar. We’ll give you the information if you want it, it’s mind numbing, but we’ll go ahead and do the calculations if we need. But Cliff has so many good examples of cases that we’ve actually done with the partial closure. Cliff, would you be kind enough to tell us about some of them?
Cliff Capdevielle:
Sure. Steve. So what a lot of people don’t realize is that even if your hours are limited, you might qualify, so that could be a city or a county curfew. If that applied to your business and your hours were limited in any way, there’s a good chance that you’ll qualify. If any of your services were limited, you mentioned indoor dining and indoor gyms. But, we take a look at your individual situation and there are many situations that we’ve reviewed and a client thinks that he or she doesn’t qualify, or their accountant has told them they don’t qualify, and it turns out they do. So make sure that you call us and we’ll check out your situation.
Steve Moskowitz:
And remember, there’s two ways to qualify. One, full or partial closure and other, if you’ve had that specified decline in gross revenue. Now a comment I get from people all the time, “This just sounds too good to be true.” The reason that we’re doing this is the government economists believe that if we don’t support small business, that our country could see a devastating depression and currency valuation. This is the government’s answer to not have those horrible things happen. That’s one of the reasons why they’re doing this. And another question I get or comment I get, “Essentially Steve, I use one of those big payroll companies. They’ll do it for me, right?” And there’s a lot of confusion here, because what the companies will do is they will file the final form for you, but you have to do 99.9% of the work.
They will not do the calculations. And another thing that causes confusion, this law has changed and changed and changed again. I’m going to show you something later on this webinar about the IRS website with this and people don’t take down the old information. So the bottom line is, a lot of people look and say, “Oh, I’m not qualified.” And they don’t realize that they’re looking at the old law, but under the old law, maybe they didn’t qualify. But under the current law they do because the law has become increasingly inclusive. So the bottom line is we say, “Look, let’s go ahead and find out, do you qualify?” And Cliff, you want to tell us about some of the areas here including with accountants and the software that’s readily available to them.
Cliff Capdevielle:
Yeah, there’s absolutely no off the shelf software available for these calculations. So these are calculations that we do in-house based on the software that Steve and I have put together, particularly for this purpose. And you’re not going to be able to go to TurboTax or any other commercial software service and get these calculations done. In addition, we are making sure that those of you who took PPP loans, maximize the forgiveness and the credits, that’s a big part of this analysis. And that’s something that certainly the payroll companies are not offering.
Steve Moskowitz:
And what about healthcare, Cliff, how’s that work?
Cliff Capdevielle:
Sure. So we’re going to look at all of the available wages and benefits that qualify for the credit and make sure that our calculations include all of those and that we’re maximizing the ERC credit for you.
Steve Moskowitz:
Now the only thing that’s better than free money is easy money. So the first thing we do is we do a feasibility analysis and we determine, do you qualify, and an awful lot of people do. Then we collect your data and then it says, claim the credit. But we actually ask the government to write you a check. Cliff, do you want to explain to us, how much work does somebody have to do to collect data for us?
Cliff Capdevielle:
Steve, the benefit of working with us is that you really don’t have to do anything yourself. Typically, we can get the documents with one email and it requires about 15 to 20 minutes on the phone with us to determine the credit. So this is not labor intensive on the part of our clients at all.
Steve Moskowitz:
And that’s why we have this slide in here. It’s more than just a calculator, because there’s a lot of analysis that comes in here. And before I was a tax attorney, I was a CPA. I know the difference in the professions and the bottom line is, that’s why so many accountants are not doing this because they don’t want to go ahead and do the work for it, the software is not available for it. And this is your money, not theirs. The bottom line is, it’s not just calculating things. Like what Cliff was talking about before, saying, “Well, wait a minute, I can include health care benefits. And I have to do an analysis of the PPP,” because the bottom line is we’re working to go ahead and get the maximum benefit for you within the bounds of law.
And what we do, we have a state-of-the-art, cybersecurity, everything is safe through our portal. And again, I can hear the people in the audience, Cliff, saying, “Well, I don’t want to have you to too much work.” And you don’t have to, just like Cliff was talking about a minute ago. Quick phone call or email. And Cliff, somebody says, “Well, I have these payroll services and all, what do I have to do?” Can you just get the information from them? How’s that work?
Cliff Capdevielle:
Yeah, absolutely. So for many of our clients, we do have access to their commercial payroll account, if it’s ADP or Paychex, you can send us your link and we can go in there and we can pull the documents ourself, if you don’t want to do that. Alternatively, you can print those out or upload those to our secure portal.
Steve Moskowitz:
This is all about making it easy for you. Basically, what we want to do is you’re busy in business and we want to simplify everything for you. And just a little bit of your time, maybe 15 minutes or so, answering a few questions, we’ll get the information from your accountant or from your computer, whatever. And then you just sit back and you get a check from the government, free money. There’s no reason why you wouldn’t want this. I’ve had people on the radio. Some of you may listen to me in the radio or watch me on TV. And you say, “So Steve, what’s the downside of this?” Absolutely none, this is a government benefit. It’s like getting a lottery prize. There’s no downside. They’re giving you free money. Here, you don’t even have to buy that ticket to the lottery. They’re doing it based on the payroll you’ve already paid in 2020 and 2021.
Now, one of the things, when someone gives you something nice, what do you say? You want more. A lot of times when we get all this money from the clients, they’re just mesmerized, “Wow, Steve, this was great. But you know what, are there any other government programs from which I could benefit?” And there’s all kinds of government programs. So once we get to know you, we may say, “Well look, you’re entitled to R&D Research and Development Credit,” or, “You would benefit from cost segregation analysis,” or, “A pension plan.” There’s so many different plans. Cliff, can you just give us just a little taste of some other things that we can do for clients?
Cliff Capdevielle:
Sure, Steve. Very often we help clients with retirement planning. Most clients say, “Well, we already have a 401k, so we’re set.” No. We can help you set up retirement plans where you can shelter a great deal of your income. As you mentioned, Steve, we can help clients with depreciation issues, maximizing those deductions through cost segregation and other plans. And we’re always on the lookout for the next government credit that might help you save money. So don’t leave money on the table, give us a call, and we’re going to maximize those credits for you.
Steve Moskowitz:
And folks, part of what we do, is we constantly keep up with the law. It is mind boggling how these things change and program after program, after program. It’s part of our job. It’s part of our profession to keep up with this. And like Adam Smith with specialization labor so many years, 300 years ago said that, “You know your area very well and you rely on everybody else to know their areas.” So the bottom line is, this is what we do. This is what we’ve dedicated our professional lives to. And then we tell you, and what’s the difference between you and these big companies, that make billions and don’t pay taxes legally, because they do tax planning, the things that we’re talking about here. And a lot of times what I will say to a mom and pop store on the corner or a medium sized business, I say, “Should you make more or less profit than Apple computers?”
“Well, nothing like Apple.” And I say, “Guess what? You’re paying more tax than Apple because Apple takes advantage of everything.” We want you to take advantage of everything the law provides. And remember, there’s two reasons for our tax law. One, is we all know about getting collection of revenue for the other, but the other one is government programs. The government can’t order us to do things that are good for the economy. So what can they do? They can give us tax incentives. That’s why they do all these things.
Now I was talking earlier about the IRS website. This is an actual picture of the IRS website, Employee Retention Credit. You can go check us out there, but whoops, they tell you it’s not up to date. The IRS can’t keep up with all these changes. But that’s what Cliff and Liz and I do. We keep up with the changes for you. That’s our job. But I will tell you that all these changes have been more inclusive, more beneficial. That’s why you can’t do this on your own. And I mean, look at this, even the IRS has admitted, they can’t keep up with all the changes. So the bottom line is we’d like you to contact us. We want to save you a whole bunch of taxes. We want the government writing you these checks. And Cliff, what parting words would you like to have here?
Cliff Capdevielle:
Just reiterate what Steve said earlier, which is that there is a lot of misinformation out there on the internet, a lot of people think that they don’t qualify. And in many cases we find out that, that’s just plain wrong. Either their accountant told them something that was wrong, or they read something on the internet. It’s now outdated, so give us a call. We’re going to make sure that you got the latest information and we’re going to take the time to look at your particular situation so that you maximize these credits, you maximize your PPP forgiveness, and you get the benefit of both. Thank you.
Steve Moskowitz:
And do we have any questions from the audience?
Liz Prehn:
A couple of questions. One is, could you briefly summarize how the service charge or how the firm charges for these services?
Steve Moskowitz:
So what we do, depending on basically the complexity of your case and the amount of money that you’re getting and a variety of factors, but it is a tiny fraction of what you’re getting from the government. And bear in mind that the fees you pay us are tax deductible, so it costs you even less. Bottom line is it varies from client to client, but it is a tiny, tiny, tiny little fraction of what you’re getting back from the government.
Liz Prehn:
Thanks, Steve. And how long is typically the process? How long does it take to submit the information and when can I expect the money?
Steve Moskowitz:
Cliff, how would you answer that one?
Cliff Capdevielle:
Yeah. Right now, we’re taking about two weeks on our end. Assuming we get all the information from you today, you can expect us to have final calculations and refund claims in the mail to the IRS within two weeks. That’s the good news. The IRS of course is on their own schedule. And we can’t guarantee any timeframe, but typically the IRS is estimating that three to six months to process these claims.
Steve Moskowitz:
And I think I’d like to say on a happy note, Cliff and I call the clients and we tell them how much they’re getting. We’re talking to a lot of really genuinely happy people. And they say, “How much? How much is that? Can I look at that again?” How much?” They can’t believe how much they’re getting. We have clients that are getting hundreds of thousands of dollars. Do you know the difference that, well I probably don’t have to tell you, the difference that makes in your life when you’re just handed a check for hundreds of thousands of dollars. And I realize people’s facts, circumstances, the results can differ. The largest one we’ve done so far, and this was a client who thought he didn’t qualify. He called me for something else, that’s why I get so excited. He called me for something else.
And I said, “Hey, what about ERC?” “No, no, I don’t qualify.” “Yes you do.” He’s getting back almost $2 million. He’s over the moon. Well, most people would be. And we have a lot of clients that are getting back hundreds of thousands of dollars and even smaller amounts. This is such a big deal. And again, it’s a gift from the government. We pay them so much taxes. They’re so involved in our lives, but finally they’re doing something for us. But like it’s in the Bible, you have to ask and then you shall receive. Liz after my biblical quote, our next question. We don’t get excited about taxes, that’s just me. Who doesn’t get excited about taxes?
Cliff Capdevielle:
And we’re glad you do, Steve. You keep us all very busy-
Steve Moskowitz:
Good, makes us happy.
Cliff Capdevielle:
So a couple more questions getting back to, I think the fee that Moskowitz, LLP charges for our services. Can you define what a tiny fraction is? Is it something like 5 or 10% of the total amount, less?
Steve Moskowitz:
It’s not percentages. Basically, it varies from person to person. So basically what we do is we do the feasibility study and then we’d say, “Okay, we’re going to do this for you for X number of dollars.” And the reason I don’t want to give a number, it’s just so misleading because we have so many clients in different areas. Some of them are small. Some are big. Some people have a few employees, some people have lots of employees and we didn’t even have time in the seminar to mention that you may be set up in business in a corporation where you are it, but you qualify as an employee of the corporation. They really, really vary.
But the bottom line is you have absolutely no obligation whatsoever, anything to us, until we say, “Look, here’s what we would do.” And then we would ask for a fee and then you can say yes or no. But everybody’s been saying yes to us because it’s such an incredible deal. But much like a physician. If you say, “Doc, I don’t feel well, how much to cure me?” “It really depends what you have. Do you have a cold? You need an operation? What is it?” But it’s a very reasonable fee. It’s tax deductible. And again, you spend zero and you have zero obligation to us, until you say yes, I want you to do this for me.
Liz Prehn:
And also, has the law changed? Is it changing? When does this program end?
Steve Moskowitz:
This law is in constant flux. So to give you a little bit of history, it started in 2020, and it was just for 2020. Then the Congress said, “You know what? Let’s extend it to quarters one and two of 2021.” Then the Congress said, “Gee, that’s so helpful. Let’s extend it to quarters three and four.” Then the Congress, they had no idea how much money they were giving away. And some of the Congress people said, “Oh, you know what? Maybe we better in this program early. Maybe we better cut out quarter four.” And right now, the Congress is talking about quarter four. So quarter four, as of this moment in time, this second, quarter four is still on. However, the Congress in their infinite wisdom is thinking about if they want to continue it through quarter four or they want to end it. Once again, we just have to sit back and wait.
Liz Prehn:
Okay, great. Well, thank you. Thank you everybody for attending, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Steve Moskowitz:
Thanks so much. And we look forward to hearing you on this and any other tax matter you may have.