The Employee Retention Tax Credit, also known as the ERC or ERTC, is a legitimate tax credit available to small businesses who retained their employees during the pandemic era. However, since the announcement of the tax credit, many “companies” have come about with aggressive marketing techniques targeted towards small businesses that may not qualify.
In response, the IRS has had to issue a moratorium on the processing of new claims, deeming the aggressive marketing an “unacceptable risk” to businesses and the tax system. Currently, they plan to resume processing ERC requests in January of 2024. The pause on processing new ERC claims was done in an effort to allow the IRS to create and implement more safeguards to prevent abuse of the ERC program, protect businesses from predatory tactics, and pursue fraud.