A notice from one of our preferred partners, Anytime Fitness:

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Anytime Fitness continues to provide franchisees with information regarding various U.S. government programs intended to help businesses weather the storm.

Today, we mention another: The 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act includes the Employee Retention Credit and is available through June 30, 2021, to eligible employers who retained employees during the pandemic.

The federal government recently changed some of the criteria for eligibility, including extending the opportunity to apply to those who received PaycheckProtection Program loans. Red path and Company:The credit is increasing from 50% to 70% of qualified wages.The limit on qualified wages is increasing from $10,000 per year to $10,000 per quarter, which increases potential annual credits per employee from $5,000 to$14,000.

Eligibility for the credit is significantly expanded by modifying the required quarterly gross receipts decline from more than 50% to more than 20%.A new safe harbor was added allowing businesses to use the prior quarter’s gross receipts instead of the current quarter’s gross receipts to determine eligibility.

The full-time employee rule described above is increasing from 100 to 500. This will provide credit opportunities to significantly more employers.Employers with 500 full-time employees or less can generally receive advances on the credit.

If you are interested in exploring this option, we suggest you speak with your accountant and/or third-party payroll provider who can help you understand the process and steer you down the correct path toward application. There are several intricacies to this and working with a professional is highly encouraged.Not Sure If You’re Eligible? New Vendor Can Help!

To simplify this process, Anytime Fitness has partnered with a new vendor, ERTCFiling.com, that can help you determine if you are eligible for the Employee Retention TaxCredit of up to $33,000 per employee. ERTCFiling.com has created a simple to-use website that gives you everything needed to prepare and file the forms necessary to claim your credit. Alternatively, franchisees can make an appointment with one of their tax professionals to assist with your filing.Time is limited to file. Waiting until after the 941 filing deadline of April 30,2021, will trigger an expected wait time for paper-filed returns of eight months.Those who use ERTCFiling.com to file form 7200 may receive a credit in about six weeks.