The Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a refundable and advanceable tax credit, could offer significant financial assistance to your brewery. Many employers (even PPP loan recipients) are claiming ERCs of thousands of dollars, if not up over one million dollars. MP, a payroll and HR solutions provider, has assisted hundreds of businesses in claiming their maximum ERC. We’re ready to support your brewery by reducing the lengthy ERC process and turnaround time, so you receive funds quickly.
Many businesses incorrectly assume they aren’t eligible for an ERC because:
· they received PPP loans
· they didn’t shut down or reduce hours during the pandemic
· they didn’t experience a loss (or a significant loss) in 2020 or 2021 revenue
Many people didn’t stop drinking beer during the pandemic—some actually drank more. So even if a brewery didn’t suffer a revenue loss in 2020 or 2021, it’s important to note they are still eligible to claim an ERC. Employers prove eligibility by demonstrating they had to close operations partially or fully due to a state or federal government order related to the pandemic. Other eligibility factors include if a brewery experienced restrictions on employees’ hours worked, supplier chain issues, or if social distancing and sanitization requirements limited their operations. Many breweries in Massachusetts-- a state that restricted the serving and selling of alcohol through the pandemic-- were likely to have experienced at least one (if not a combination) of any of these factors. For additional clarity, here are more specific qualifying questions that Massachusetts breweries could use to determine eligibility for an ERTC. Questions are listed in four categories. Just one “yes” question could be qualifying.
Qualifying Questions:
General Questions
1. Can your brewery demonstrate a 2020 revenue loss of 50% or more for a calendar quarter as compared with the same quarter in 2019?
2. Can your brewery demonstrate a 2021 revenue loss of 20% or more in any quarter(s) of the year as compared to the same quarters of 2019?
3. Were employee hours ever limited by government orders in 2020 or 2021?
4. Were your employees ever unable to go to work due to the pandemic or government orders in 2020 or 2021?
Restrictions
1. Were there ever any restrictions on utilization of your brewery’s physical space, thus impacting your ability to serve customers and clients?
2. Did any government orders obstruct your brewery from operating at its maximum capacity?
3. Did your brewery ever need to operate at a lowered capacity during the pandemic?
4. Were your employees ever unable to use your physical workspace or your organization’s physical assets?
5. Did you need to reduce hours of operation to limit the selling of alcohol?
6. Did you need to reduce hours to clean and sanitize?
Social Distancing and Hours of Operation
1. Did your brewery ever have a limitation on gatherings (which affected operations)?
2. Was there ever a partial or complete shutdown of your brewery?
3. Did your clients or customers need to socially distance on your business premises?
4. Were your hours ever limited in any way?
Suppliers and Vendors
1. Did pandemic-related supplier chain issues ever impact your brewery’s ability to serve your clients or customer base?
2. Did your business ever experience a service provider disruption during the pandemic?
Remote Work
1. Did your employees ever need to work remotely, resulting in limitations on their performance?
2. Were your employees ever restricted from working on-premises?
Need help claiming your maximum ERC for your contracting firm? Reach out to MP today. It could take as little as 15 minutes to get your ERC in process.
[Brian Mailhot is a beer lover from New England and a Major Account Executive at MP, an HR and payroll solutions company. He’s passionate about assisting businesses throughout New England to reach their goals. Reach Brian at bmailhot@mp-hr.com.]
