Dear Centrust Business Banking Customer,
As you know and have experienced, the past 2 years has been a trying time to be a business owner. The challenges and the government response and stimulus efforts have been unprecedented. Centrust has been your partner through this entire process and are committed to your success. We led the way to make sure all our customers that qualified for the Paycheck Protection Program loans were funded and assisted with forgiveness applications. The PPP loan programs have expired, but there are still significant stimulus funds available to help your business. The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is one of the biggest potential funding opportunities available today. The maximum ERC funding is up to $5,000 per employee for 2020 and $7,000 per employee per quarter for quarters 1 – 3 of 2021. The basic qualifications for the program differ for 2020 and 2021 and are as follows:
Qualification for ERC is a quarterly computation. Once a business qualifies for a particular quarter, it remains qualified in subsequent quarters until the reduction in revenue is less than 20% vs. the equivalent 2019 quarter. A business that does not qualify because their revenue reduction is less than the thresholds may still qualify if they were subject to full or partial shutdown due to government orders. The amount of the ERC is based on total compensation paid to full-time and part-time employees plus health care benefits reduced by any payroll that was utilized for PPP forgiveness. As with all government programs, there are many technical aspects to qualifying and applying. If your business experienced significant reductions of revenue and/or were subject to government shutdown orders during 2020 or 2021, please reach out for assistance. As our commitment to our working relationship, Centrust will continue to look for opportunities to give our customers advantages to further their success. Below are two CPA firm advisors who can hire to help you with the process. Thomas A. Thomas FGMK, LLC. Partner Audit and Accounting (D) 847-444-8476 (C) 847-421-4710 (F) 847-964-5416 333 W. Wacker Drive, 6th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606 2801 Lakeside Drive, 3rd Floor, Bannockburn, IL 60015 –
Steve Lombardo, CPA Hegre, McMahon, & Schimmel, LLC Partner
(D) 312-345-6203 (C) 708-404-7815 (F) 312-345-6210
slombardo@hmscpatax.com www.hmscpatax.com
600 Enterprise Drive, Suite 109 Oak Brook, IL 60523 400 East 86th Avenue Merrillville, IN 46410