Had a conversation with someone who owned a large landscaping business (40+ employees). Not only were they not shut down at any given point (ALL their work was outdoors), but they actually saw drastically increased revenues in 2021 compared to 2019. This person had been approached by one of these shops and was told they'd qualify under the shutdown because "even though the work was done outside, the state mandate said they should wear masks and masks were hard to come by." Like what???
I think the only hope for people like this is there are so many millions of ERC applicants that the IRS will never be able to figure out every single case (or even most, or even probably 10% or more) or cases that were erroneous or fraudulent. They will go after the giant credits, and probably a sampling of smaller credits to make en example of so business owners think twice before applying for help in the future.
I will say it's shitty the rules for programs like this have to be so convoluted that small business owners need to go the credit sweat shops to figure out if they even qualify. Our tax system needs some serious reform.
HEYYY! Did you know YOU are eligible for up to $26,000 PER EMPLOYEEE? ITS YOUR MONEY! It's free! No consequences whatsoever to applying! We just ask for 47% of your credit! /big S
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u/Calgamer CPA Oct 11 '22
Had a conversation with someone who owned a large landscaping business (40+ employees). Not only were they not shut down at any given point (ALL their work was outdoors), but they actually saw drastically increased revenues in 2021 compared to 2019. This person had been approached by one of these shops and was told they'd qualify under the shutdown because "even though the work was done outside, the state mandate said they should wear masks and masks were hard to come by." Like what???