Letter to Hon. Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority leader; Hon. Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader - Sen. Cramer, Colleagues Call for Additional Assistance to Help Businesses Retain Employees

Letter

Dear Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell:
We write to urge you to improve access to the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) for
severely impacted industries in the next COVID-19 relief package. Through a narrow expansion
of the ERTC tailored to the hardest-hit businesses with major revenue losses, Congress can
provide urgently needed assistance that would help these employers keep workers on payroll
through the economic recovery from COVID-19.
Currently, employers can receive advance payments of the ERTC to cover 70 percent of eligible
wages and health plan expenses, which are limited to $10,000 per employee per quarter.
However, employers with more than 500 employees can only claim the ERTC for compensation
provided to furloughed employees who are paid but not working.
This rule significantly limits the support that the ERTC can provide the hardest-hit businesses,
such as those in the live entertainment and performing arts industries. Moreover, due to the size
of their workforces and scope of their operations, many businesses in these industries have been
unable to access other forms of federal economic assistance during COVID-19.
In order to support workers and businesses in severely impacted industries, we urge you to
improve the ERTC by allowing employers with revenue losses of at least 85 percent to claim the
credit for all employees, regardless of whether the employees are furloughed or performing
duties.
We thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.

Source