SOURCE: IRS.gov
This FAQ is not included in the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and therefore may not be relied upon as legal authority. This means that the information cannot be used to support a legal argument in a court case.
1. What tax credits does the FFCRA provide?
The FFCRA provides businesses with tax credits to cover certain costs of providing employees with required paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for reasons related to COVID-19, from April 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
2. When can employers start claiming the credits?
Eligible Employers may claim tax credits for qualified leave wages paid to employees on leave due to paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for reasons related to COVID-19 for leave taken beginning on April 1, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2020.
Eligible Employers will claim the credits on their federal employment tax returns (e.g., Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return), but they can benefit more quickly from the credits by reducing their federal employment tax deposits. If there are insufficient federal employment taxes to cover the amount of the credits, an Eligible Employer may request an advance payment of the credits from the IRS by submitting a Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due to COVID-19. The IRS expects to begin processing these requests during April 2020.
For the circumstances, amounts, and period for which the credits are available, see Determining the Amount of the Tax Credit for Qualified Sick Leave Wages, Determining the Amount of the Tax Credit for Qualified Family Leave Wages, and Periods of Time for Which Credits are Available.
3. When will employers start to receive the credits?
After qualified leave wage payments have been made, Eligible Employers may receive payment of the credits in accordance with applicable IRS procedures.
For more information, see How do Eligible Employers claim the credit?
4. What documentation must an Eligible Employer retain to substantiate eligibility to claim the tax credits?
Eligible Employers claiming the credits for qualified leave wages (and allocable qualified health plan expenses and the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare taxes), must retain records and documentation related to and supporting each employee’s leave to substantiate the claim for the credits, and retain the Forms 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return, and 7200, Advance of Employer Credits Due To COVID-19, and any other applicable filings made to the IRS requesting the credit.
For more information, see How Should an Employer Substantiate Eligibility for Tax Credits for Qualified Leave Wages?
5. What employers may claim the tax credits?
Eligible Employers that are entitled to claim the refundable tax credits are businesses and tax-exempt organizations that: (i) have fewer than 500 employees, and (ii) are required under the FFCRA to pay “qualified sick leave wages” and/or “qualified family leave wages.”
For more information, see Only businesses that employ fewer than 500 employees are eligible for the credit, because only those businesses are required to provide qualified leave wages. How is the “fewer than 500 employees” threshold determined?
6. What is the amount of the refundable tax credits available to Eligible Employers?
The credits covers 100 percent of up to ten days of the qualified sick leave wages and up to ten weeks of the qualified family leave wages (and any qualified health plan expenses allocable to those wages) that an Eligible Employer paid during a calendar quarter, plus the amount of the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare taxes imposed on those wages. Qualified sick leave and qualified family leave under the FFCRA are in addition to employees’ preexisting leave entitlements. See the Department of Labor's Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers for rules regarding required FFCRA paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave and other leave entitlements. Eligible Employers may only claim a credit for qualified leave wages.
Example: An Eligible Employer pays $10,000 in qualified sick leave wages and qualified family leave wages in Q2 2020. It does not owe the employer’s share of social security tax on the $10,000, but it will owe $145 for the employer’s share of Medicare tax. Its credits equal $10,145, which include the $10,000 in qualified leave wages plus $145 for the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare tax (this example does not include any qualified health plan expenses allocable to the qualified leave wages). This amount may be applied against any federal employment taxes that Eligible Employer is liable for on any wages paid in Q2 2020. Any excess over the federal employment tax liabilities is refunded in accord with normal procedures. Eligible Employer must still withhold the employee’s share of social security and Medicare taxes on the qualified leave wages paid.
For more information, see What is included in “qualified sick leave wages”? and What is included in “qualified family leave wages”?
7. What are “qualified sick leave wages”?
Qualified sick leave wages are wages that the FFCRA requires an employer to pay to an employee who is unable to work or telework because of either the employee’s personal health status (that is, the employee is under COVID-19 quarantine or self-quarantine or has COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis) or the employee’s need to care for others (that is, the employee is caring for someone with COVID-19 or for a child whose school or place of care is closed or child care provider is unavailable).
For more information, see What is included in “qualified sick leave wages”?
8. What are “qualified family leave wages”?
Qualified family leave wages are wages that the FFCRA requires an employer to pay to an employee who is unable to work or telework because the employee is caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed or child care provider is unavailable due to COVID-19-related reasons.
For more information, see What is included in “qualified family leave wages”?
9. What are “qualified health plan expenses”?
Qualified health plan expenses are amounts paid or incurred by an Eligible Employer to provide and maintain a group health plan (as defined in section 5000(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code) that are allocable to the employee’s qualified leave wages.
For more information, see Determining the Amount of Allocable Qualified Health Plan Expenses.
10. What is the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare tax on qualified leave wages?
The FFCRA adds to the tax credits the amount of the Hospital Insurance tax, also known as Medicare tax, that Eligible Employers are required to pay on qualified leave wages. The rate for this tax is 1.45 percent of wages. (Eligible employers subject to Railroad Retirement Tax Act do not get this credit.)
Note: There is no credit for the employer portion of OASDI tax, also known as social security tax, that Eligible Employers are required to pay on the qualified leave wages because the qualified leave wages are not subject to this tax.
11. Are any small businesses exempt from the requirements to provide qualified sick or family leave wages?
The FFCRA permits the Department of Labor to provide rules that a business with fewer than 50 employees may use to claim an exemption from providing paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for the purpose of caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed or whose child care provider is unavailable due to COVID-19-related reasons if providing these qualified leave wages would jeopardize the viability of their businesses as a going concern. Any business that claims the exemption is not entitled to tax credits for any qualified leave wages that they are exempt from providing.
Also note that the FFCRA permits employers whose employees are health care providers or emergency responders not to provide qualified sick leave or qualified family leave wages to those employees.
For more information about exemptions from the requirement to provide paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave under the FFCRA, see the Department of Labor's Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers.
12. How do Eligible Employers claim the credits?
Eligible Employers will report their total qualified leave wages (and allocable qualified health plan expenses and the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare tax on the qualified leave wages) for each quarter on their federal employment tax return, usually Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return. Form 941 is used to report income tax and social security and Medicare taxes withheld by most Eligible Employers from employee wages, as well as the Eligible Employer’s own share of social security and Medicare taxes.
In anticipation of receiving the credits, Eligible Employers can fund qualified leave wages (and allocable qualified health plan expenses and the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare tax on the qualified leave wages) by accessing federal employment taxes related to wages paid between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020, including withheld taxes, that would otherwise be required to be deposited with the IRS. This means that in anticipation of claiming the credits on the Form 941, Eligible Employers can retain the federal employment taxes that they otherwise would have deposited, including federal income tax withheld from employees, the employees’ share of social security and Medicare taxes, and the Eligible Employer’s share of social security and Medicare taxes with respect to all employees. The Form 941 will provide instructions about how to reflect the reduced liabilities for the quarter related to the deposit schedule.
For more information, see How to Claim the Credits.
13. What if an Eligible Employer does not have enough federal employment taxes set aside for deposit to cover its obligation to provide qualified leave wages?
If an Eligible Employer does not have enough federal employment taxes set aside for deposit to cover its obligation to provide qualified leave wages (and allocable qualified health plan expenses and the Employer’s share of Medicare tax on the qualified leave wages), the employer may request an advance of the credits by completing Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due to COVID-19. The Eligible Employer will account for the amounts received as an advance when it files its Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return, for the relevant quarter.
For more information about claiming the tax credits for providing qualified leave wages, see How to Claim the Credits.
14. What makes the credits “fully refundable”?
The credits are fully refundable because the Eligible Employer may get a refund if the amount of the credits is more than certain federal employment taxes the Eligible Employer owes. That is, if for any calendar quarter the amount of the credits the Eligible Employer is entitled to exceeds the employer portion of the social security tax on all wages (or the employer portion of the social security tax and Medicare tax on all compensation for employers subject to RRTA) paid to all employees, then the excess is treated as an overpayment and refunded to the Eligible Employer under sections 6402(a) or 6413(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
15. Are similar tax credits available to self-employed individuals?
Yes. The FFCRA also provides comparable credits for self-employed individuals carrying on any trade or business within the meaning of section 1402 of the Internal Revenue Code if the self-employed individual would be entitled to receive paid leave under the EPSLA or Expanded FMLA if the individual were an employee of an employer (other than him or herself).
For more information about how the credits apply to self-employed individuals, see Specific Provisions Related to Self-Employed Individuals.
16. Only businesses that employ fewer than 500 employees are eligible for the credits, because only those businesses are required to provide qualified leave wages. How is the “fewer than 500 employees” threshold determined?
A business is considered to have fewer than 500 employees if, at the time an employee’s leave is to be taken, the business employs fewer than 500 full-time and part-time employees within the United States, which includes any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any Territory or possession of the United States. The DOL guidance provides a more detailed summary of which workers must be taken into account for purposes of the fewer than 500 employee threshold. DOL guidance also explains when business entities should be treated as separate employers and when they should be aggregated as a single employer for purposes of determining their total number of employees.
For more information, see the Department of Labor's Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers.
17. May an Eligible Employer reduce its federal employment tax deposit by the qualified leave wages that it has paid without incurring a failure to deposit penalty?
Yes. An Eligible Employer will not be subject to a penalty under section 6656 of the Internal Revenue Code for failing to deposit federal employment taxes relating to qualified leave wages (and allocable qualified health plan expenses and the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare tax on the qualified leave wages) in a calendar quarter if:
the Eligible Employer paid qualified leave wages to its employees in the calendar quarter before the required deposit,
the amount of federal employment taxes that the Eligible Employer does not timely deposit is less than or equal to the amount of the Eligible Employer’s anticipated tax credits for these qualified leave wages (and allocable qualified health plan expenses and the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare tax on the qualified leave wages) for the calendar quarter as of the time of the required deposit, and
the Eligible Employer did not seek payment of an advance credit by filing Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due to COVID-19, with respect to any portion of the anticipated credits it relied upon to reduce its deposits.
For more information about the relief from the penalty for failure to deposit federal employment taxes on account of qualified leave wages, see Notice 2020-22 (PDF).
18. May an Eligible Employer receive both the tax credits for qualified leave wages under the FFCRA and the Employee Retention Credit under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)?
Yes, if an Eligible Employer also meets the requirements for the employee retention credit, it may receive both credits, but not for the same wage payments.
Section 2301 of the CARES Act allows certain employers subject to a full or partial closure order due to COVID-19 or experiencing a significant decline in gross receipts a tax credit for retaining their employees. This employee retention credit is equal to 50% of qualified wages (including allocable qualified health plan expenses) paid to employees after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2021, up to $10,000 in qualified wages for each employee for all calendar quarters. However, the qualified wages for the employee retention credit do not include the amount of qualified leave wages for which the employer received tax credits under the FFCRA.
Note: The IRS expects to issue Frequently Asked Questions on the employee retention credit under the CARES Act during April 2020.
19. May an Eligible Employer receive both the tax credits for qualified leave wages under the FFCRA and a Small Business Interruption Loan under the CARES Act?
Yes. However, if an Eligible Employer receives tax credits for qualified leave wages, those wages are not eligible as “payroll costs” for purposes of receiving loan forgiveness under section 1106 of the CARES Act.
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