TCG joins nonprofits throughout the country urging Congress to retain the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) for our sector in the 4th Quarter of 2021. The American Rescue Plan Act added the 3rd and 4th Quarters of ERTC to provide much-needed relief to nonprofits and small businesses, but now access for the 4th quarter is proposed to be eliminated, even after nonprofits have planned for the availability of those funds.
The bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act bill language has a provision that would eliminate the 4th Quarter of the ERTC—this important refundable payroll tax credit for nonprofits and small businesses is designed to provide a financial incentive to keep employees on the payroll and continue to deliver important services despite the continuing hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are talking points we encourage theatres and other nonprofit advocates to use when contacting their federally elected officials:
- The ERTC has been a critically important tool for nonprofits to be able to rebuild and continue to deliver critical services to the communities that they serve, now and into the future.
- Moreover, many nonprofit employers have been counting on quarter four 2021 access to the ERTC to support the decisions they have made to bring employees back on the payroll and increase operating capacity to serve their communities in the coming months.
- Congress can take action by preserving this critical form of promised COVID-19 relief in the upcoming budget bill or an amendment to the bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This action to retain the ERTC is supported by the broad cross-section of the nonprofit sector, the third largest employer in the U.S. economy.
- Nonprofits continue to serve communities across America during the pandemic. Now they need Congress to, at a minimum, retain this tax policy through at least the 4th quarter—which is already passed into law—and extend it throughout 2022 to help ensure a strong economic recovery from the pandemic.
- Congress can also take action by improving this critical form of promised COVID-19 relief by amending the definition of “gross receipts” under the law to better reflect revenue available to support nonprofits amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you for taking action!