Accounting for CPA · United States
Employee Retention Tax Credit
Claim every dollar of Employee Retention Credit you legitimately earned — with documentation built to survive IRS scrutiny.
Overview
Employee Retention Tax Credit for United States
The Employee Retention Tax Credit remains one of the most valuable — and most scrutinized — pandemic-era relief provisions. Refundable payroll credits worth up to $26,000 per employee were claimed on amended Form 941-X returns, and the IRS is now examining those claims closely. Whether you still need to substantiate a filing or defend one under review, the margin for error is thin.
AccountsUp gives US employers and the CPA firms that serve them a rigorous, evidence-first ERTC engagement. We test eligibility quarter by quarter against the gross-receipts decline and government-order suspension standards, reconcile qualified wages against PPP forgiveness to avoid double-counting, prepare or review the 941-X, and assemble a substantiation file that stands on its own if the IRS ever asks to see it.
Every engagement pairs a dedicated ERTC specialist with AI-assisted review that flags aggregation issues, majority-owner wage exclusions, and quarters where the numbers do not support a claim. We work inside your existing payroll and accounting stack — QuickBooks, ADP, and the general ledger you already run — so nothing is rebuilt from scratch and every figure traces back to a source document.
- Credits claimed only where the evidence holds — and documented to survive later IRS review
- A complete, audit-ready substantiation file for every quarter, assembled once and reusable if questions arise
- Fewer surprises: PPP overlaps, owner wages, and aggregation errors caught before they become IRS adjustments
- Confident, informed decisions on whether to claim, defend, or correct — backed by specialists, not sales reps
What's included
Everything the employee retention tax credit engagement covers
Quarter-by-Quarter Eligibility Assessment
We evaluate each 2020 and 2021 quarter separately against both qualification tests, so you claim only the periods your business genuinely met the standard.
Gross Receipts Decline Analysis
A documented, period-over-period comparison of gross receipts against the 2019 baseline, applying the correct 50% and 20% decline thresholds for each credit year.
Government-Order Suspension Review
Where receipts alone do not qualify, we map the specific federal, state, or local orders that fully or partially suspended your operations, with citations.
Qualified Wage & PPP Reconciliation
We calculate eligible wages and health-plan costs per employee, then reconcile them against PPP forgiveness so the same dollar is never counted twice.
Form 941-X Preparation & Filing
Accurate preparation of the amended quarterly returns, with worksheets, credit calculations, and detailed explanations of the corrections ready for signature and submission to the IRS.
Substantiation & Documentation File
A single, audit-ready package — eligibility memos, wage schedules, order citations, and calculations — so your position is defensible years after the credit is received.
IRS Audit Defense & Correspondence
If a claim is examined, we respond to IRS notices, prepare information-request packages, and support your representative through the entire examination or appeal.
Aggregation & Owner-Wage Screening
We apply the controlled-group aggregation rules and exclude majority-owner and related-party wages, catching the exact errors that trigger IRS adjustments and clawbacks.
Why AccountsUp
The advantage of employee retention tax credit done right
Only Defensible Claims
We would rather you claim less and keep it than over-claim and repay with penalties. Every figure is built to withstand examination.
Dedicated ERTC Specialists
You work with a named specialist who knows payroll-tax credit rules cold — not a rotating queue or an offshore call center.
AI-Assisted Accuracy
AI-assisted review cross-checks every quarter, wage schedule, and PPP overlap against the rules, surfacing exclusions and errors a manual pass would miss.
Works Inside Your Stack
We pull directly from QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage, and ADP, so payroll and ledger data flows in without rekeying or disruption.
Built for Audit, Not Just Filing
Our documentation standard assumes an examiner will read it. That is why claims we support hold up long after the refund arrives.
Enterprise-Grade Security
Your payroll and financial records are handled under SOC 2-aligned controls, MFA, and role-based access — inside secure, office-based operations only.
AI-powered, expert-led
The reliability of an in-house team, without the overhead
Most ERTC providers were volume shops that filed fast and disappeared before the audits started. AccountsUp is the opposite: a dedicated expert team, backed by AI-assisted cross-checks, that treats every claim as something an IRS examiner will one day read. We work inside your existing QuickBooks, ADP, and NetSuite data under enterprise-grade, office-only security controls — so the credit you claim is accurate, fully documented, and yours to keep.
How it works
A clear path from first call to steady delivery
Discovery & Data Intake
We connect to your payroll and accounting systems, gather 2019–2021 gross receipts and Form 941 filings, and scope which quarters are worth analyzing.
Eligibility & Credit Analysis
Our specialists run both qualification tests quarter by quarter, calculate qualified wages, reconcile PPP overlap, and apply aggregation and owner-wage rules to size a defensible credit.
Documentation & Filing
We assemble the substantiation file and prepare the Form 941-X for each qualifying quarter, then walk you through every figure before anything is signed or filed.
Audit Defense & Ongoing Support
If the IRS reviews a claim, we prepare the response package, answer information requests, and support you through examination or appeal until the matter is resolved.
Works inside your stack
We operate in the platforms you already run
Industries we serve
Employee Retention Tax Credit shaped around your sector in United States
What clients say
Trusted by firms and businesses worldwide
“Our bookkeeping and monthly reporting are finally accurate and on time. AccountsUp feels like an in-house team.”
Questions
Employee Retention Tax Credit, answered
Can we still claim the ERTC, or has the deadline passed?
Filing deadlines for the ERTC are strict and vary by credit year, and several have already closed. During your assessment we confirm exactly which quarters remain open for you. Even where filing is closed, we frequently help employers substantiate or defend claims already submitted.
How do you decide whether our business actually qualifies?
We test each quarter against two independent standards: a significant decline in gross receipts versus 2019, or a full or partial suspension of operations from a government order. We only recommend claiming quarters where the evidence clearly supports one of those tests.
We already filed with another provider — can you review or defend it?
Yes. Many employers come to us after an ERC mill filed an aggressive claim. We re-examine eligibility, rebuild the substantiation file, and, if the IRS has opened an examination, manage the notices and information requests through to resolution. If a claim was overstated, we advise on corrective options.
How does the ERTC interact with our PPP loans?
You can claim both, but not on the same wages. We reconcile the payroll dollars you used for PPP forgiveness against the wages you claim for the credit, so no dollar is counted twice — the single most common cause of IRS adjustments.
How is our payroll and financial data protected?
All work runs inside secure, office-based operations under SOC 2-aligned controls, multi-factor authentication, and role-based access, with full audit trails on every file. We connect to your systems through read-appropriate permissions and never move sensitive data outside controlled, encrypted environments.
What does an ERTC engagement cost?
We work on transparent, scope-based pricing rather than the contingency percentages many ERC promoters charged. After a short eligibility assessment, you receive a fixed quote tied to the number of quarters, employees, and whether audit-defense support is included. You always see the fee before committing.
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