Eligible employers that have not claimed the employee retention credit could be leaving tens of thousands of dollars of tax benefits on the table. The stakes are even higher under the recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ("ARPA"), which further expands the total amount and eligibility of the credit.

COVID-19 has changed business as usual for virtually every industry. The pandemic has taken a significant, and in some cases, existential, toll on the operations and finances of many businesses. In an effort to aid employers and keep employees on payroll, Congress created the employee retention credit as a fully refundable tax credit that gives eligible employers the ability to claim a credit against payroll taxes that they would otherwise owe for each of their employees. Since the employee retention credit was first enacted in March of 2020, Congress has expanded its parameters several times, most recently under the ARPA that was passed on March 11, 2021.