Have You Received Your Payroll Tax Refund Yet? Let Us Help You.

OmegaNet CONNECTION was founded to Empower Retailers and Vendors to Save More and Make More.

Now as a trained ERC Consultant, we are helping Retailers receive their Employee Payroll Tax Refunds for 2020 and 2021. Let us help you get yours!

Why is OmegaNet involved in ERC?

Our industry was hurt by the pandemic shutdown, followed by supply chain issues. Many businesses are still hurting. Toni Ivey of OmegaNet is determined to help bring MILLIONS of dollars back to our industry through this program. OmegaNet has partnered with Bottom Line Concepts, a specialist in ERC and a designated partner of the IRS, to facilitate these refunds.

What Is ERC?

ERC stands for “Employee Retention Credit.” You will also see it as ERTC (“Employee Retention Tax Credit”). Either way, it is a program that was created by the US Congress in the CARES Act in 2020. It was a Stimulus program to help businesses keep employees on the payroll during COVID related shutdowns. It was originally one of two programs that businesses could choose between, the other program being the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP was administered by banks and was a potentially forgivable loan. In 2022, the law was changed so that instead of needing to choose between PPP and ERC, businesses can now get BOTH, so even if you got PPP, you can now also receive ERC.

Is ERC a loan, a grant or a refund?

ERC is not a loan or a grant. You do not have to pay it back. It is a payroll tax refund. The payroll taxes you paid to the IRS in 2020 and/or 2021 can be refunded if you apply before the deadlines.

Won’t the IRS demand the money back?

The IRS will not demand that you give the money back because the money has been set aside by Congress and is available to all who apply and qualify.

Won’t this increase the national debt?

It will not increase the national debt because the money was set aside in the CARES Act and is simply waiting to be claimed.

What does it cost to apply?

There is no cost to apply. You pay nothing up front. Bottom Line only charges a fee once you have received your refund from the IRS. The fee can range from 10%-to-30% depending on several factors.

How much money could my business receive?

Naturally, the total amount any given business receives varies depending on how many employees they have, how much employment tax was paid, etc., but the rule of thumb is that you could receive anywhere from $10,000 up to $24,000 per employee. Your contract with Bottom Line Concepts will state what percentage of the amount you receive you will be required to pay them, but only after you have received your money.

Is there a deadline to apply and receive ERC refunds?

Yes, in fact there are two: for payroll taxes paid in 2020, the deadline to apply is April of 2024 and for payroll taxes paid in 2025, you must apply by April, 2025.

How do I know if my business qualifies for the ERC refund?

There are a number of qualifications, which require someone well versed in the law to navigate, but generally the qualifications are as follows:

• Your business must have paid employees in the United States and you must have paid payroll taxes during 2020 and/or 2021. You must have had at least TWO W2 employees (not 1099 independent contractors) that you retained and paid during 2020 and/or 2021 AND that were not related to the owners of the business (If you had less than five employees, your case will be handled by a different entity – not BottomLine Concepts).
• Your business must have had a decrease in revenue in any quarter from 2019 to the same quarter in 2020 and/or from any quarter in 2020 to the same quarter in 2021 OR
• Your business must have experienced “Operational Impact,” in other words you were forced to change how you did business, which could mean requiring employees to work from home, non-attendance at tradeshows, not being able to call on customers, etc. (You must work with BottomLine Concepts if this second option – change in operations – is your only qualification (you did not have a decrease in revenue) AND you must have had 5 qualifying employees).

What constitutes “Operational Impact”?

If you did not have a decrease in revenue, you must have had “Operational Impact,” which may be one or more of the following:

• Change in business hours
• Partial or full suspension of your operations
• Shutdowns of your supply chain or vendors
• Reduction in services offered
• Reduction in workforce or employee workloads
• A disruption in your business (division or department closures)
• Inability to visit a client’s job site
• Suppliers were unable to make deliveries of critical goods or materials
• Additional spacing requirements for employees and customers due to social distancing
• Change in job roles/functions
• Tasks or work that couldn’t be done from home or while transitioning to remote work conditions
• Lack of Travel or Lack of Group Meeting

Can’t my accountant apply for the ERC for my business?

Yes, technically your accountant could apply for the refund, however our experience has been that most accountants – even large accounting firms – do not feel qualified to apply, because the law is very large and convoluted, with at least seven revisions to the law over time. Some accountants may erroneously assume you don’t qualify or not be able to devote the time to learning all the facets of the law. That is why we recommend that you work with a specialist like Bottom Line Concepts, which has multiple ERC experts on staff, to apply for your refund. In the beginning, most businesses opted for the PPP because the ERC was more complicated to apply for and a business could only choose one. Now that the ERC can be applied for even though a business received PPP, many businesses are relying on specialists like Bottom Line Concepts.

Who is Bottom Line Concepts?

Bottom Line Concepts is a large consulting firm based in Miami, Florida, that has been helping businesses with complicated IRS relationships for many years. They have worked with about half of Fortune 500 companies at various times. They do not compete with accounting firms in that they do not serve as accountants, generating income and expense statements, filing tax returns, etc. They specialize in helping businesses with problems that are beyond the scope of traditional accounting firms. (Click for general company information)

Are there reviews of Bottom Line Concepts’ ERC service?

Many major companies have used Bottom Line Concepts to get their ERC refund. Here are a few reviews:

• The engagement with Bottom Line has been a great success for NCR. The team was able to recover a seven-figure amount by sifting through enormous amounts of payables data. Overall, I am very pleased with the results as well as the manner in which it was accomplished. Well done to the Bottom Line team!  David Zullo, Chief Procurement Officer & VP Supply Chain, NCR Corporation.
• Bottom Line Concepts has terrific leadership and fulfills its promise to add value by contributing to the bottom line of your organization. They promised us positive results and delivered on their promise! There are very few no risk/all reward opportunities available today in the business world. Bottom Line Concepts offers such a proposition! David Brandon, Chairman of the Board, Domino’s Pizza, Inc.
• We engaged Bottom Line Concepts to take an independent look at a few of our expense categories. In certain areas, we were pleased with the steps we had taken internally to achieve some level of cost savings on our own. In other areas, Bottom Line Concepts opened our eyes to creative solutions we never could have envisioned on our own. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the efforts, and more importantly the results obtained by Bottom Line Concepts in working with Rolex. It is safe to say that their dedication, professionalism and most importantly the results obtained exceeded our expectations. Mark W. Goldberg, CFO, Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc.
• More here: https://www.ercbottomlinesavings.org/reviews/

Hasn’t everyone already received the refund?

Only about 25% of business and nonprofits that legitimately qualify for the program have filed for their refunds.

Will getting the ERC refund trigger an IRS audit?

Applying for this program does not in and of itself trigger an audit, especially when handled by a firm of Bottom Line’s stature, one of the only companies, if not the only one that has private portal access to the IRS.gov website, in order to monitor the progress of client claims at any time.

What documentation will I need to provide?

Odds are you or your bookkeeper will have the required documents at your fingertips. If you applied for the PPP, the required documentation will be familiar, such as your 941 filings for the quarters of 2020 and 2021. If other documentation is needed, your Bottom Line Concepts advisor will ask for it.

Does OmegaNet benefit if my company gets the ERC refund?

Broadly speaking, OmegaNet benefits anytime our clients and partners in the Gift & Home benefit, but specifically, OmegaNet will receive a small finders fee from Bottom Line Concepts for each company which applies and receives the refund. If you don’t receive the refund, neither Bottom Line nor OmegaNet receive anything.