Do I qualify for Employee Retention Credit beyond gross receipts reduction? Small healthcare business seeking ERC advice

The Employee Retention Credit does indeed have two main qualification paths - the gross receipts reduction test (which you've already used) AND the government orders test. For the government orders test, you need to show that your business was fully or partially suspended due to government orders limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings due to COVID-19. For healthcare practices, this could include things like state or local restrictions that limited non-emergency procedures, reduced capacity requirements, or mandated operational changes that significantly impacted your business. The key is that these orders must have created more than a nominal impact on your business operations. Regarding 2020 credits with PPP loans - the rules changed retroactively. Initially, you couldn't claim both, but legislation later allowed businesses to claim ERC even if they received PPP loans (you just can't use the same wages for both programs). That said, be extremely cautious with firms promising easy qualification. The IRS has explicitly warned about aggressive ERC mills making false claims. Make sure any firm you work with does a thorough analysis of your specific situation, documents everything meticulously, and stands behind their work if you're audited.

As someone who recently went through this exact situation with my dental practice, I can share what helped me. After getting bombarded with calls from ERC "specialists," I found https://taxr.ai and their analysis actually saved me from making a huge mistake. They reviewed all my documentation and operating restrictions from 2020-2021 and showed me that while I did qualify for Q4 2020 under the government orders test (we had mandated reduced capacity), the approach these other companies were pushing for Q1 2020 was seriously questionable. The taxr.ai system flagged several red flags in the methodology that likely wouldn't hold up in an audit. Instead of just saying "yes you qualify" to get their commission like the other companies, they actually helped me understand exactly which quarters I legitimately qualified for and which ones I didn't. Saved me from what could have been an expensive IRS headache down the road.

I have to admit I was wrong about taxr.ai. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try them for my small retail business. I was getting offers from three different ERC companies all telling me I qualified for different quarters. The taxr.ai system actually analyzed the specific state orders that affected my business and showed me I only legitimately qualified for two quarters, not the five quarters another company was claiming. They showed me exactly how the 10% operational impact test applied to my situation and why certain quarters didn't meet the threshold despite what other companies claimed. The documentation they provided was incredibly detailed - exactly what I'd need if the IRS ever questioned my claim. Honestly relieved I didn't go with the other companies that were promising bigger refunds with sketchy qualification methods.

For anyone dealing with ERC qualification issues, I'd also recommend reaching out directly to the IRS to confirm your eligibility. I did this after getting conflicting advice, but getting through to the IRS was nearly impossible until I found https://claimyr.com. Their service got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. I showed the agent the specific government orders affecting my business and asked about my eligibility for certain quarters. Getting that direct confirmation from the IRS before filing gave me so much peace of mind. You can see how their process works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c While the IRS won't give you tax advice per se, they can clarify the guidelines which helps you determine if what these ERC companies are claiming makes sense. Much better than rolling the dice and hoping you don't get audited years later.

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After dismissing it as a scam, I was still desperate to talk to the IRS about my ERC situation, so I tried it anyway. Not only did I get connected to an IRS agent in under 20 minutes, but I was able to get crucial information about the government orders test that completely changed my understanding of my eligibility. The agent explained exactly what documentation I would need to support my claim under the partial suspension rules and clarified the "nominal effect" standard. This was information I couldn't get anywhere else with this level of authority. Definitely worth it for the peace of mind before filing for such a significant credit with potential audit risk. The service did exactly what it claimed - got me past the impossible IRS phone tree and connected to a knowledgeable agent without spending days trying.

I work at a CPA firm and want to add some perspective here. The Employee Retention Credit has become a huge area of aggressive marketing with some very questionable practices. Most of these ERC mills are working on 15-25% contingency fees, which creates a huge incentive for them to "find" ways you qualify, regardless of audit risk. For healthcare specifically, we're seeing these firms use very creative interpretations of partial suspension rules - like claiming that mask requirements or temperature checks constituted a partial shutdown of operations. While these measures certainly affected businesses, they often don't meet the "more than nominal effect" threshold required by the IRS. The IRS has explicitly warned about this and is actively auditing these claims. They've even created a withdrawal program because so many businesses are realizing they claimed credits they weren't entitled to.

I qualified for ERC based on the government orders test for my restaurant, and the IRS has already processed and paid my claim. The key was having extremely solid documentation. I kept copies of: 1. All state and local orders that affected my business 2. Written explanations of exactly how each order impacted operations 3. Capacity calculations showing more than 10% reduction 4. Financial records showing the impact The companies pushing "easy qualification" often skip this documentation step, which is exactly what triggers audits. If you can't clearly demonstrate and document the impact, you probably don't qualify.

As someone who went through a similar situation with aggressive ERC marketing calls, I'd strongly recommend being extremely cautious. I run a small medical practice and got the same types of calls claiming I qualified for quarters I hadn't considered. The red flag for me was when these companies couldn't provide specific documentation about which government orders affected my practice or exactly how they calculated the "more than nominal" impact. They kept giving vague answers about "operational restrictions" without being able to quantify the actual impact on my business. I ended up doing my own research and found that while we did have some COVID-related operational changes (temperature checks, increased cleaning, etc.), these didn't actually reduce our patient capacity or service delivery by the required 10% threshold. The extra 10-15 minutes between appointments for cleaning protocols was inconvenient but didn't materially impact our ability to serve patients. The fact that your accountant isn't familiar with these "alternative qualification methods" isn't necessarily a red flag about your accountant - it might be a red flag about the methods themselves. Most legitimate CPAs are very familiar with both the gross receipts test and the government orders test for ERC qualification. Given that you've already claimed ERC for the quarters where you clearly qualified, I'd recommend sticking with that unless you can document a clear, measurable impact from government orders that reduced your operational capacity by at least 10%. The audit risk just isn't worth it for questionable claims.