Are You Leaving $ on the Table?

The Chamber will be receiving a check from the IRS for roughly $8,000. How much could your business get?

After hearing many of my colleagues talk about the refunds they and their member businesses were getting, I tuned in to a webinar by our payroll provider, ConnectPay. The webinar was about the Employee Retention Tax Credit, a program included in the CARES Act in 2020.

Employers, including tax-exempt organizations, are eligible for the credit if in 2020 and 2021 they experienced either:

the full or partial suspension of the operation of their trade or business during any calendar quarter because of governmental orders limiting commerce, travel or group meetings due to COVID-19, or
a significant decline in gross receipts as compared to 2019. 

After reviewing our eligibility with ConnectPay, we determined that we were eligible for a refund of $8,000. And that is for a business with just 2 employees and we only qualified for one fiscal quarter.

If you haven't looked into this program, you really need to. We will host a webinar with ConnectPay on Tuesday, April 19th at noon at which they will go over the details and take questions from members.

You can register here and there is no cost to attend.

Additionally, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development has announced the creation of a new employer grant program designed to facilitate hiring and training of new employees. 

The HireNow Program provides eligible employers flat rate awards in the amount of $4,000 for each eligible newly hired employee. To be eligible for the grant, new hires must be (1) brought on between March 23, 2022 and December 31, 2022, (2) retained for 60 days, (3) a Massachusetts resident working in Massachusetts, and (4) work at least 30 hours per week for a salary between minimum wage and $85,000 a year. 

These funds are being issued on a first come, first serve basis through December 31st or until funds are exhausted. To learn more please visit the Commonwealth Corporation’s HireNow webpage.

Tom O'Rourke
President and CEO