IRS Guidelines 

Overview of COVID-19-Related Tax Credits for Small and Midsize Businesses

The FFCRA requires employers to provide paid leave through two separate provisions: (i) the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA), which entitles workers to up to 80 hours of paid sick time when they are unable to work for certain reasons related to COVID-19, and (ii) the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (Expanded FMLA), which entitles workers to certain paid family and medical leave. The FFCRA provides that employers subject to the EPSLA and the Expanded FMLA paid leave requirements are entitled to fully refundable tax credits to cover the cost of the leave required to be paid for these periods of time during which employees are unable to work (which for purposes of these rules, includes telework).  Certain self-employed persons in similar circumstances are entitled to similar credits.

The following section provides an overview of FFCRA’s refundable tax credit provisions, and the FAQs that follow provide more detailed information regarding the requirements, limitations, and application of the paid leave credits.  The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) administers the EPSLA and the Expanded FMLA and has posted FAQs and relevant information about the paid leave requirements at the Department of Labor's Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers.

Eligible Employers are entitled to refundable tax credits for qualified sick leave wages and qualified family leave wages (collectively “qualified leave wages”), under sections 7001 and 7003 of the FFCRA respectively.  These tax credits are increased by the qualified health plan expenses allocable to, and the Eligible Employer’s share of Medicare tax on, the qualified leave wages.  Eligible Employers are businesses and tax-exempt organizations with fewer than 500 employees that are required to provide paid sick leave under the EPSLA and to provide paid family leave under the Expanded FMLA (note that although the FFCRA requires most government employers to provide paid leave, it does not entitle those governmental employers to tax credits for this leave).  For more information about Eligible Employers, see “What employers may claim the tax credits?”  Under sections 7002 and 7004 of the FFCRA, self-employed individuals are entitled to equivalent credits based on similar circumstances in which the individual is unable to work.  For more information about how self-employed individuals can claim the credits see “Specific Provisions Related to Self-Employed Individuals”. The refundable tax credits apply to qualified sick leave wages and qualified family leave wages paid for certain periods when an employee is unable to work, as described below, during the period beginning April 1, 2020, and ending December 31, 2020. The same period is used to determine credits for qualified sick leave equivalent amounts and qualified family leave equivalent amounts for certain self-employed individuals.