When claiming the Employee Retention Credit, eligible employers are considered those who ;carried on a trade or business during the calendar year of 2020 or 2021. ;ERC eligibility also requires businesses to meet one of the two following criteria:
Experienced full or partial suspension of business operations or had supply chain disruptions due to government shutdowns. Experienced a significant decline in gross receipts in any calendar quarter compared to 2019.
When determining eligible employer status for the ERC, even a tax-exempt organization or a company that received a PPP loan can qualify, while newly established businesses can get their federal income tax refund by applying as a Recovery Startup Business.