Latest news with #EmployeeRetentionCredit
The Hill
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill' is going to be a big ugly problem for small business
Last week, CNBC and 'Shark Tank' celebrity Kevin O'Leary voiced his disapproval of a provision included in the House GOP's tax proposal that would change the oversight of the Employee Retention Credit. 'I read all these bills through the eyes of small business,' O'Leary said. '[It] says the IRS will get extended powers to audit small businesses for up to nine years if it took [the credit]. Now, that is going to cause chaos in valuations if you have that hanging over your head.' O'Leary then said: 'Somebody should fix this in the big, beautiful bill, because it's not beautiful for small business.' He's not wrong. Worse, he's missing an even bigger, uglier issue. Sure, these changes to the Employee Retention Credit will affect the small businesses that have utilized the credit, which provided additional support during COVID but has unfortunately been abused by some. However, the credit was utilized by a very small percentage of the country's 33 million small businesses. The bill, which the House just passed, is potentially creating a more worrying problem that will impact all of these business: a looming inflation and interest rate bomb. Among its many provisions, the bill includes not only extending the Qualified Business Income Tax deduction set to expire this year, making it available to more businesses, but increasing the amount of what can be deducted by eligible 'pass through' businesses from 20 percent to 23 percent. It would also restore first-year deductibility of capital equipment and research and development costs, as well as maintain higher standard deductions for individual returns and higher exemption levels for estate taxes (critical for the many who are planning on an exit). But, according to recent estimates, the bill does little to reduce our long-term deficits. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that it will increase our already astronomical $36 trillion national debt by $3.8 trillion in the next 10 years. 'Over the next decade, the U.S. government's interest payments on the national debt are now projected to total $13.8 trillion — the highest dollar amount for interest in any historical 10-year period and nearly double the total spent over the past two decades after adjusting for inflation,' reports the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a bipartisan think tank. 'In fact, by pretty much any measurement, interest on the national debt will soon grow beyond its highest level since 1940, when such data were first collected.' The organization estimates that 'federal interest payments would rise to 18.4 percent this year, equaling the previous high set in 1991.' Already the bond markets are reacting negatively. And so should they be — these numbers are unsustainable. And while many small businesses remain oblivious to these effects, they'll be experiencing its consequences firsthand in the not-too-distant future. As anyone running a business knows, there's only two ways to cut losses. You can grow revenues, or you can reduce expenses. But for governments, the answer isn't as simple. Growing revenues is difficult, particularly when the government is pushing massive tax cuts. The presumption is that these cuts will spur growth, which will in turn generate needed tax revenues. But this is very iffy — and many economists aren't so confident this will happen. Reducing government expenditures? Ask Elon Musk how easy that is. And who's going to touch the government's non-discretionary mandatory spending, which is now as much as 61 percent of total spending? It's political suicide. The answer to the problem is inflating our way out of our debt by printing more money to pay the interest. But, as markets are showing, this comes at a cost: more money in circulation is inflationary. And with that comes more risk, which results in higher interest rates compounded on top of the Fed's efforts to control its money supply with higher borrowing rates. If you're running a small business — or any business, for that matter — the impact is higher future costs to buy goods and services and higher interest rates to finance growth and investment. The days of zero percent inflation and interest are long gone. My prediction is that the level of interest (the average bank's prime rate is currently 7.5 percent, but some of my clients pay points above that) and inflation (now at 3 percent) will continue to grow. And that doesn't take into consideration the impact of tariffs and supply chain disruptions. Maybe technology can save the day by increasing productivity and reducing our costs in such a way that these increases are manageable. It's possible, given the potential of AI. But these benefits are still a few years away. I do love lower taxes, of course. But nothing is free. And the benefit of lower taxes will likely be offset by the higher costs caused by rising inflation and interest. Gene Marks is founder of The Marks Group, a small-business consulting firm.
Globe and Mail
20-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
ES Bancshares, Inc. Announces the Receipt of the First Installment of Its Employee Retention Tax Credit
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ES Bancshares, Inc. (OTCQX: ESBS) (the 'Company') the holding company for Empire State Bank, (the 'Bank') today reported that the Company received a check for the first installment of $268 thousand of its Employee Retention Tax Credit. The first installment will be reported in our second quarter 2025 earnings results. The Bank filed a claim in 2023 to the Internal Revenue Service ('IRS') for $1.2 million, plus applicable interest, in Employee Retention Credits ('ERC') for the years 2020 and 2021. ERC are a refundable payroll tax credit for eligible businesses that paid qualified wages during the COVID-19 pandemic. ERC are generally considered non-taxable income but also require the Company to file amended tax returns for 2020 and 2021 to reduce the associated payroll tax deductions that were previously reported as normal business expenses, which increases the federal income taxes due for those periods. The Company expects to receive multiple ERC installments throughout 2025 and 2026. About ES Bancshares Inc. ES Bancshares, Inc. (the 'Company') is incorporated under Maryland law and serves as the holding company for Empire State Bank (the 'Bank'). The Company is subject to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System while the Bank is primarily subject to regulation and supervision by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Currently, the Company does not transact any material business other than through the Bank, its subsidiary. The Bank was organized under federal law in 2004 as a national bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Bank's deposits are insured up to legal limits by the FDIC. In March 2009, the Bank converted its charter to a New York State commercial bank charter. The Bank's principal business is attracting commercial and retail deposits in New York and investing those deposits primarily in loans, consisting of commercial real estate loans, and other commercial loans including SBA and mortgage loans secured by one-to-four-family residences. In addition, the Bank invests in mortgage-backed securities, securities issued by the U.S. Government and agencies thereof, corporate securities and other investments permitted by applicable law and regulations. We operate from our five Banking Center locations, a Loan Production Office and our Corporate Headquarters located in Staten Island, New York. The Company's website address is The Company's annual report, quarterly earnings releases and all press releases are available free of charge through its website, as soon as reasonably practicable. Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, any statements contained in this release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, words such as 'may', 'will', 'expect', 'believe', 'anticipate', 'estimate' or 'continue' or comparable terminology, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements by their nature involve substantial risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of factors, many of which are not within ES Bancshares, Inc's. control. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made only as of the date of this release. We have no intention, and do not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.
The Hill
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
O'Leary: Trump policy bill provision ‘almost seems unfair and un-American' to small businesses
'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary took aim at the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' backed by President Trump on Tuesday, warning that a section related to small business tax audits will 'cause chaos in valuations.' 'We've got a situation in this new beautiful bill,' O'Leary, often a supporter of Trump's economic policies, told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo. 'It almost seems unfair and un-American to do that to small business.' He was referring to changes in the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), which was designed to help businesses retain employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill, as it is being debated among House Republicans, would pave the way for increased audits by the IRS tied to the tax credit, which are intended to root out fraud in the pricey program. 'I read all these bills through the eyes of small business,' O'Leary said. '(It) says the IRS will get extended powers to audit small businesses for up to nine years if it took the ERC. Now, that is going to cause chaos in valuations if you have that hanging over your head.' O'Leary argued that many haven't read the bill, so he was planning to personally lobby lawmakers on the issue. 'I'm heading down tonight to the Hill, to get a gong and walk down the halls banging it saying, 'What are you guys doing here?'' O'Leary told Bartiromo. 'Somebody should fix this in the big, beautiful bill, because it's not beautiful for small business.' He said the proposal would give 'more power to the IRS to cause conflict with small business.' 'Who wants to do that? What Republican wants to do that?' the investor added. Supporters of increased oversight of the pandemic-era ERC program have argued that it will stamp out rampant fraud that has made it more costly than anticipated and free up money for other proposals tied to Trump's sweeping policy agenda. According to a review from the Bipartisan Policy Center, an expansion of the ERC in 2021 set off an aggressive marketing campaign from firms angling to assist businesses with claiming the credit. 'The total cost of the credit was initially projected to be $50 billion — now, projections exceed $550 billion,' the Center's analysts wrote in a report last year.
New York Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Kevin O'Leary rails against ‘anti-American' GOP tax plan: ‘It's gotta get fixed'
One popular investor and entrepreneur has aired his grievances with the proposed tax plan in President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' 'This is anti-American. It's against small business. I've never seen anything like it. You want to talk about [a] big, beautiful bill? This is a big, ugly piece of that bill. It's gotta get fixed,' Kevin O'Leary said Tuesday on 'Varney & Co.' 'For small business[es], I'm their advocate,' he added. 'So I read all these bills.' The Trump White House did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment at the time of publication. The O'Leary Ventures chairman put the onus on the end of the pandemic-era Employee Retention Credit (ERC), which gave government money to businesses that kept Americans employed throughout COVID. 'That program's over. They want to give new powers to the IRS to audit all those small businesses for up to nine years. That's unprecedented. Why would we want to do that to small business?' he posited. 'So many of these audits would occur after the period where they don't have their records,' O'Leary expanded. 'This is war on small business.' Kevin O'Leary claimed that GOP's proposed tax plan is 'anti-American' and would hurt small businesses. Photo byHouse Republicans released a portion of Trump's tax agenda late on Friday evening, bringing them one step closer to completing the commander-in-chief's federal budget proposal. The legislation draft includes an increased child tax credit (CTC), a higher threshold for estate tax liability and codifying the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The full legislation is expected to advance through the Ways & Means Committee this week before reaching the president's desk by July 4. Notably absent from the rough draft was legislation around state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps, a new millionaires' tax bracket, eliminating taxes on tips, overtime wages and Social Security checks for retirees. House Speaker Mike Johnson speaking to reporters at the Capitol amid negotiations over the GOP's budget bill on May 15, 2025 Photo byBut O'Leary insists some changes must be made before the president puts pen to paper and makes the plan law. 'I read it and said, 'This can't be right. Why would they do this?'' he said. 'It's outrageous that they would attack small business like this, and unprecedented to get powers to the IRS like this because it won't stop there.' 'They're looking to save money. I get it, ERC saved millions of businesses,' O'Leary clarified. 'And some people claimed it was fraudulent. Sure, there's fraud in every government program. But 95% of these businesses deserve that money and are still in business because of that money. And now somebody says, give the IRS power to go rip into them. That's not okay.' Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Man and woman plead guilty in refund scheme involving pandemic relief tax credits
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A man and woman have pled guilty to involvement in a refund scheme that included pandemic relief tax credits. Court documents revealed Kendra Michelle Eley filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) eight Forms 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Returns, for Kreative Designs by Kendra, LLC, between Oct. 11, 2022, and May 24, 2023. The eight forms covered four tax periods in 2020 and four tax periods in 2021. Eley falsely reported wages paid and federal tax withholdings for eighteen employees on each of the forms despite having none. In the four forms filed for 2021, Eley claimed false Sick and Family Leave Credits and Employee Retention Credit (ERC) through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, totaling approximately $713,000 and $252,000 respectively, with total refunds claimed of over $900,000. The IRS issued two U.S. Treasury refund checks made payable to 'Kendra M. Eley, Kendra Cleans Maid Services' on Dec. 9, 2022, and on Dec. 13, 2022, totaling $649,050. On Dec. 23, 2022, Eley and Rejohn Isaiah Whitehead opened a business checking account in the name of Kendra Cleans Maid Services LLC (KCMS), and the signatories on the account were Eley and Whitehead. Eley and Whitehead falsely represented the nature and extent of KCMS as a business to open the business account. Eley funded the account by depositing one of the refund checks in the amount of $389,640. On Jan. 9, 2023, Eley wrote Whitehead a check from the account for $20,000. She wrote Whitehead an additional check from the account for $40,000 on Jan. 21, 2023. On Feb. 13, Whitehead pled guilty to engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26 and faces up to 10 years in prison. Eley pled guilty on Thursday to one count each of false claims and engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property. She is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9 and faces up to 10 years in prison. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
