Paid Leave Credit
The American Rescue Plan extends through September 2021 the availability of Paid Leave Credits for small and midsize businesses that offer paid leave to employees who may take leave due to illness, quarantine, or caregiving. Businesses can take dollar-for-dollar tax credits equal to wages of up to $5,000 if they offer paid leave to employees who are sick or quarantining.
For FY2020
Beginning in early 2020 as part of the CARES Act, businesses with fewer than 500 employees were required to provide paid sick leave and paid family leave to employees who were dealing with certain consequences of the ongoing pandemic. Under the law, businesses are entitled to a tax credit equal to 100% of the paid sick leave and paid family leave provided to employees.
The 2020 sick leave rules required businesses to provide up to 80 hours of paid leave at either:
the employee’s regular wage, capped at $511/day up to a total of $5,110, if the employee was sick or quarantining; or
two-thirds the employee’s regular wage, capped at $200/day up to a total of $2,000, if the employee was taking time to care for someone else who was quarantining or a child whose school or child care was closed due to COVID.
The 2020 family leave rules required businesses to provide up to ten additional weeks of leave for employees who are unable to work because they need to care for children whose school or normal child care is not available due to COVID. Those employees are entitled to two-thirds of their regular wages, capped at $200/day up to a total of $10,000.
Businesses that paid employees under these programs during the period from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 can take the tax credit against their payroll taxes. If the amount of the credit exceeds a business’s portion of its employment taxes, then the excess is refunded – paid – directly back to the business.
If your business provided paid leave to employees in 2020 and you have not yet claimed the credit, you can file amended payroll tax forms to claim the credit and receive your tax refund.
For FY2021
Although the law no longer requires businesses with 500 or fewer employees to offer paid leave as part of the continuing COVID-relief efforts, if a business does provide paid leave to its employees then it can claim these dollar-for-dollar tax credits for wages paid through September 30, 2021. These credits can be claimed against payroll taxes on a quarterly basis.