In the case of an eligible employer, there shall be allowed as a credit against applicable employment taxes for each calendar quarter an amount equal to 70 percent of the qualified wages with respect to each employee of such employer for such calendar quarter.
The amount of qualified wages with respect to any employee which may be taken into account under subsection (a) by the eligible employer for any calendar quarter shall not exceed $10,000.
In the case of an eligible employer which is a recovery startup business (as defined in subsection (c)(5)), the amount of the credit allowed under subsection (a) (after application of subparagraph (A)) for any calendar quarter shall not exceed $50,000.
The credit allowed by subsection (a) with respect to any calendar quarter shall not exceed the applicable employment taxes (reduced by any credits allowed under sections 3131 and 3132) on the wages paid with respect to the employment of all the employees of the eligible employer for such calendar quarter.
In the case of any employer that was not in existence in 2019, subparagraph (A) shall be applied by substituting “2020” for “2019” each place it appears.
Notwithstanding subparagraph (A)(i), in the case of a severely financially distressed employer, the term “qualified wages” means wages paid by such employer with respect to an employee during any calendar quarter.
The term “severely financially distressed employer” means an eligible employer as defined in paragraph (2), determined by substituting “less than 10 percent” for “less than 80 percent” in subparagraph (A)(ii)(II) thereof.
The term “qualified wages” shall not include any wages taken into account under sections 41, 45A, 45P, 45S, 51, 1396, 3131, and 3132.
The term “wages” means wages (as defined in section 3121(a)) and compensation (as defined in section 3231(e)). For purposes of the preceding sentence, in the case of any organization or entity described in subsection (f)(2), wages as defined in section 3121(a) shall be determined without regard to paragraphs (5), (6), (7), (10), and (13) of section 3121(b) (except with respect to services performed in a penal institution by an inmate thereof).
Such term shall include amounts paid by the eligible employer to provide and maintain a group health plan (as defined in section 5000(b)(1)), but only to the extent that such amounts are excluded from the gross income of employees by reason of section 106(a).
For purposes of this section, amounts treated as wages under clause (i) shall be treated as paid with respect to any employee (and with respect to any period) to the extent that such amounts are properly allocable to such employee (and to such period) in such manner as the Secretary may prescribe. Except as otherwise provided by the Secretary, such allocation shall be treated as properly made if made on the basis of being pro rata among periods of coverage.
Any term used in this section which is also used in this chapter or chapter 22 shall have the same meaning as when used in such chapter.
All persons treated as a single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of section 52, or subsection (m) or (o) of section 414, shall be treated as one employer for purposes of this section.
This credit shall not apply to the Government of the United States, the government of any State or political subdivision thereof, or any agency or instrumentality of any of the foregoing.
This section shall not apply to so much of the qualified wages paid by an eligible employer as such employer elects (at such time and in such manner as the Secretary may prescribe) to not take into account for purposes of this section.
Any credit allowed under this section shall be treated as a credit described in section 3511(d)(2).
Except as provided in paragraph (2), no advance payment of the credit under subsection (a) shall be allowed.
Under rules provided by the Secretary, an eligible employer for which the average number of full-time employees (within the meaning of section 4980H) employed by such eligible employer during 2019 was not greater than 500 may elect for any calendar quarter to receive an advance payment of the credit under subsection (a) for such quarter in an amount not to exceed 70 percent of the average quarterly wages paid by the employer in calendar year 2019.
In the case of any employer who employs seasonal workers (as defined in section 45R(d)(5)(B)), the employer may elect to apply subparagraph (A) by substituting “the wages for the calendar quarter in 2019 which corresponds to the calendar quarter to which the election relates” for “the average quarterly wages paid by the employer in calendar year 2019”.
The amount of credit which would (but for this subsection) be allowed under this section shall be reduced (but not below zero) by the aggregate payment allowed to the taxpayer under paragraph (2). Any failure to so reduce the credit shall be treated as arising out of a mathematical or clerical error and assessed according to section 6213(b)(1).
If the advance payments to a taxpayer under paragraph (2) for a calendar quarter exceed the credit allowed by this section (determined without regard to subparagraph (A)), the tax imposed under section 3111(b) or so much of the tax imposed under section 3221(a) as is attributable to the rate in effect under section 3111(b) (whichever is applicable) for the calendar quarter shall be increased by the amount of such excess.
The Secretary shall waive any penalty under section 6656 for any failure to make a deposit of any applicable employment taxes if the Secretary determines that such failure was due to the reasonable anticipation of the credit allowed under this section.
This section shall only apply to wages paid after June 30, 2021, and before October 1, 2021 (or, in the case of wages paid by an eligible employer which is a recovery startup business, January 1, 2022).