 Good morning, everybody. My name is Colleen again yard. I'm the program compliant specialist with the city of Columbus office of business opportunities and we welcome you all today to the federal tax updates for your small business webinar before we go into the webinar. Just a couple of housekeeping rules. First, we do ask for all participants to please keep your devices muted so everyone that's on the call can hear our guest speakers today. Secondly, we do ask if you have any questions regarding information that is covered in the webinar today to please put your questions in the chat and we will answer all questions toward the end of today's webinar. Everyone who has registered for the webinar today will receive a copy of the PowerPoint presentation by email later on this afternoon and we will have a recording available on our website. Hopefully in the next couple of days. So, before we go into our presentation, just a couple of things I would like to talk about with the office of business opportunities. So, first, the office of business opportunities we are located here in Columbia, South Carolina, and we service under three different areas. The first one is commercial lending where we offer financial assistance to start up in existing businesses for growth, expansion, retention and the creation of new jobs and assistance in the redevelopment of commercial corridors. Our second area is contractor and supply and diversity training and support for city initiatives designed to increase local contractors capacity to compete for government contracts and other procurement opportunities. Those programs include our men approach a program, local business enterprise in the Columbia disadvantage business enterprise. And lastly, we have our technical assistance education and advocacy, the business development assistance and courses for startups and existing businesses to looking to grow and expand topics cover include marketing use of social media business plan development and finance this legal issues and more. And before I go to the next slide we do have OBL staff members that are here on the call. I would like to introduce our director Miss Aisha triggers Aisha. What, she's not going to speak but she's. Hey, everyone, thank you so much for being here today we're excited that Miss Davis and her counterpart have joined us today to share this information we have a lot of individuals that have registered so we know this topic is very important to everyone so just thank you for being here. We also have our program compliance administrator miss Cassandra Fletcher. Good morning everyone and I just wanted to actually say we greatly appreciate you all attending this event on today. Thanks. And we also have additional staff members shine take Cooper Carla Eichelberger and Latanya Germany who also on the call. So, one question that we get from a lot of small businesses are interested in weren't working with the city of Columbia or offering their services to the city of Columbia. We do ask if you would like to become a registered vendor to register in the city of Columbia is even system. And this is the link which is Columbia SC that I am wave net and click on supply a registration to register your information and even. Once you do register you will start to receive email notifications from I am wave even on any solicitations pertaining to the goods and services that you offer. We'll be sent via email. And this is again this is the I am wave even portal where you can find the opportunities. And we also have our OBO newsletter and this newsletter is sent out weekly to everyone that's on the distribution and in this newsletter is information on upcoming events that our office and our community partners such as Richland County Office of Small Business Administration, US Small Business Administration is excuse me and other local state in federal and local entities have have come in that regard to small businesses. So if you would like to register the link is located at the bottom and that is OBO that Columbia SC that GOV for slash newsletter and again those newsletters come out every Monday via email. And upcoming events one event that we're going to be doing in a couple weeks. This is bridging a generational gap in the workplace series that acquisition and retention of Generation Z and Tyson Brown of project one one way will be the feature speaker on this. We still have registration available and the link to register is bridging a generational gap series that event right. So if you would like to register for that event. You can do that and this will be an in person and virtual webinar so if you would like to come in person we will be at the Earlwood Park Community Center 1113 Recreation Drive here in Columbia. But if you have any questions on it feel free to contact me here at the office at 5453950 or send us an email at OBO at Columbia and see that GOV. And finally our small business town hall. This is the town hall with the city of Columbia and US small business administration will be hosting on Thursday March 28 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. If you have any questions regarding this event. You can contact us here at the office. And this event will feature Mayor Daniel Rickerman US small business administration regional administrator Alan Thomas and represent this from the Office of Business Opportunities Richland County Office of Small Business Opportunity. And other entities to talk about all the all the resources here in Columbia for small business entrepreneurs. So finally if you all have any questions regarding the Office of Business Opportunities the services or we can offer or any resources that we make we may can help you with regarding your small business or if you would like to become a business owner. Contact us here at the office our office located here on 1401 Main Street for floor we're right here in downtown Columbia and you can contact us at 803-545-3950 or you can email us at OBO at Columbia and see that GOV. And you can also check us out on our website where we updated week daily for any upcoming events or things that we do here at the office and that website is OBO dot Columbia and see that GOV. So now I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to our guest for the evening. If you could please welcome from the Internal Revenue Service Miss Yvette Davis and also Mr. Paul Sattler. Thank you so much Kalina let me just go ahead and pull this up so I can start sharing. And then I'll start talking. Let's see it and let me know when you see it. You can see it on your screen. Awesome. Okay. Okay. Excellent. So yes thank you so much. Kalina and to the city of Columbia office of business opportunities. We are so grateful for this platform we're grateful for the opportunity to partner with you all. Finally, and to get to talk to to your your folks and to kind of share some information with them that we feel will be very beneficial for our employers our business owners out there in South Carolina. We are always grateful for the opportunity when we get a chance to speak kind of sort of one on one. If you will with our small business small businesses and in those so providers and all those, all of you partnerships and all that we're so grateful for this opportunity because it is rare that we get a chance to do this so thanks all to all of you for taking time for your day to join us and to come and learn something new. So I tip my hat to you and say this is definitely going to be an opportunity for you to ask your questions. It's going to be an opportunity for you to hear directly from the IRS on just some things that we feel you should, you should really know as as business owners and employers and things of that nature so I want to stop for one quick moment to say thank you to my wonderful colleague Paul Sadler Jr. out of North Carolina I'm so glad to have my compadre on here with me he is new to to this position, however he's not new to the IRS so he's got a lot of knowledge in in in his background and I think that he's done for the last, what did you say Paul 15 years. I'm not 18, 18 years. Yes, he's he's he's got a lot of experience and, and he brings a wealth of knowledge so I'm grateful to him for being here and he's going to share some things with you in just a moment. Again, I'm event Davis and I've been with the service now for 36 years. And yes I started when I was 10. No, five. No, okay. So, 36 years, 36 years is it's been interesting. It's been interesting, but I do have a heart for my business owners, because I started off in collections. And unfortunately, a lot of the times I met with business owners it was because they were already in trouble. So I really love and appreciate what I get to do now, because instead of being reactive as a revenue officer in collections. I'm able to be proactive in your business and get ahead of some things and get some questions answered for you. Let me just say this, we are in outreach education I'm a senior stakeholder liaison. I don't have access like I used to as a revenue officer to your employer identification numbers social security numbers, things of that nature. The research and information that we provide is going to be general information for your business is going to be a resource that you can take with you and go back to irs.gov and read for yourself what we are telling you on this on this in this event. Okay, so it's not going to be evet said is going to be this is what the IRS resource is, and you need to take the opportunity to review it for yourself and apply it to your business situation. I'm going to take a moment and plug our tax professionals. If you have a great tax professional on your side. I want you to put in the chat for me. Yes, I do have a tax professional or yes, something to let me know, because as a business owner. That is one of the things that's one of the things that I promote that I ask that you do. Please take a moment, find someone who can actually work with you and your business as you grow your business, right, as you grow your business so that you can have someone who is educated in the things that will help you help save you money. If you are just starting out, if you're a small business owner, you're just getting started. If you feel you don't know if the money is worth it, let me tell you something. The money you spend on a good tax professional is going to be money in your pocket down the road, because they are going to know the information that's going to they're going to know about that work opportunity tax credit that if you hire or a certain type of target worker, you're going to get a credit as a business owner. They will know these things for you some things that you may not know for yourself. Okay, one of the things we're going to talk about today the employee retention credit. They're going to be able to tell you hey, you can benefit from this employee employee retention credit because of filling the blank, and you're going to have that person on your side and they're going to know your business. You're going to know your situation and be able to apply the law and the credits that are come along with it, so that you can save as much money as possible. If you're like me. Okay, I pay my taxes I found my, found my returns on time, and I pay what I owe, but please understand I want to pay what I owe, no more, and definitely no less. The tax bill will help you do that. At the end, I'm also going to base. I'm going to share with Ms. Kalina resource document that's going to have some links in it to give you some resources beyond this conversation, so that you'll have something to go back to. And, and you'll be able to, to find the information that we're sharing with you today. So, along with this PowerPoint where I'm going to create a document that is going to speak to the things that we're talking about today. And you'll have links that you can within that document that you can use beyond today. Okay, when you use the chat to ask your questions and please ask questions. Make sure you don't include any type of personally, personally, identifiable information like social security numbers, employer identification numbers, people's names, things of that nature, keep it general in nature. Okay. All right. Okay, I think that's all I have. So, right now I'm going to go ahead and stop talking. And I'm going to turn it over to Paul to get us started. Paul, the floor is yours. Thank you, event. And welcome everyone and thanks for attending. I do echo everything that event said and, you know, just, just know that iris.gov has a lot of valuable resources if you have questions that one of us cannot or are not available to answer. You can always check iris.gov and give you information and get just go to the search bar type whatever it is you're looking for, and they will provide you whatever resources are available. So, let's, let's go ahead and get started. Some of you may have already heard of irises online accounts for individuals and business online account access for sole proprietors. Now, the IRS announced the launch of the second phase of a new online self service tool for businesses that expands business tax account capabilities and eligible entity types. Expand business tax account access to S corporations partnerships and added the ability to view business tax transcripts online. The inflation reduction act funding is allowing iris to improve taxpayer services for your small biz. So, publication 5904 is going to give you a little more detail about the iris business tax account event will be putting a link to this publication. And the chat for your convenience. So now I want to talk a little bit about spear fishing. The iris urges businesses to be on the lookout for a variety of suspicious email requests. Through these spear fishing emails scammers try to steal client and employee data with the goal of getting fraudulent tax refunds. The request can range from an email that looks like it's for from a potential new client or customer that contains malicious attachments or URL URL to a request that looks like it comes from an official source. They can target payroll and human resource departments. Asking for sensitive form W to information. Excuse me. These examples demonstrate how spear fishing is a tailored fishing attempt to a specific organizational business spear fishing begins with a suspicious email, but may appear legitimate at first. Some scammers will even use iris logo and claim something like action required. Your account has now been put on hold. These email stress urgency and will ask businesses to click on links and input informational verify information. Spear fishing increases the potential for a data breach by criminals seeking businesses. Employee social security numbers or access to your customers or clients tax related information which increases the potential for the number of victims because it's only the businesses. Personal information that has been stolen, but also has the businesses clients. People can sidestep spear fishing by ever clicking suspicious link never clicking suspicious links. Double checking the requests with the original sender and being vigilant year round, not just during the policies. I'm sure every. I'm sure many of you have heard of employee retention credit and the potential for qualified business owners to receive up to $26,000 per employee for tax years 2020 and 2021. Remaining true to their nature scammers found a way to scam unsuspecting business owners and some who didn't own businesses into applying for the credits that they didn't even qualify to receive. Last year. Iris introduced a way to help these taxpayers resolve or withdraw these ineligible ERC claims. We want you to know that we share your concern that honest taxpayers have been duped by promoters into these filing these false claims. We have been working on solutions to help. The new withdrawal option allows employers with pending claims to avoid future repayment of a refunded credit with penalties and interest. We encourage them to closely review the withdrawal option and the requirements, which we're over over viewing today. We continue to urge taxpayers to consult with a trusted tax professional, rather than marketing company about this complex tax credit. So now we want to look at the there's a moratorium on the employee retention credit. We will take a moment to recap what the IRS has been doing on regarding the ERC in the last couple of months. Amid rising concerns about a flood of incorrectly claimed employee retention credits. The internal revenue service announced on September the 14 and immediate moratorium through at least the end of the year on processing new employee retention credit claims. We did this to help protect honest small business owners and organizations from scams. Here's some constant context for your for this decision. Through mid December, the IRS had received around 3.6 million ERC claims. But consider this. Our current open inventory was over 600,000 virtually all of which was received within 90 days before the moratorium. That means about 15% of all ERC claims received since the start of the program three and a half years ago came in a 90 day period before the moratorium. That's an incredibly large number to have so far beyond the pet, the pandemic and two years after the time period covered by the program. So the moratorium was ordered. Following growing concerns that a substantial share of new claims from the aging program are ineligible and increasingly putting businesses at financial risk by being pressured and scanned by aggressive promoters and marketing. Now that the moratorium is over. We've had some hard lessons learned and are moving ahead with some additional resources like ERC eligibility checklist. Hey, Paul. Let me stop you right there and just interject very quickly with this moratorium. Basically what happened is what he stated. But what's happened what happened was that we had the we let everybody know that the, the time to file the claim was coming to an end. Right. So for 2020 claims for those 941 X's those those with requests for ERC that that comes to an end April 15 of this year. So there was an onslaught of people of scammers coming out of the woodworks trying to get in before that deadline of April 15 2024. That's for 2020. The deadline to to follow in an ERC claim is April 15 2024 for 2021 claims that deadline is in 2025 April 15. All right. Okay. That's all thanks Paul. No problem. So the IRS reminds anyone who incorrectly claims the ERC that they must pay it back, possibly with penalties and interest. A business tax exempt group could find itself in a much worse financial position. If it has to pay back the credit than if the credit was never claimed in the first place. Taxpayers should take their particular precautions because a promoter can collect a hefty contingency fee paid from the ERC refund. This underscores the importance of taxpayers taking precautionary steps to independently verify their eligibility to receive credit. Especially before applying through a promoter. To help employers determine if they're eligible for the ERC, the IRS has created the new interactive ERC eligibility checklist on irs.gov. That provides a quick high level way for them to figure out if they might qualify to claim the ERC or if they potentially need to resolve an incorrect claim. Given that some small businesses and organizations may have been misled by aggressive promoters. This is a this checklist is an important reference tool for people who are reviewing their eligibility. Within these if then tools, we we link out to FAQs for the ERC. These FAQs were updated in mid September and have more information about common areas of this misinformation that promoters use. For example, the IRS is seeing many instances of people in improperly citing supply chain issues as a basis for the ERC claim. An employer with those issues will very rarely meet the eligibility criteria. This checklist provides caution and resources to help determine eligibility. We also have a PDF version that taxpayers can print and use to review each step of eligibility. Now let's talk about the withdrawal process, which IRS announced in mid October. For those who have filed prior to the moratorium and have a pending claim, they should carefully review the program guidelines with a trusted tax professional and check the new employee retention credit eligibility checklist on irs.gov. If a business claim the ERC prior to the moratorium, and the claim has not been processed or paid by the IRS, they can withdraw the claim if they now believe the it was submitted incorrectly. Even if their case is already under audit or awaiting audit, you can use the ERC claim withdrawal process if all these factors apply. You must have made a claim on an adjusted employment tax return that was amended only to claim the ERC with no other adjustment. You also withdraw the entire amount of the ERC claim, not just a portion. The IRS must not have paid your claim. But if it has, you must not have cast or deposited the refund check. Please note that if someone willfully filed a fraudulent ERC claim, or if they assisted or conspired in such conduct, withdrawing a fraudulent claim will not exempt them for potential criminal investigation and prostitution. But now you cannot use the withdrawal process. If any of the following apply. The credit you are trying to withdraw was filed on an original employment tax return. However, you can't correct the amount of the ERC claim on an original tax return by filing an adjusted return that applies to your business or organization and making the payment for any tax due. You are trying to withdraw only a portion of the ERC, for example, you claim $50,000 of ES ERC, but realize you're only eligible for 25,000. You adjust the return reports on tax items, not on your original return in addition to your ERC claim. You need to make other corrections to your return. You can withdraw your ERC refund and cashed or deposited the refund check, or you receive a notice or letter from the IRS disallowing the entire amount of the ERC. If you're not able to withdraw your claim, you can still file another adjusted return. If you need to reduce the amount of the ERC claim or make other adjustments to your amended return. A professional payroll company, including a professional employer organization, certified professional employer organization or some other third party payer arrangement, and they filed your ERC claim for you. You should consult with them. You may need to withdraw the ERC claim. Depending on how the company filed the claim, individually or batch with others, you may need to have them submit your withdrawal request. Otherwise, you'll need to follow the different follow different steps, depending on your situation. Generally, if you haven't received the refund, you can withdraw the ERC claim, even if you've been notified that the claim is under audit. If you have received the refund, you generally can't withdraw if you cashed or deposited the refund. For more information on how to make the withdrawal based on the first three scenarios, please visit IRS.gov. I'm going to turn it over to Yvette to discuss the newest information for those who fall into the full situation listed above. Yvette, over to you. Okay, thanks, Paul. Thanks so much. All right, folks. So yeah, so for the withdrawal portion of this for the first three listed on this slide. I'm going to include some links again in that resource document that I'll be sharing with Kalina later on today so that she can send it out to you all. Because now we do have a new, a new process in place for those folks who fit into the category of they receive the check. And they may have cashed the check or deposited the check from getting from the employee retention credit. And then they realize, hey, whoops, I was duped. I should not have cashed this check. I'm not entitled to this money. Right. So there are a lot of people who fall into this category. And a lot of people are, are now being contacted and please understand folks. The IRS is going to be looking for you to repay. Any type of funding, the employee retention credit money that you receive, if it was received erroneously, fraudulently, if this received fraudulently, then there are going to be additional penalties. Intention intentional penalties that's going to be applied to the balance that you're going to have to pay back. So they are pursuing. The repayment of these funds. They are pursuing prosecution of those folks who intentionally defraud the government and requested these funds fraudulently. All right. So we have the employee retention credit voluntary disclosure program and there are some advantages within this within this program that we're going to talk about. And I'm going to share with you who can participate and some additional resources. I'm going to provide those as well while we're talking and in the document that I'm going to share towards the end of the day. All right. This afternoon. So let's just kind of do a quick recap of the initiatives relative to ERC because I know if you've been paying attention. A lot has happened within the employee retention credit in the last three and a half to four years. We want you to know again that we do see that there are so many fraudulent folks out there. Who are taking advantage of small businesses are knowing they just don't know. And just like with the the what was it the employee. What is it called the that EIP that that that $1500 that $600 economic impact. Yeah that economic impact payment. Yeah just like with that those that was an opportunity for fraudsters to come in and and defraud people who were unknowingly either qualify for it and they took their checks. Or they did not qualify for it and they still filed and requested those funds and received those payments erroneously the employee retention credit. We're talking up to $26,000 folks. So you know those fraudsters are going to be out there and they're going to come up with ways to scam these folks so we know that there are some honest taxpayers out there who were defrauded by by these promoters. They were defrauded and convinced to file false claims and there are these solutions that the IRS has in place for example the withdrawal process that's in place. And then now the employee retention credit voluntary disclosure program. Okay, so again, folks that there are some opportunities for you so fret not. If you fall into the category where you were defrauded and now you're just realizing or getting an understanding that you were not entitled to these funds. There is there are several opportunities now for you to to get some get some assistance and some relief. So let's go ahead and talk about the the voluntary disclosure program process. And this was just announced in December of last year December 2023. But so for those folks who claimed and received that employee retention credit those funds, but you're not quite sure if you're eligible, then you should carefully review the program guidelines. And I'm going back to the first thing one of the first things I said you should review it with a trusted tax professional. Okay, and you also now have the employee retention eligibility checklist that Paul mentioned. And again, you can find that on iris.gov forward slash ERC. Okay, so talk to a trusted tax professional about it. Make sure okay I did these, if, even if, even if you had, because I've heard this before. There are some folks who have a tax professional that they work with every year for their business. And then they would get a letter and email, or some type of correspondence from a supposed expert at getting the ERC the employer retention credit. They were convinced by that letter by that email by that contact. Even beyond what their tax professional was actually telling them, they were convinced. I'm going to try this looking video on. Okay, they were convinced that they qualify. Right. But in actuality, they did not. All right. So, if an employer claimed and received that ERC and now know that they were ineligible. They may be able to qualify and apply for this employee retention. I need to just do a transfer from. They may qualify. And they may be eligible to apply for this ERC voluntary disclosure program. Okay, this program folks is only open. For now, through March 22, 2024. So I'm glad we're talking to you all today. Okay, so if you, or if you know someone who received those funds. And you're like, okay, sis. My friends. I'm not sure you need to make sure you qualify for this because the IRS is going to be collecting and they're going to be assessing penalties. And they're going to, they got the, they got the treasury inspector general, and they're out there and they will be looking to prosecute you for receiving these fraudulent funds just like with the PPP. It's the same thing. So, basically what's happening again, this program is open through March 22, 2024. The program itself requires the employer to pay back that ERC that was was received minus 20%. Okay. If they cooperate with the IRS and provide any requested information, sign a closing agreement, then the IRS is not going to charge penalties or interest on that ERC claim amount. If they pay it in full minus that 20% by the time the you as an employer, you've signed that closing agreement and you sent it to the IRS. Okay. The IRS is also going to commit not to examine that ERC on your employment tax returns for tax periods resolved within the terms of that, the voluntary disclosure program. Okay, so under the ERC voluntary disclosure program, you don't need to to repay any of the interest that you received on your ERC refund. And you don't have to amend your income tax returns to reduce wage expenses. Okay. That's huge. Right. So, so again, get with a your tax professional to give you to help guide you through that process. Now, let's talk about some additional advantages of this of this program. Okay, so again, there are a lot of benefits to this program. If you receive the ERC, but you weren't actually entitled to get it. And now want and you now want to go ahead and pay that money back. Right. So, if you apply to this program, again, you only need to repay 80%. Remember, I mentioned the 20% that is reduced, right? You need to pay 80% of that ERC that you received as a credit on your return or as a refund. Again, folks, I'm going to say this again, you don't have to read. You don't have to repay any interest that you received. And now listen, what I've heard is that there are people who received checks in the in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Okay, so any interest that you gain from hundreds of thousands of dollars is going to be significant, especially as a small business owner. Okay, that's huge. You're not going to have to be you're not going to have to repay any interest that that you received on that ERC refund. Okay. You're not going to have to amend your income tax return to reduce wage expenses. That's huge. Okay. That 20% reduction. I already heard this question before that 20% reduction is not taxable as income. That's huge. Okay. The IRS is not going to charge penalties or interest on the ERC that's repaid in full minus, you know, that 80%. Okay. They're not going to charge any interest on that. The IRS won't examine your employee, your employment tax returns for any of the periods that you that are involved, whether it's from periods in 2020 through 20 through the end of 2021. That's huge. Okay. All right, so let's move on. So, who can apply. So, if all of these factors apply to you, then you can go ahead and apply. Okay, your ERC claimed was claimed on an employment tax return. It has been processed and paid as a refund. You've cashed the check or you've deposited the check. Or if the if you receive the payment in the form of a credit and it was applied to some other tax period that you had a balance due on. Okay. You think that now you were not entitled to any of that ERC for whatever period that you received it for. For example, if you claim again $50,000 of ERC and realize you weren't eligible to get any of that claim, then you could apply. You should choose you should consider applying for this ERC voluntary disclosure program. Okay. If you want to return the entire amount. The entire amount of the ERC claimed and you received that you received for any given tax period. If you want to return the entire amount for any tax period. All right, folks side note. Okay. There are four quarters in a year. Okay. If you received an employee retention credit for 2 of the 2 of the 4 quarters. Then, and you want to return the entire amount for the 4th quarter, you can, you need to be applying because you feel that you were not entitled to it. Okay. All right. If you use a 3rd party payer to file your employment tax return or claim your ERC, then you can apply for the ERC voluntary disclosure program yourself. You're going to have to contact that 3rd party. Who submitted your application, the request, they're going to have to be the ones to submit that that application for the employee retention credit voluntary disclosure program. Okay. This is huge. All right. If somebody willfully filed a fraudulent ERC claim. Or if they helped you assisted you or they conspired. And applied for the and they apply for the ERC voluntary disclosure program. Then they're not going to be this is not going to exempt them from potential criminal investigation prosecution. If there was mal intent. They willfully did this. Then they're not going to be exempt from criminal investigation and prosecution. Okay. So just because you pay the money back. Does not mean that the that the government will not pursue criminal prosecution against you. Basically. Okay. So now, if you can, you cannot use this process. If any of the following or what's listed on the slide applies. Your ERC claim has not yet been processed and unpaid. Or if it was paid and the refund check has not been cashed or deposited. You should not apply for this process. If you're trying to repay only a portion of your ERC. Right. If you got that $50,000 and you realize you were only eligible for $25,000. You should not use this program to apply. If you are under examination by the IRS, you cannot use this process to apply. Okay. If you're under criminal investigation. You cannot use this process to apply. Okay. If you have reversed your ERC to zero. For instance, if you previously filed an amended employment tax return to eliminate all of your ERC. Then you're generally not eligible for this program for the period that you amended. However. If you filed this amended employment tax return before December 21st 2023. The IRS will consider. They will review your application and the decision made as to whether or not it is accepted or not is going to be on a case by case basis. So you have nothing to lose if you take that chance to an apply. Okay. Because all you're doing is saying, Hey, I made a mistake. I want to go ahead and apply. And you may or may not, it may or may not be accepted. Okay. Again, who can't apply. If you received a notice or letter from the IRS disallowing the entire amount of your ERC. It's already been, it's already gone through the process. So you can't apply for, for this program. Okay. In some situations you, you, well, let's just say this. Take the time and apply for this program. You may or may not be successful, but you won't know unless you try. Okay. There are some additional FAQs on IRS.gov about who can apply who shouldn't apply who qualifies who doesn't qualify and the qualifications. So please take a moment to go to IRS.gov. And again, I'll include this link in the resource document, but it's the IRS.gov forward slash ERC FAQ for some frequently asked questions about this, about the voluntary disclosure program. Okay. All right. So now let's talk about applying all. All ERC applications or applicants need to prepare a form 15434. And this is the application for employee retention credit voluntary disclosure program. There's also a package of information as listed on the screen that you need to include. So again, supply a link to this information as well as a link to the form 15434 so that if you feel that you qualify for it, you can go ahead and apply. All right. So, all right, so let's move on. With this process, you want to ensure that the authorized person is signing your application and any other forms, any other applicable form. Remember, I mentioned before the person who submits the form on your behalf. It's a third party that submitted the request for that for the ERC in the first place. Those are authorized persons. Okay. That package is submitted using what we call the document upload tool. Again, I'll include the link in the website in the document resource document. Again, remember it has to be submitted by 1159 p.m. March 22, 2024. Okay. And this is the only way using this document upload tool and it's online. So that's the only way that you can apply for the voluntary disclosure program. Okay. Again, if you use a paid professional, a payroll company, some type of professional employer organization. What else they have the CPEOs, the certified professional employer organizations, or some other third party. All right, if you use them, then they need to file your ERC and they file that claim for you. You can apply for the ERC voluntary disclosure program yourself. You're going to have to contact that third party so that they can submit those documents on your behalf to to qualify for the the VDP. Okay. So keep that in mind. So who can sign these documents or the application listed here you will see based on the entity type who has the authority to sign that that closing agreement that you're going to upload to the volume the to the document upload tool to apply for the program. Okay. So this slide basically outlines who can sign again based on the entity type. We have the sole proprietorship corporation partnership, so on and so forth. Okay. You're going to get a copy of this, this PowerPoint. So you don't have to to make any notes or write that down so you'll have that. Okay, continuing here with who's authorized to sign those documents and upload them for you. Okay. One thing I do like about this and because we're using the document upload tool side note. The document upload tool is also something that you would use if you received a notice from the IRS requesting information or requesting documentation or or requesting whatever if you get a notice from the IRS there's going to be this little here at the top that you can use to correspond with the IRS and and reply to that notice that you received in the mail. The document upload tool is something that they created last year for us to correspond with for you to be able to correspond with the IRS electronically. And the process is a lot quicker that way. Okay, just a little side note. So, whether it's electronic or digital signature, those are allowed in this process. And again, you can find more information about our signature author authorize signatures on IRS.gov. Okay. Okay. So, when we talk about calculating and pain, the amount of the ERC to be repaid is 80% of the ERC that is that is claimed right for whatever the tax period is that that you agree that you were not entitled to receive. The amount is calculated again on that form 15434. Okay. And if you're applying for more than one period, you can use one form for all of the periods that you're applying for. So, you don't have to have one form for each period you can put them all on that one form. Okay, when you're applying. Okay. All right, to this next one. When it comes to paying at the time when you're paying at the time that you apply for the ERC VDP. That can help speed up the process and resolve your case a lot quicker. So if you owe the money, you apply and you send the payment in, then that can help move the process along a lot quicker to getting to an acceptance from the IRS. Okay. But if you can't full pay what is due, then that that's fine. You can you can be considered for an installment agreement. With that, you're going to need to submit a form for 33 B. And that's just a snapshot of your, your, your information about your business income, your business expenses, things of that nature to let the IRS know. This is what you have coming in. This is what you've got going out so that they can make a determination as to what you qualify for in an installment agreement. Okay, so that for 33 B is just a statement of income and expenses for your business. So that the IRS can determine how much of a monthly payment you're going to have to your, you could qualify to pay. This digital information is needed for the IRS so that they can do a thorough review of you, your situation, and then make a final determination. Okay. So whether or not you qualify for an installment agreement. Okay. And depending on the facts that the IRS finds, they may ask you for additional information. And just like with any other process, please make sure you reply to the IRS when they reach out to you as promptly as possible. The longer you take to reply, the longer the process will take. Okay. They're going to give you deadlines and not meeting those deadlines could put you in jeopardy of not even being qualified for, for the, for this process. Okay. All right, so I'm trying to see if there are any questions in the chat. No questions in the chat yet. Okay. Okay, thank you. Okay, so this is just an example. I know it's kind of small, but this is an example of what the application actually looks like. And it's a fillable form. The instructions are should be relatively simple. But we've also put out things before that we thought should have been straightforward, but you all just let me know if you find that the application is not easily followed. And please reach out and let us know at, and I'll put this in the chat or, or Paul, can you put in the chat cl.sl.area.for at IRS.gov. That's our email address. If you have issues, even with this program itself, the process, or completing the application. Please email us and let us know, because the only way we can fix things is if we hear from you, and you let us know, hey, this is the issue. This is what I was trying to do. And this is not working. Okay. One more time. One more time. All right. So it's the L. Yes. That SL. Yes. That area. For the number four at IRS.gov. Okay. Thank you, sir. So this form can be downloaded. And it's going to have some instructions along with it as well. So as you completed the amounts on the bottom of the page one are going to be calculated for you. Okay. And we've heard that some people have had trouble accessing the form itself. So if you have some issues again, please reach out to us via the email address that Paul dropped in the chat. To use the fillable form, then you're going to need to have some basics when it comes to the type of system that you that you're using. All right. So you need to have the current version of Adobe Reader or Acrobat Pro. There's a list of resources that I'm going to include in that my list for resources is getting longer and longer Kalina. All right, the more the better. All right. So I'm just think as I'm going along I'm thinking this is going to be helpful. So I'm going to include a link for for this particular form as well to help you all with downloading and printing it out. If you need to do that. All right. So, so I'll make sure and include those those instructions and that information as well. Okay. And again, you're going to, you're going to submit this online using the document upload tool and I'll make sure and have a link in there about the document upload tool as well and all the benefits besides the using this for using the document upload tool for the 15434. Okay. So, just to go over a few things. These are just some key takeaways from from what we've talked about for those followers of those claims that that have been processed and paid. And you feel, oh man, I shouldn't have done that. I'm not eligible. Please consider applying for the voluntary disclosure program. Okay. Remember that the, the, this program is only available through March 22, 2024. And that's 1159 pm folks, March 22, 2024. There are so many benefits of the program, including paying only 80% of the ERC claim that you actually received with no penalties and no interest. Okay, if you full paid at the time of the closing agreement, and that's the form that you're going to upload with your, with your, with your program request. Okay. The withdrawal option is still available. And Paul talked about that. This is for is still available to those folks who are ineligible to use this program. And you want to consider the withdrawal process as well to avoid receiving any type of erroneous refunds. If you have not already received it. Please consider using the withdrawal program so that you don't get this money and, and you're not entitled to it. And then have to repay repay that that money plus interest and penalties. Because if you don't qualify for the volunteer disclosure program, all bets are off. And you'll be expected to pay the full amount plus any penalties and interest assessor that that come along with it. These are these promoters, the employee retention credit promoters, they're constantly changing their marketing tactics. And we constantly try to remind you all to look for a trusted tax professional. Okay, that tax professional who's going to help you and they because they understand the. This, this whole process, the employee retention credit is complex. Right. It is complex. Right. So you need somebody to who knows about the process and who can walk you through it. Okay, the money that you pay to a good tax professional. I promise you, you're going to get that money back 10 times over. All right, don't try to go in alone and lose out. Okay. So you've got the promoters or the marketing person trying to get huge contingencies from refunds or monies that they got on your behalf that you shouldn't have received. But those contingencies, you're not going to get that money back from that promoter. You're not going to get that money back from that scammer that fee has been paid and they are gone. Okay. And that that if you can't tell already that bothers me, because they're taking advantage of unsuspecting small business owners who are trying their best to not just stay afloat but grow expand and remain relevant for years and years to come. Okay. So please make sure you're vigilant when it comes to these types of things. If it seems too good to be true. It probably isn't probably not true. So we're going to continue the iris is going to continue to work with tax professionals to give them the information that they need to make sure that when they talk to you. They are well versed on whatever it is that that the issue of the hot topic is of the day so that they can help you in your business. Okay. We want to make sure that our small businesses continue to grow and continue to prosper. Right. And not be taken advantage of. Okay. I'm going to include this as a part of the resources for the voluntary disclosure program. And, and a few other things as I've already mentioned. This is some other general information on on the ERC. Again, this is something that I'm going to also include in that resource document just it's just going to be linked. In the resource document here, if you click on it in the PowerPoint, it's not linked quite yet. Okay, so we've got a lot of resources out there for you. And we want to make sure you use this information. Okay. And that it's it's accessible to you and that you, you know, you have what you need to make the right decision. Right. And be able to, to avoid having to pay back money that you weren't entitled to. Okay. There are some other resources that we have here the where you can connect with the IRS. We do have the IRS to go mobile app. And this mobile app just gives you quick access to our different social media. You can sign up for helpful tax tips. You can check your tax refund status. You can even make a payment. All right on the IRS to go mobile app. So it's available in English and Spanish. And this is for those folks who may have an Android or those iOS mobile devices. So you can use it for that. And yes, folks, we are on social media. You can connect with us through YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. And I've got on here Twitter, I need to cut to update that that's X. It is now X, but that that's our handle at IRS tax security and Twitter, Instagram, what else for our subscriptions. If you are a small business owner, please subscribe at minimum to a news for small businesses. In that newsletter, you're going to get information about ERC tax credits, the updates and small business tax credits, anything relative to two businesses, business owners. You're going to get it in that newsletter. Okay, so it's in that email. And I promise you, if you subscribe to it, you're not going to be inundated with a bunch of emails. That's not relevant to taxes and small businesses. They're not going to bombard you with emails like I used to get a whole bunch of emails from well you know what maybe I won't say that because this is being recorded from a particular place that I subscribe to, I would get three or four emails from this particular company every single day without fail. E-News for small businesses is not that there's going to give you what you need when you need it up to date information on business tax credits that could save you money, ultimately in the end. So please take a moment and subscribe to E-News for small businesses. We use our social media tools a lot now because we feel that this is a great opportunity for us to reach out to you on different information that as it changes, tax changes, scam alerts, any new initiatives that we feel are relevant, product services, those types of things. This is what we use our social media tools to share with you. So please take a moment and handle. We are looking to hire at the IRS side note. Okay, so we are looking to hire, the IRS is hiring, federal government is hiring. So if you're looking for a job, if you are a tax professional, I think I saw someone who said they are a tax pro. We need you. We need tax professionals who know the what they're doing. If you're a tax professional, there is a place for you at the IRS. And I know what I'm talking about because I've been here for 36 plus years folks so you should come on and consider joining us. All right. And I know Collina was like, is this a, I didn't know this is going to be a commercial for hiring for the IRS, but you know, I just had to kind of throw that in there as a little side note. I want to find out more information about the positions that's available. Just go to jobs.irs.gov www.jobs.irs.gov. Okay, and there might be a hiring event in your location so check that out. Okay. All right. And I am here. So we're at the questions. It's time and I don't even know what time it is. It's 11 o'clock. Okay, so we got plenty of time for questions and these questions. I'll just put it out there, folks. These questions can be relative to what we talked about today. But if there's something burning and it's something even beyond what we share today, I'm willing to answer those questions as well. All right. So let me do. Let me stop sharing. I just want to reiterate everybody, if you do have a question for event about what she covered today, we bet and Paul what they covered today. Feel free to put your question in the chat or you can unmute your device and ask your question. Yep. And it's very, very, again, it's very, very rare that we get a chance to talk to small businesses one on one. This, this is, this is not always what we do because Kalina cook. For example, the city of Columbia. Office of business opportunity. That's my partner. And we're providing us in our, in our partnership. We're sure this is an opportunity for us to get information directly to those she serves. Right. So again, folks, this is an opportunity for you to ask your questions about your small business about these record keeping anything along those lines with relative to your small business. So, Paul and I are here. So what questions do you have. Don't be shy. I don't need your number. I don't need Jordan. No, yes. Hi, I am that tax professional. My question to you with your 36 years of experience and thank you for what you do. Whoo, I wouldn't be you. Oh, I, I had a client. Okay, that wanted to apply. We went through the process. I explained to the client, you are not eligible. Yeah. Okay, from, from my, but I went through the experience to research. You are not a, you're not eligible. This person, I guess they received some additional information that enticed them to believe that they were eligible. I went with this individual, whoever they were now knows that they're not eligible wants to come back for me to help fix the process. Oh, I say no, I'm not, I'm not getting in that I don't want to be a part of that. But I want your feedback you as a professional. How would you have handled that. So, as, okay, thank you for asking that question. So, as you, as you can tell throughout my conversation with you all today, I am pro tax pros. I am, I am all in for my tax professionals. Okay. You have the knowledge, the wealth of knowledge that you bring to the table. Just like I was saying before, you have the knowledge you have you've done the research, you've gone to the classes that tax professionals are required to get CP, continuing professional education credits every single year. Okay, you all are worth your, your weight in gold. What I've told tax professionals in the past is every client may not be your client. And you have the, the volition to make the decision as to who you represent. And if you have a client who does not follow your instruction as a business owner yourself. If you make a decision and make choices, because your client wants you to knowing the law, and you go against it. And do whatever the client is asking you that is jeopardizing your business. Okay, so I don't fault you for saying, I'm sorry, I can no longer I can't help you with that. There's nothing wrong with that. Again, what what what you are a small business owner. You are you are your own business. So you have to protect your own your business. As far as the IRS is concerned, you know, there's the office of professional responsibility. So you could be held responsible for anything that is done fraudulently with those those clients. So I don't blame you for saying, Hey, I'm sorry, go back to the go back to the third party that did this on your behalf, and have them make this request to to withdraw, or to do the voluntary disclosure program, if they can find them. Well, well, that was the problem. I told that client, I said, no, ma'am, you need to go back to the individual that did that they can help you. I can't find them. I said, Well, I can't, I can't help you. You know, and not one thing I do event is I explain to my clients upfront legal, moral and ethical. That's what I'm about. If I can't help you if that's not how you operate that we are not a good fit. Yes, ma'am. I totally agree. And for all the business owners on on the call on this call right now, please take note to what she is saying, because you have to be an advocate for your business. Every client may not be your client. Every, every good opportunity or business opportunity may not be for you. Okay, and that's okay. That's okay. As a business owner, you're going to have to have your own level of of. I don't even know how to say it. You have to have your own level of integrity. Exactly. Things that you will and will not do. Because again, this is your business. You have to protect your your business yourself. You have to protect your employees. This this is so be vigilant and in making sure that you are protecting yourself in your business, because I know a lot of folks think that the IRS is goal is to put people out of business and take all their money and all of that. I promise you, it's quite the contrary. We need your back and I share this with you to what one of the things for me that's important with with clients before I take them. I'm not just a tax professional. I am an educated. So if you are not willing to be educated as I'm doing your taxes, I need you to go kick rocks, because I don't want to just do your taxes. I want you to understand your taxes and what I'm doing for you. So in the future, you know what I'm saying. And so and I get a lot of class. I don't want to do that. I just want you to do my taxes go kick rocks. Then we're not a good fit because that's what we're supposed to do. Educate them also. Yes ma'am. That's you're exactly right. You're exactly right. And that's again, why I'm telling folks, you need to find a tax professional that is a good fit for you. If you don't understand the words coming out of their mouth. That's not a good fit for you. You need to be working with someone who understand you can understand. And you can feel free to ask questions or even question what they put on your documents, because please understand folks. That might be your tax professional, but when something goes awry, the IRS is going to knock on your door for payment. Okay, your tax professional can be there to to act as your representative, but the bottom line is the IRS is going to the tax professionals not going to make that payment for you. And if you did not say hey, I don't quite understand what you're saying. I don't quite understand this form. I don't quite understand what I'm signing business owner. If you don't understand what you're signing. Please understand that you really, really need to find someone else. You got to have a communication is two ways. It's not a one way thing. And, and, and if you don't understand what that tax professional is saying to you, then again, that's your position to make a different choice. Please find someone that you can talk to and understand because if something goes awry, the, and there's a balance do that tax flows not going to pay it you business owner, you're going to be the one to pay it. Do you need to make sure you're understanding your what your tax professional is putting in front of you, you understand what they're saying, and you are willing to receive and accept and understand take ownership of what they they're going to give you information if you got a good tax professional like this young lady here. They're going to give you nuggets. They're going to teach you along the way. They're not going to just say here sign this here sign here. And then, and then you go on your merry way. They're going to explain to you what you're signing. Why we're at why it why we arrived at this. I claim that why because of this, this and this. And, and, and another thing so as as a business owner folks we're not expecting you to be a tax professional, but we are expecting you to do your own due diligence, and have enough to question and ask questions and make sure before you sign your name on anything, you have an understanding of what you're signing, because it's your business. It's your responsibility. And one more thing I wanted to add to event if I, if I could, is that I'm going to tell you I'm a tax professional, but I'm a, I'm transparent. If there is something that I don't know. I'm going to tell you hey wait a minute now that that's that's a little above my pay grade. Yeah, if you allow me to do the research. Yes, let me and I do that with every every every client I have anyway I'm going to research. Yes, ma'am research and then I'm going to get back to you. I got a client now that that dip that that is. Oh, it cryptocurrency is his life. I just said this is the client I've had for five years and I tell him okay what we're going to do. This is going to get us a tax attorney. We've got to learn this year together. I've offered to do that with them together. And then if you want me to still do your taxes then we'll go from there, but I'm telling you this is not a good year for me to do your taxes, because you got all this mess this tax and I know the IRS is even struggling with cryptocurrency and digital assets and so that's what I'm going to do. But that if your tax professional is not transparent, if your tax professionals not honest, because they don't we don't know it all we don't. We don't. And so. That's important. Thank you. No, thank you so very much and, and, and I'll take it a step further. News flash. Paul doesn't know everything. Paul doesn't know everything. We are not a computer. Well, even the computers that rely on people to put information in there to be to be pulled out. So no, so yes, we do have to take time to do research to give you sound advice and and information. We're not. Even before we are, I want to share this resource document, because in that document, you're going to find a whole lot more information that beyond what problem I shared here today. But you are going to have to do your own research your own again I say this again, do diligence, because the time that you spend researching and getting an understanding of these things of of the business tax is going to be applicable to you. You're going to save yourself a lot of money in the end, it's worth it. So we don't know everything. We get questions every day. This is following season. We get questions every day. Cryptocurrency you're right, young lady. Yes, this is new. This is new territory for the IRS, and we're trying to figure it out. There again, even within the IRS, there's an opportunity for us to to learn and then share what we've learned with you. So, again, I'm just going to say thank you all and I appreciate you all for taking the time out to even come on today to and learn more about the business online account business tax account about tax scams about the employee retention credit and the new program that's out there the withdrawal process, those types of things. Please, folks, if you I know you're you're the sea. I don't see any questions here. And I know a lot of times people kind of shy away from asking questions and that's okay. But, but even beyond today, you've got our email address, and I'll make sure included and included in that resource document that I'm going to work on as soon as we hang up so I can get it to you in time Kalina to share before this afternoon. Okay, so I'll make a commitment to work on that and get that to you, because I'm going to make some additions to it based on our conversation today. So, again, folks, we we're here, even beyond today to help you with your questions. Again, Paul and I are outreach education where we're we're tax specialists. And we don't but we don't have access to social security numbers, employee identification numbers, things of that nature. So we cannot look up your account. I can't tell you why you don't have your tax refund yet. I'll tell you to go to irs.gov and click on the link that says where's my refund. That's what I can tell you to do. I can give you the resource so that you can go and get that information. We do appreciate you. Thank you all so very much for joining us today. I hope you learned something new. And if you have any questions again, you'll have the information that you need to reach out to us. Thanks Kalina. Aisha, thanks y'all so much. I appreciate this. We appreciate you. Thank you so much. We really appreciate you and Paul as well with all the wealth of information you provided to our participants today because I'm. I'm pretty sure they're going to have a lot of information and a lot of questions, especially around this time of the year with it being so close to tax season. But we will end tax season, but we want to thank everybody. Everybody for being on this call today. This is why we do what we do. We provide information and resources to those. If you can't get to these people directly, we provide them to you and we're going to continue to provide more opportunities, more webinars and workshops throughout the year. But again, as I'm sorry, you didn't go ahead. You just prompted me to remind everybody so we have the taxpayer assistance center has some Saturday hours. And for Columbia, they've added March 18. I'm sorry, May 18. For assistance, you don't have to sign up or call in to get an appointment. You just walk in as a May 18 Saturday from 9 to 4. If you've got questions about your tax returns and things of that nature walk, you can walk in there on Saturday in the Columbia office 1835 assembly street. 1835 assembly street May 18 from 9 to 4. If anybody's near Charleston, theirs is on April 13. That's the Saturday, April 13, 9 to 4 at the Charleston location IRS office. So I wanted to say that. Okay. Can you put in that include that in your information that you're going to send to me. I will add that to the list. Yeah. All right. Okay, so thank you all so much. Before we go, we just want to give you a couple of reminders, but I'll let our director, I should do this if she has any closing comments before I close. No, this was great. I appreciate event and Paul coming to join us today. It's great when we can provide the resources directly to our small business community as they continue to tell us what they need and then we search out to see what experts are out there so we can provide that information. So for those that are on the call, we will send a survey later for you to complete just so that you can give us feedback on additional trainings that you may want in the future. I think this was a very comprehensive and thorough presentation. So thank you both. We appreciate your partnership and look forward to continuing to work with you as there's always people always have questions about their taxes and we know that that can make or break a small business. So it's so important that they're educated on how the rules apply to them. And like you said, none of us know everything but if you know where to find the answer or where to ask the question that that's really half of answering the problem. So thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you, Aisha. So before we go, we just want to briefly remind you all that if you have registered for today's webinar, you will receive, as Aisha said, the survey. And you will also receive the resource information provided by even Paul and you will also see receive the PowerPoint presentation. And we are going to be working on trying to get the recording uploaded to our website. So be on the lookout for that in the coming days as well. But just to remind you all, our next webinar is going to be on March the 27th at 10am. It will be a virtual and in person in webinar vision and generational gap in the workplace series. So please go over and register if you would like to attend in person or virtually. And on behalf of the Office of Business Opportunities, I want to thank everybody for being on the call today and we hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Have a great day.