The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) opened its much-anticipated Employee Retention Credit Voluntary Disclosure Program (ERC-VDP) in January 2024. The ERC-VDP is currently set to close on March 22, so eligible business owners only have a limited amount of time to decide whether to file. Here, New Jersey tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, discusses some of the key factors business owners should consider when deciding whether to take advantage of the ERC-VDP.

As the IRS continues to combat an estimated $2 trillion in fraudulent Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims, it is targeting businesses that improperly claimed the credit through various means. After establishing a withdrawal process for pending claims in October 2023, the IRS sent an “initial round” of disallowance letters in December, and it opened a limited-time ERC Voluntary Disclosure Program (ERC-VDP) a few weeks later.