IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel took decisive action by issuing an order to halt the immediate processing of new claims for a pandemic-era tax relief program aimed at small businesses. This move was made to protect taxpayers from a “surge of questionable claims.” (Dore, 2023).

The Employee Retention Credit, abbreviated as ERC, was established to provide assistance to small businesses during the challenging circumstances brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. This credit has the potential to amount to thousands of dollars per employee and has, regrettably, led to a proliferation of specialized firms making deceptive claims about businesses’ eligibility for this intricate tax benefit.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel voiced his concerns during a press conference, stating, “This great program to help small businesses has been overtaken by aggressive promoters,” Werfel told reporters on a press call. “It was not designed to be a gravy train for promoters, flooding the IRS with eligible applications that slow down work on ERC and other important matters for taxpayers.” (Dore, 2023).

Source: Dore, K. (2023, Sep 14). “IRS halts processing of a small business tax break amid ‘surge of questionable claims’“. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/14/irs-halts-employee-retention-credit-processing-amid-questionable-claims.html