47. How is the maximum amount of the Employee Retention Credit available to Eligible Employers determined?
The credit equals 50 percent of the qualified wages (including qualified health plan expenses) that an Eligible Employer pays in a calendar quarter. The maximum amount of qualified wages taken into account with respect to each employee for all calendar quarters is $10,000, so that the maximum credit for qualified wages paid to any employee is $5,000.
Example 1:Â Employer M pays $10,000 in qualified wages to Employee A in the second quarter of 2020. The Employee Retention Credit available to Employer M for the qualified wages paid to Employee A is $5,000.
Example 2: Employer N pays $8,000 in qualified wages to Employee B in the second quarter 2020 and $8,000 in qualified wages in the third quarter 2020. The credit available to Employer N for the qualified wages paid to Employee B is equal to $4,000 in the second quarter and $1,000 in the third quarter due to the overall limit of 50 percent of $10,000 of qualified wages per employee for all calendar quarters.
