Oct 05, 2021

Federal COVID Leave Ended on September 30, 2021

The Tax Credits for Paid Leave Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 have ended.

 

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), passed earlier this year, allowed employers with less than 500 employees to voluntarily provide Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (FMLEA) leave to eligible employees on terms similar to 2020’s Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA).  As with the FFCRA, employers providing qualifying leave under ARPA could recover their costs of leave provided through payroll tax credits.  This tax credit-eligible leave under ARPA had to be taken between April 1 and September 30 of 2021.  Leave taken after September 30 will no longer qualify for payroll tax credits.

Despite the expiration of leave under ARPA and its payroll tax credits, employees will continue to need leave for COVID-related reasons.  Employers should consider that time off may be available to employees under an employer’s existing paid leave policies.  Employees could also qualify for leave under state or local leave laws.  And, in the interest of workplace safety, many employers will allow employees to take unpaid leave if a worker is exposed to COVID-19 or has COVID-19 symptoms.


 

MORE RECENT NEWS…


Apr 10, 2025

Protecting Your Business From an IT Outage

In 2024, a major IT outage affected 8.5 million computers and effectively shut down some businesses for days. Read here to learn how to protect your company should something like this happen again.


Apr 09, 2025

Employee Health Insurance: What's New?

Employer-sponsored health insurance is expected to remain a dominant part of benefits packages for working families, though affordability and access to care seem to prevail. Read through to learn about the future of employee health insurance.


Apr 08, 2025

Staff Versus Freelance: Nontax Issues

Deciding whether to hire a staff person or a freelancer should be influenced not just by IRS regulations, but by the kind of work to be done and how you want the worker to fit into your company. Read through to read more about the considerations.


Apr 07, 2025

BOI Reporting Obligations Reinstated--And Then Removed Again

Because of various court rulings, the beneficial ownership information reporting requirement for small businesses has been bouncing back and forth. Read through for the latest on Corporate Transparency Act requirements.


Mar 14, 2025

Employer-Sponsored Educational Assistance

By offering educational assistance programs, companies can support employees' undergraduate or graduate education, help them pay off student loans, or assist them with the cost of books and supplies. Read through to learn more about the IRS's qualified educational assistance program.


Mar 13, 2025

Better the Devil You Know: Long-Term Employees

Employees who may have worked for the same employer for 5-10 years or longer are sometimes facetiously labeled "lifers," while others are "job hoppers." But are those labels useful anymore? Read through for some insights into employee tenure.




More News & Press can be found in our Archive.