To help businesses and employees deal with the impact of the coronavirus COVID-19, Congress made available a range of sick and family leave benefits in legislation called the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). For businesses to take immediate advantage of the paid leave credits now available to them, they can retain and access funds that they would otherwise pay to the IRS in payroll taxes. If those amounts are not sufficient to cover the cost of paid leave, employers can seek an expedited advance from the IRS by submitting a streamlined claim form that will be released this week. Please speak with you Fiducial advisor if you would like to make this claim.

Employees can receive two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at 100% of the employee’s pay where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined, and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, and seeking a medical diagnosis. An employee can also receive two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at 2/3 the employee’s pay who is unable to work and needs to care for:o an individual subject to quarantine, o a child whose school is closed or whose child care provider is unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, and/or o themselves if they are experiencing substantially similar conditions as specified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
An employee who is unable to work due to a need to care for a child whose school is closed, or child care provider is unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, may in some instances receive up to an additional 10 weeks of expanded paid family and medical leave at 2/3 the employee’s pay.
When employers pay their employees, they are required to withhold from their employees’ paychecks federal income taxes and the employees' share of Social Security and Medicare taxes. The employers then are required to deposit these federal taxes, along with their share of Social Security and Medicare taxes, with the IRS and file quarterly payroll tax returns (Form 941 series) with the IRS.
Under guidance that will be released this week, eligible employers who pay qualifying sick or child care leave will be able to retain an amount of the payroll taxes equal to the amount of qualifying sick and child care leave that they paid, rather than deposit them with the IRS.
The payroll taxes that are available for retention include withheld federal income taxes, the employee share of Social Security and Medicare taxes, and the employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes with respect to all employees.
If there are not sufficient payroll taxes to cover the cost of qualified sick and child care leave, employers will be able file a request for an accelerated payment from the IRS. The IRS expects to process these requests in two weeks or less. The details of this new, expedited procedure will be announced this week.

For an employee who is unable to work because of Coronavirus quarantine or self-quarantine or has Coronavirus symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis, eligible employers may receive a refundable sick leave credit for sick leave at 100% the employee’s regular rate of pay, up to $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate, for a total of 10 days.
For an employee who is caring for someone with Coronavirus, or is caring for a child because the child’s school or child care facility is closed, or the child care provider is unavailable due to the Coronavirus, eligible employers may claim a credit for two-thirds of the employee’s regular rate of pay, up to $200 per day and $2,000 in the aggregate, for up to 10 days. Eligible employers are entitled to an additional tax credit determined based on costs to maintain health insurance coverage for the eligible employee during the leave period.

In addition to the sick leave credit described above, for an employee who is unable to work because of a need to care for a child whose school or child care facility is closed or whose child care provider is unavailable due to the Coronavirus, eligible employers may receive a refundable child care leave credit. This credit is equal to two-thirds of the employee’s regular pay, capped at $200 per day or $10,000 in the aggregate. Up to 10 weeks of qualifying leave can be counted towards the child care leave credit. Eligible employers are entitled to an additional tax credit determined based on costs to maintain health insurance coverage for the eligible employee during the leave period.

Self-employed individuals, including gig workers, are eligible for tax credits similar to above. Ifindividuals are unable to perform services in their trade or business for the sick leave purposes describedabove, the individual may qualify for an income tax credit equal to 100% of average daily self-employment income. Like the employer credits, this credit is limited to $511 per day for certain qualifying sick leave purposes, and $200 for other sick and qualified family leave purposes. The sick leave credit is limited to a maximum of 10 days. The family leave credit is limited to 50 days.
For self-employed individuals, the income tax credit is refundable (meaning that if the tax credit amount exceeds the individual’s income tax liability, the excess is received as a refund, or payment, from the Treasury).

Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be eligible for an exemption from the leave requirements relating to school closings or child care unavailability where the requirements would jeopardize the ability of the business to continue. The exemption will be available on the basis of simple and clear criteria that make it available in circumstances involving jeopardy to the viability of an employer’s business as a going concern.