Tax Pros Ask IRS for Leniency in Employee Retention Credit’s End

Small businesses that were planning to take advantage of a pandemic-relief tax credit in the fourth quarter of this year need maximum flexibility after Congress ended the program early, a tax advisory services firm told the IRS.

Congress ended the employee retention credit—a tax credit for businesses that kept employees on payroll—three months early as a way to pay for the massive infrastructure bill that became law earlier this month. But that frustrated small businesses and their tax advisers, because the bill was signed after the effective date of the credit’s end.

That prompted Padgett Business Services, a Georgia-based ...