Small businesses get federal help via Employee Retention Tax Credit

ROSWELL, N.M. — Small businesses across the state are trying to get back to normal, but the financial devastation caused by the pandemic has really packed a punch for some businesses.

But there is some help, federal programs continue to be available for qualifying businesses and one option is the employee retention tax credit.

It’s a tax credit that rewards businesses which have less than 100 employees, were closed during 2020, or saw revenue drop significantly and like the name suggests, kept all of its employees on the payroll.

Sean Lamore, owner of Eclectic Treasurez in Roswell, said they’ve been lucky and have kept their two employees on the payroll.

“We kept him employed the whole time and then our new employee from Oregon she got here in June,” he said.

While eclectic Treasurez saw success last year, many businesses didn’t.

Scott Bucher, Executive Director of the Small Business Development Center said they had tons of businesses come to them asking for help.

“We had hundreds of hundreds upon hundreds more seeking assistance with their disaster relief funding,” he said.

The small business development center helps small businesses with all things related to growth at no cost to the business, like working through assistance programs.

Scott said it’s common to get clients who don’t know where to start navigating all the options.

The employee retention tax credit was for 2020, but will be available for 2021 as well.