The past year has been tough for businesses of all kinds, but small businesses have been impacted the most. Hai Poké is a restaurant located right in the heart of the Short North neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. They serve up fresh Hawaiian sushi bowls, aka poké. They are no stranger to long lines and loyal customers. But, 2020 had other plans for this small restaurant.

At the beginning of Covid, Owner Nile Woodson had to get creative to find ways to keep his business running smoothly. Unfortunately, like many small businesses, Nile had to lay off some staff and spend more time in the shop. Nile took advantage of the PPP and was able to get his employees back to work and began making strides to get his business back to normal.

We began working with Hai Poké around this time. We processed their payroll and consulted with them to help ensure they were taking advantage of all of the tax credits available to them as a small business.

When the Employee Retention Credit (ERTC) was first announced, businesses who had accepted the PPP were not eligible to qualify for the credit. When that changed a few months later, we reached out to Nile and explained to him what that means for his business.

The ERTC The Employee Retention Credit is a fully refundable tax credit for employers equal to 50 percent of qualified wages (including allocable qualified health plan expenses) that Eligible Employers pay their employees. This Employee Retention Credit applies to qualified wages paid after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2021. 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 an Eligible Employer for qualified wages paid to any employee is $5,000.

We pulled information from Hai Pokés payroll and determined they were going to get $38,500 back. This is huge for Niles’ business. We asked Nile what that credit means to him. He said “This money is going to be used to make upgrades to our patio, add some new items to our menu, and help keep our employees paid! Working with Doyle is great, they keep us up to date on all the tax credits and ways to be more efficient, which gives me more time to run my business!”

We work with companies of all sizes and provide a variety of services. To learn more about what we do, visit our website: Doyle HCM. We would love to have a conversation with you to determine where we can provide value to your business.