Publication 5887 — Employee Retention Credit Eligibility Checklist: Help with avoiding or resolving an incorrect claim

Official source: IRS Forms, Instructions & Publications (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5887.pdf), retrieved 2026-10-03. U.S. Government work (17 U.S.C. § 105).

---

The IRS continues to warn employers about unscrupulous ERC promoters who oversimplify and misrepresent eligibility rules and lure ineligible taxpayers to claim the credit.

The IRS is committed to helping taxpayers who are eligible, while preventing incorrect ERC claims.

Part A: Check your eligibility

Answer these questions in numerical order to see if you may be eligible for the ERC.

Employee Retention Credit

The ERC is a pandemic-era tax credit for employers that kept paying employees during the COVID-19 pandemic either:

• when they were shut down due to a government order, or

• when they had the required decline in gross receipts during certain eligibility periods in 2020 and 2021, or

• qualified as a recovery startup business for the third or fourth quarters of 2021.

Publication 5887 (Rev. 12-2024) Catalog Number 94470G Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov

Part B: Claim the ERC if you’re eligible

If the previous questions directed you to Part B, you may qualify for the ERC based on the information you provided. Be sure you have thorough records that show wages paid, gross receipts, government orders and other required documents. If you need help, you should work with a trusted tax professional.

Check IRS.gov/erc for updates and other information such as frequently asked questions, examples, guidance, warning signs of scams and more.

Part C: Resolve an incorrect ERC claim

If you incorrectly claimed the Employee Retention Credit, you can use the ERC claim withdrawal process outlined at IRS.gov/withdrawmyerc if you haven’t received the credit or haven’t cashed or deposited an ERC check.

Requesting a withdrawal means you’re asking the IRS not to process your entire adjusted return that included your ERC claim. If the IRS accepts your request, the claim will be treated as if it was never filed.

If you’re not able to use the withdrawal process, you can still file another adjusted return if you need to reduce the amount of your ERC claim or make other changes to your adjusted return.