The items that can be excluded are the following: *The amount of the forgiveness of a Paycheck Protection Program Loan; *Shuttered Venue Operators Grants under the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Non-Profits, and Venues Act; and *Restaurant Revitalization Grants under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
An employer can elect to exclude these amounts to determinie if it is an eligible employer for a calendar quarter for claiming the ERC on its employment tax return. They cannot be excluded for any other tax purpose.
Revenue Procedure 2021-33 requires employers to apply the safe harbor consistently—they must exclude the amounts each calendar quarter in which gross receipts are relevant to determining ERC eligibility They must also apply the safe harbor to all employers treated as a single employer under the aggregation rules.
Employers are not required to apply the safe harbor.