Employee Retention Credit 101: A Complete ERC Guide for Tennis Clubs & Racquetball Clubs

Are you a tennis or racquetball club owner who’s been led to believe that the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) isn’t for you? 

Think again!

Here at The Fitness CPA, we’ve worked with a lot of tennis and racquetball clubs over the past few years that wrongly thought they didn’t qualify for the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) or they filed already and received hundreds of thousands of dollars less than they should have.

So, we’re here to set the record straight. 

No matter what you’ve been told by another accountant, your tennis or racquetball club has a 99.9% chance of qualifying for the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). 

And not only that, but you’re likely to receive tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars back from the IRS. 

As ERC specialists (we’ve done hundreds of them!), we’ve written quite a lot of content about the Employee Retention Credit.

And while we don’t want to beat a dead horse, we do want to gear this post about ERC specifically for tennis and racquetball club owners as we’ve seen a lot of misconceptions out there. 

Below, we’re addressing a few of the questions you may have, including what is the employee retention credit, how do you qualify, and how much can you expect to get back as a tennis or racquetball club owner. 

Understanding The Employee Retention Credit

The Employee Retention Credit, often referred to as ERC, has been around for a few years now and was born out of the CARES Act back in 2020. 

It’s essentially a stimulus offered by the U.S. government to mitigate revenue losses to businesses due to COVID-19 shutdowns and preventative working regulations. 

In other words, you can apply to get tens of thousands of dollars back in the form of a tax credit for your tennis or racquetball club through the Employee Retention Credit. 

If you’re new to ERC, you might want to check out our blog post titled “What The Heck is the Employee Retention Credit?” for a more in-depth introduction.

Do Tennis & Racquetball Clubs Even Qualify for the Employee Retention Credit? 

Before we dive into explaining, the answer is yes. Contrary to popular belief, tennis and racquetball clubs absolutely qualify for the Employee Retention Credit. 

In fact, the racquetball clubs we’ve helped here at The Fitness CPA have gotten back an average of $245,000 through the Employee Retention Credit!

So, not only do you qualify, but you’re likely to receive tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars back in free money from the government. 

Knowing this leads us to wonder why so many tennis and racquetball club owners have been told by other accountants that they don’t qualify. 

Without knowing exactly why so many misconceptions are out there, here are a few of the myths we want to dispel: 

Myth #1: You were told you don’t qualify due to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

This is wrong!

Originally, the guidance around the Employee Retention Credit stated that you couldn’t apply for both PPP and ERC. However, the laws were changed by Congress, and you absolutely can receive funds from both programs.

The calculations are quite complex (which is why we think so many accountants are reluctant to do them), but your business is indeed eligible to receive thousands of dollars back from both government programs. 

Myth #2: You were told that you aren’t eligible to claim the credit since your business actually thrived during COVID-19.

This is also wrong! 

Even if your racquetball or tennis club did well during 2020 and 2021, you are still entitled to the credit through other qualifying criteria. 

Note: All the racquetball clubs we’ve helped at The Fitness CPA were eligible for ERC even though they had improved revenues throughout 2020 and 2021, or even their best year ever in sales.

There are other ways to qualify for the Employee Retention Credit, including state, county, or city-wide Covid-related regulations, such as capacity and social distancing,that undoubtedly restricted your ability to serve members. 

The quickest way to find out if you qualify is to take our 60-second quiz here.

Estimating The $$$ Return For Tennis & Racquetball Clubs

One burning question we get a lot is how much money could you potentially get back through the ERC.

And the answer is… a lot! 

As mentioned, out of the hundreds of ERC filings we’ve done at The Fitness CPA, tennis and racquetball clubs have averaged $245,000in the amount they’ve gotten back from the government. 

Even owners who have previously done their ERC filing with other accountants have seen an increase in credits after working with us. 

Recently, we helped a tennis club owner get an additional $78,000 back after initially filing the ERC with another CPA!

And just this past week, we helped a tennis and racquetball club owner qualify for $300,000, when their previous accountant only calculated $25,000, originally.  

Not too bad, right?

This is due to the fact that it all comes down to how the calculations are completed – which unfortunately, even accountants claiming to be experts in ERC get wrong. 

We’ve written another great blog post that takes you into exactly how the calculations are done, which you can read here. 

However, the easiest way to estimate your earnings from the Employee Retention Credit is to use our quick calculator here. 

While we should put in writing that it’s a tool to be used for estimation purposes only, it does give you a pretty good indication of how much you could get back when the calculations are done properly.

Is It Too Late For Tennis & Racquetball Clubs to File for the Employee Retention Credit? 

At the time of writing this in March 2024, it’s definitely not too late. 

There are still funds available. 

However, we recommend getting started soon. 

Even if you previously were told that your club does not qualify, or you didn’t receive as much money back as you thought you should have, we strongly recommend getting in touch with us. 

We have a lot of resources that can help get you started in the right direction, including: 

• Our Do You Qualify?” Quiz which will tell you if you qualify in less than 60 seconds.
• Our Completely Free Calculations which allow you to find out exactly how much money your business can get back at zero cost to you. 
• Our Dedicated ERC Page that is equipped with blogs, videos, and more information about ERC specifically for tennis and racquetball clubs. 

Here at The Fitness CPA, we do the calculations completely for free, and share the results with you afterwards so you know exactly how much you would get back once filing. 

And after that, there is no obligation to even hire us! 

You can go in a completely different direction at that point if you wish, as we have no contracts or lock-ins. 

We just don’t operate that way. 

We’re passionate about the Employee Retention Credit because we’ve seen how much it’s helped hundreds of our fitness clients, and we simply want to help others do the same. 

You can learn more about our ERC work with tennis clubs and racquetball clubs (including our existing clients and testimonials) over on this page here. 

And if you have a question that we didn’t answer, feel free to schedule a complimentary call with one of our team members here. 

Until next time!