As of April 15, 2025, the window for filing Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims officially closed, marking the end of a significant chapter in pandemic-era relief. Yet, while the filing period has ended, the program is far from over. What Congress intended as a lifeline for businesses during the pandemic has become a drawn-out and often confusing experience for many taxpayers.
With more than 597,000 unprocessed claims still in inventory and thousands of disallowance notices already issued, the IRS must now turn its full attention to administering this program in a manner that prioritizes fairness, transparency, and taxpayer rights.
Where We Stand Now
The IRS’s return to processing all ERC claims is welcome news, but there’s a long way to go. I think it’s important to frame this progress with realistic expectations.
Despite processing thousands of claims over the last few months, as of early April, over 597,000 ERC claims remain in the IRS’s inventory, including nearly 11,000 cases submitted through my office, TAS, that remain unresolved.
These are often taxpayers who are facing financial hardship and who have limited resources to navigate IRS delays. While the IRS has processed about 64 percent of TAS-submitted claims, that still leaves thousands of small businesses and nonprofits waiting for answers—and often, for desperately needed funds.
Although the IRS has made significant progress on the backlog of ERC claims, there is still a long way to go, and it’s unlikely it will resolve all claims quickly. Realistically, it could take at least until the end of calendar year 2025 to complete processing. That’s a long time for taxpayers to remain in limbo. Therefore, the IRS needs to commit as many resources as possible to ensure it continues to process these claims quickly.
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