Articles · Employee Retention Credit (ERC)
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Five Payroll Companies, Five Different Lines Around the Same Credit
Nothing required a small business to run its Employee Retention Credit claim through a payroll company at all. The ERC is claimed on a Form 941 or 941-X, and an employer is always free to file its own. But most small businesses already paid somebody else to handle payroll, and when the ERC arrived, each of those companies had to decide, on its own, how far into the ERC business it wanted to go: whether to tell a client if it qualified, do the arithmetic, put its own name on the return, or take a cut.
Justworks, Insperity, Gusto, Intuit, and Paycom answered those four questions five different ways, and their own public documents (a CEO's blog post, a client form, an SEC filing, a support article, a company blog) show the boundary each one drew.
Paycom: data, and an explicit no
Paycom's answer is the simplest because the company said it outright. In a blog post on its own site, first published September 21, 2023 and updated the following year, Paycom tells clients that "the software can't file for the ERC for you."1 What the software does instead is generate reports: payroll data that can "give you an early idea about your ERC eligibility," reports that track the 130-hours-per-month full-time threshold the ERC also uses, gross-wage and employer-paid-health-plan reports, and on-demand access to a client's own previously filed 941s.1 The post closes with a disclaimer that none of it is legal advice, tax advice, accounting services or professional consulting.1 The line for Paycom sits at the calculation step: it will hand a client the raw materials to do ERC math, and it stops there.
Intuit/QuickBooks: a calculator and filing on request
Intuit never marketed a dedicated ERC product either. Its public-facing ERC content is a calculator page.2 On QuickBooks's own Community forum, staff describe the underlying product the same way. Answering a QuickBooks Enterprise user who asked in 2023 how to apply for the ERC, a QuickBooks Team member wrote: "QuickBooks Enterprise can help businesses manage finances. However, it's not directly involved in applying for the ERC."3 Elsewhere on the same forum, Full Service Payroll customers describe asking QuickBooks staff to file amended 941-X returns once the customer had already calculated a credit amount: ordinary reporting-agent work performed on request, not a packaged ERC service.3
Insperity: the client calculates, Insperity aggregates and files, and once held the check
Insperity is a Certified Professional Employer Organization. Its ERC Tax Credit Adjustment Form, posted on Insperity's HCM help site for clients whose payroll runs on the isolved system, spells out a division of labor. Determining eligibility and the credit amount is the client's job: the form tells employers that credits "are not calculated automatically" and to consult IRS guidance or "their Financial Advisors" to work out qualifying wages.4 Once a client reports an amount, Insperity's role starts: its "COVID-19 SME Team" enters the credit into its isolved payroll system, and if the correction is for a past quarter, Insperity generates and files the amended 941-X.4 The form is explicit about what happens to the money next: "The IRS will issue any unpaid credit to you directly rather than through Insperity."4 Insperity's PEO clients were handled differently. Its Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, filed with the SEC on February 11, 2026, says something different about at least one batch of refunds: "$440 million of client employee retention tax credits received on their behalf from the Internal Revenue Service" arrived at Insperity in the fourth quarter of 2024 and were "distributed to clients in early 2025."5 The same filing carries a risk factor stating that PEO clients "were dependent on their PEO to process employee retention tax credits… on a consolidated basis," that the IRS "may conclude that we are responsible for those claims" if any are denied, and that Insperity "could face penalties or other liabilities" if the IRS challenges what it filed on clients' behalf.5 Insperity's own documents describe two refund paths: direct to the client for the isolved payroll clients the form addresses, and through Insperity's account for at least $440 million owed to PEO clients.
Gusto: the client calculates, Gusto files, with two carve-outs
Gusto's published FAQ carries the same "not tax, legal, benefits, financial, or HR advice" disclaimer as its competitors and walks a client through ERC eligibility rules without calculating anything on the client's behalf.6 Where Gusto differs from Insperity procedurally is that its support documentation describes an in-product filing path: once a client applies a credit, "Gusto will apply your credit retroactively to any payrolls that were run once you became eligible," and "we will amend your quarterly filings to reflect this credit."7 Two boundaries sit inside that offer. First, Gusto does not file Form 7200 for advance payment. A client who wants an advance during the quarter must file that form itself and then report the claimed amount back to Gusto "so that we can have accurate data for filing."7 Second, Gusto's system cannot split a credit across part of a quarter: if a client was only eligible for a portion of a specific quarter, the client "will need to file an amendment to your 941 outside of Gusto," and "may need to work with a CPA to do this."7 Gusto also referred the eligibility question to specialists. Clarus R+D announced in August 2021 "a partnership with Gusto" to "provide ERTC services to companies impacted by the pandemic,"8 and Arvo Tech said in August 2023 that it had been "Gusto's exclusive Employee Retention Credit (ERC) provider since late last year," including "being notified when their business may be eligible to receive ERC."9 Neither release states a fee.
Justworks: zero fee, aggregate filer, and $90 million still in the IRS backlog
Justworks is also a CPEO, meaning it files aggregate 941s for its client base under its own EIN, the same architecture as Insperity. What Justworks chose to publicize was the fee question. In a company blog post dated March 6, 2025 and written under the byline of President and CEO Michael Seckler, Justworks stated: "Since the launch of the ERTC program, Justworks has helped facilitate over $300 million in credits for our customers. Unlike some providers who charged upfront filing fees or took a percentage of claims, we never charged our customers for access to ERTC."10 The same post describes direct advocacy — "In partnership with the IRS, Congressman Goldman (NY-10), Senator Gillibrand, and Senator Schumer" — that Justworks said produced the release of an additional $50 million in backlogged ERTC funds, which it was "passing… on according to their specific claims" to customers.10 Justworks gave a number for what was still stuck: "over $90 million in credits for Justworks customers alone still stuck in the IRS backlog," averaging $159,000 per customer at businesses that employed 12 people on average.10 On interest, Justworks committed to a result without yet having reconciled the mechanics: "untangling whether interest was paid on specific customer claims is more complex than reconciling their original ERTC amounts," the post said, with the interest reconciliation and pass-through still to come.10
The same four questions, five answers
| Who determines eligibility | Who calculates the credit | Who files/amends the return | Company-stated fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paycom | Client (Paycom supplies data reports only) | Client | Client — Paycom's software "can't file for the ERC" | No ERC-specific fee found |
| Intuit/QuickBooks | Client | Client | Client, or QuickBooks staff on request (ordinary payroll filing, not a packaged ERC product) | No ERC-specific fee found |
| Insperity | Client, with IRS guidance/financial advisor | Client | Insperity, as aggregate CPEO/PEO filer | No public ERC-specific fee found |
| Gusto | Client | Client | Gusto, within a quarter and outside Form 7200; client must amend outside Gusto for partial-quarter credits | No ERC-specific fee found; ERC specialists Clarus (2021) and Arvo Tech (from late 2022) worked through Gusto |
| Justworks | Client | Client | Justworks, as aggregate CPEO filer | Stated: no upfront or percentage fee |
None of the five companies' own documents told a client whether its business qualified for the ERC; Gusto's ERC partner offered to. All five pushed that judgment back to the client, an IRS FAQ, or an outside financial adviser.
Notes
- Paycom Software, Inc., "Employee Retention Credit (ERC): The ABCs of a Crucial Tax Credit", company blog, published Sept. 21, 2023, updated Oct. 2, 2024 (the page now carries the title "Employee Retention Credit: What You Should Know About the ERC"), original. ↩1 ↩2 ↩3
- Intuit Inc./QuickBooks, "How to Calculate Employee Retention Credit (ERC)", original, archived at web.archive.org, June 22, 2026. ↩
- Intuit Inc./QuickBooks Community, "How do we file for the Employee Retention Credit?," thread including reply from LieraMarie_A, QuickBooks Team, March 30, 2023 ("QuickBooks Enterprise can help businesses manage finances. However, it's not directly involved in applying for the ERC"), and separate customer accounts describing Full Service Payroll staff filing amended 941-X returns on request, original, archived at web.archive.org, April 16, 2026. ↩1 ↩2
- Insperity, Inc., "COVID-19 Tax Credit Adjustments - Employee Retention Credit", client form, version dated June 14, 2021, original. ↩1 ↩2 ↩3
- Insperity, Inc., Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, filed with the SEC Feb. 11, 2026, accession no. 0001000753-26-000011, original. The $440 million figure and distribution timing also appear in the filing's cash-flow notes; the risk-factor language is quoted from the "Risk Factors" section. ↩1 ↩2
- Gusto, Inc., "Employee Retention Credit: Frequently Asked Questions," published Nov. 24, 2021, https://gusto.com/resources/articles/taxes/employee-retention-credit-faqs, archived at web.archive.org, May 20, 2026. ↩
- Gusto, Inc., "Claim the Employee Retention Credit", Gusto Help Center, original, archived at web.archive.org, April 11, 2021. ↩1 ↩2 ↩3
- Clarus, "Clarus Joins Forces with Gusto to Help Businesses Claim Employee Retention Tax Credits," press release (PRNewswire-PRWeb), Aug. 25, 2021. ↩
- Arvo Tech, "Arvo Tech Announced as Employment Tax Credit Provider for Gusto, Leader in Payroll, Benefits, and HR," press release (PRNewswire-PRWeb), Aug. 23, 2023. ↩
- Justworks, Inc., Michael Seckler (President & CEO), "Justworks Advocacy: Delivering $50 Million in Stuck ERTC Relief For Customers", company blog, March 6, 2025, original, archived at web.archive.org, May 5, 2025. ↩1 ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
Primary sources used in this article
- Paycom Software, Inc., "Employee Retention Credit (ERC): The ABCs of a Crucial Tax Credit," company blog (Sept. 21, 2023; updated Oct. 2, 2024)
- Intuit Inc./QuickBooks, "How to Calculate Employee Retention Credit (ERC)," company page
- Intuit Inc./QuickBooks Community forum, "How do we file for the Employee Retention Credit?" thread, including QuickBooks Team staff replies
- Insperity, Inc., "COVID-19 Tax Credit Adjustments - Employee Retention Credit," client form (2021)
- Insperity, Inc., Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 (SEC EDGAR, filed Feb. 11, 2026)
- Gusto, Inc., "Employee Retention Credit: Frequently Asked Questions" (2021)
- Gusto, Inc., "Claim the Employee Retention Credit," Gusto Help Center
- Clarus, "Clarus Joins Forces with Gusto to Help Businesses Claim Employee Retention Tax Credits," press release (Aug. 25, 2021)
- Arvo Tech, "Arvo Tech Announced as Employment Tax Credit Provider for Gusto, Leader in Payroll, Benefits, and HR," press release (Aug. 23, 2023)
- Justworks, Inc., "Justworks Advocacy: Delivering $50 Million in Stuck ERTC Relief For Customers," company blog (March 6, 2025)