Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
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iHub Global

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ERC
Type
Company or group
Role
Other company
Programs
ERC
Updated

The profile

An affiliate-marketing network that recruited people to refer businesses to Bottom Line Concepts for Employee Retention Credit filings. Its commission plan set a referring affiliate's share at 17 to 20 percent of Bottom Line's fee; its worked example came to $10,200 to $12,000 on a $300,000 refund.

Identity and role

iHub Global LLC runs an affiliate network: under its terms, people sign up as "Company Affiliates" and qualify for referral fees for introducing customers. Its ERC terms describe iHub Global as the agent of iHub Inc., "a Delaware corporation," which signed a "Referral Partner Agreement, dated October 18, 2022" with Bottom Line Concepts and licensed iHub Global's "extensive affiliate network" to find the businesses.

Pandemic-relief role

The product was the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). Under the terms, iHub Inc. earned a referral fee from Bottom Line for each referred business that signed with Bottom Line and received a refund or credit. The terms provided for iHub to pass "a certain percentage" of it to affiliates each month. iHub Inc. signed "a similar Referral Agreement" with Stimulus Geeks Inc. for small businesses "that, due to the small number of W-2 employees, Bottom Line does not deem eligible for its ERC consulting services."

The money moved in this order, according to iHub's ERC help page: the client got its IRS check, Bottom Line invoiced the client for its contingency fee, and "a portion of that is paid to iHub Inc on the 15th of each month."

iHub's ten-page commission plan says Bottom Line's fee "ranges from 15-30% of the refund/grant" and is "determined and decided by Bottom Line." Its worked example is a $300,000 refund, a 20 percent fee of $60,000, and a referring affiliate's share of 17 to 20 percent of the fee depending on rank: $10,200 to $12,000. The plan says its examples rest on figures "supplied from Bottom Line concepts from their results with over 15,000 businesses." Bottom Line's own referral graphic, reproduced in a 2023 court complaint, showed its direct partners 10 percent of the fee.

The help page also scripted the answer to "Why don't I just have my CPA handle this for me?", which it called "probably one of the most important questions to be able to answer." "Response Option 2 (Aggressive)" asks whether the owner wants to go back to the person "Who did NOT tell you about the ERC program, although it's been around for a year and half," who "doesn't specialize in this type of very complex filing," and "Who will most likely charge you upfront for their time in understanding the 300 page ERC stimulus bill." The gentler Option 1 describes Bottom Line as a firm that "has filed ERC for over 16,000 businesses and recovered over $3 billion in funds."

The terms warned affiliates that the opportunity "presents significant risks that a participant will not receive significant or any referral fees."

We found no suit or government action naming iHub Global or iHub Inc. over the ERC. SBA's PPP loan data lists no loan to a borrower named iHub Global.

Sources

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