Meme Madness: An Update on the ERC Saga Published January 28, 2025
Written by: Rachel Libowitz and Jason Peckham, Esq., Tax Guard
One of the better gifts we received for Christmas was the game, “What’s That Meme?”. It was fun to see how the family, especially the kids, used memes to communicate, connect, and illustrate ideas. When thinking about the IRS and the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) program, several memes come to mind (many NSFW). For example, it’s easy to envision the “Disaster Girl” meme, a slight smile on the IRS’s face while the ERC program burns.
The ERC program is a boondoggle. What started as an initiative to help businesses through unprecedented times of the pandemic ultimately failed because of confusing criteria, which were exploited by unscrupulous promoters. Over the past five years, the program transitioned from gladagascar, to sadagascar, to Madagascar, and, finally, to outtagascar.