the employer's total gross receipts in 2019. Alternatively, the limitation must affect a portion of the employer's operations that constituted at least 10% of the working hours performed by its employees in 2019. Amount of the Employee Retention Credit For 2020 The Employee Retention Credit is equal to 50percent of qualified wages paid to eligible employees between March 13, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Eligible employee is defined differently depending on the size of the employer. If the employer averaged 100 or fewer full-time employees during 2019, then all of its employees are eligible employees. For larger employers, only employees who were paid for not performing work are considered eligible employees. Qualified wages are defined as wages that are subject to social security tax and that were paid to employees between March 13, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Qualified wages may not exceed $10,000 per eligible employee during that period. In addition, an eligible employer may take the Employee Retention Credit based on 50percent of the qualified health plan expenses that the employer incurred and paid for eligible employees between March 13, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Qualified health plan expenses include employer-paid costs for group health insurance, group dental insurance, group vision insurance, group prescription drug insurance, health flexible spending account (FSA), or a healthcare reimbursement account (HRA). An employer is not allowed to take the Employee Retention Credit on any wages or health plan expenses that the employer counted for its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness, Emergency Paid Sick Leave, or Emergency Paid Family Leave. Because an employer may claim a 50-percent tax credit on up to $10,000 per eligible employee, an employer may take a maximum tax credit of $5,000 per eligible employee in 2020. For 2021 The Employee Retention Credit is equal to 70 percent of qualified wages paid between January 1, 2021, and September 30, 2021. If the employer is a startup recovery businesses, then it is based on qualified wages paid between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021. Qualified wages are wages subject to social security tax and paid to employees between January 1, 2021, and September 30, 2021, limited to up to $10,000 per quarter per employee in 2021. Just like 2020, qualified wages also include qualified health plan expenses, but exclude wages used for its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness and payments of Emergency Paid Sick Leave and Emergency