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The COVID Project

The COVID Project

The record of what government ordered.

The Library holds the orders that limited commerce, travel and group meetings across the United States from March 2020 through September 30, 2021, each with its issuer, its dates, its operative words and its source. It also holds the law that makes those orders the test for the Employee Retention Credit, read as Congress wrote it.

13,511instruments indexedorders, standing duties, organizer notices and legal authorities
51States and the Districtthe fifty States and the District of Columbia
40metropolitan areascounties, cities and health authorities inside them
27industrieseach with its own analysis of how the orders reached it

Counts are what The COVID Project has retrieved, verified and indexed. They are not a count of every order that existed.

The sentence

The sentence the letters use, set beside the record.

The fourteen grounds →

There were no government orders related to COVID-19 in effect during the quarter which could have fully or partially suspended your trade or business.

The form sentence of the Service's letters, answered from the public record on the first ground

On July 1, 2021 these instruments were in force in Texas.

53 orders of Texas authorities (State, county, city and court) were in force on July 1, 2021. Nationwide, such orders were in force in 51 of the 51 States and the District.

  1. Ex. AGY-ST-CORRECTIONS-EMA-GUARD-067 TDCJ Connections, 'Visitation to resume in August' (July 2021) Texas Department of Criminal Justice, July 1, 2021
  2. Ex. MET-HOU-075 Fort Bend County 'Government Orders' index, page 1 (captured June 16, 2021) Fort Bend County (coronavirus.fortbendcountytx.gov), June 16, 2021
  3. Ex. TX-032 Senate Bill 968 (Act of June 16, 2021), § 161.0085 'COVID-19 Vaccine Passports Prohibited' Texas Legislature (87th Leg., R.S.), Senate Bill 968, signed by Governor Abbott, June 16, 2021
  4. Ex. TX-034 House Bill 1239 (Act of June 16, 2021): prohibited closure of places of worship Texas Legislature (87th Leg., R.S.), House Bill 1239, signed by Governor Abbott, June 16, 2021
  5. Ex. ECO-C-069 Misc. Docket No. 21-9060, Thirty-Eighth Emergency Order Regarding the COVID-19 State of Disaster Supreme Court of Texas, May 26, 2021

The federal layer and the standing duties are counted separately. Every Texas instrument · This day on the Orders Clock

The Orders Clock

Every day of the six quarters, on the map.

Open the Orders Clock →
Orders in force on January 4, 2021, by StateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingDistrict of ColumbiaDistrict of Columbia
Orders in force:none indexed7–1415–2223–2930–4346–105

One day of the recordJanuary 4, 2021

1,616 orders of State, county, city and court authorities in force

51 of the 51 States and the District with at least one in force

The winter of the second shutdown, as the Library records it: every State, county, city and court order in force on this day, counted by State. Darker States held more. On the Orders Clock you move the day and watch the orders arrive, change shape and end.

Standing duties and the federal layer are counted separately.

Open the Orders Clock The States

In the Government's own words

What the United States told a federal court about the Notice

Every position, pinned →

But Notice 2021-20 is merely guidance issued so that the public can have the benefit of knowing how the IRS is interpreting the relevant ERC statutory provisions. The Notice . . . lacks the force of law.

United States (DOJ Tax Division), Doc. 44 at 19 (in context)

Effectively, this is a safe harbor; taxpayers whose gross receipts or hours have been impacted at that level can rely on the IRS not denying their ERC claim on that basis. Properly understood, it isn't an eligibility requirement.

United States (DOJ Tax Division), Doc. 44 at 14 (in context)

Whether Notice 2021-20 exists or not, the statute will control whether a refund is warranted.

United States (DOJ Tax Division), Doc. 44 at 24 (in context)

From the analysis

Sentences the record supports

Start with the story →
  • On every day from March 13, 2020 through September 30, 2021, every employer in the United States operated under orders from appropriate governmental authorities limiting commerce, travel or group meetings due to COVID-19.

    A Nation Under Orders →
  • For the third quarter of 2021 the sentence is factually incorrect for every one of the quarter’s ninety-two days.

    The third quarter of 2021 →
  • An employer whose operation was suspended by orders in force on June 30, 2021 was not operating normally on July 1, 2021.

    Continuing suspension →
  • A number that by the United States’ own account “isn’t an eligibility requirement” cannot be the ground on which any employer’s claim is decided.

    Notice 2021-20 →
  • The Service is free to argue about how much a given order affected a given business. It is not free to say the orders did not exist.

    Partial suspension →
  • A hotel that kept its rooms and lost its ballroom, its restaurant, its pool and its casino was open and partially suspended at once, and the statute asks only the second question.

    Hotels, Travel and Tourism →

Attorney referral If your business has an IRS letter, an examination or an Appeals conference ahead of it, The COVID Project can connect you with an experienced tax attorney for IRS Appeals and refund litigation, including Civil Counsel Group LLP.

The COVID Project is not a law firm; the attorney contacts you directly.

Ask for a referral