These are the current numbers from Brotman Law’s ERC controversy docket — one of the larger ERC disallowance and litigation books in the country. We publish them because reporters, CPAs, and business owners keep asking, and because most public commentary about ERC enforcement runs on anecdote.
The docket, as of August 2026
275 open ERC matters, $85.4 million in claims at issue (as of August 30, 2026), spanning administrative disallowance defense, appeals, and active refund litigation in federal court. Firm-wide, Brotman Law has handled more than $160M in ERC claims since the credit began.
44 of those matters are disallowance cases (verified August 29) with live § 6532 windows — two-year refund-suit deadlines that began when the IRS mailed each 105-C letter. The earliest of those windows are closing in the second half of 2026, which is why deadline management — not eligibility argument — is currently the most urgent issue in ERC representation. (Compute yours: our ERC denial resource walks through it.)
What the pattern data shows
Denials cluster into two very different populations. Gross-receipts-decline claims are arithmetic — the quarters either qualify or they do not — and wrongful denials of these are the strongest refund suits we see. Suspension-based claims turn on government orders and their operational impact, and their outcomes track the quality of contemporaneous documentation more than any other variable.
The government answers, and it litigates slowly. In our filed cases, the United States has defended rather than conceded, discovery timelines run long, and the Court of Federal Claims and district courts are both active venues. Nobody should file expecting a fast check; everyone with a strong claim should understand the government’s slowness is not a merits signal.
Appeals reconsideration does not toll anything. The most expensive misunderstanding in the ERC world right now: businesses sitting in the administrative appeals queue while their two-year suit window runs. IRC § 6532(a)(4) is explicit on this, and we see the consequence in intake conversations weekly.
Full methodology and the public-docket research behind our litigation analysis: the ERC docket study, updated monthly.
Using these numbers
Journalists and researchers may cite this page with attribution to Brotman Law; figures carry their as-of dates and update as the docket moves. If you need a practitioner’s read on an ERC enforcement trend for a story, ask — we would rather the public record run on data than on vibes.
Questions about the data – or a denial of your own?
We respond within one business day.
By Sam Brotman, JD, LLM, MBA — managing attorney, Brotman Law. CA Bar No. 274966. Last updated August 29, 2026.
