Your Business May Be Owed$10,000–$100,000+in Unclaimed Federal Tax Credits
If you employ tipped workers — in restaurants, hotels, bars,
salons, spas, or any service business — Win Star Solutions and
Jorns & Associates help you recover the FICA Tip Tax Credit at zero upfront cost.
FICA Tip Credit at a Glance — Potential 3-Year Retroactive Lookback
tips, every year
modest growth from 66,400 filers in 2012 to 71,159 by 2022 —
a penetration rate of roughly 7–10%.
What Is the FICA Tip Tax Credit?
The FICA Tip Credit (IRC Section 45B) lets any business with tipped employees reclaim the employer's share of FICA taxes paid on tips above the federal minimum wage. It's a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit — and one of the most consistently overlooked tax benefits in America.
It applies far beyond restaurants — hotels, bars, salons, spas, casinos, catering companies, and any business where employees earn tips can qualify.
Dollar-for-Dollar
A direct credit against federal income tax equal to 7.65% of the FICA taxes you paid on employee tips above the minimum-wage threshold — not a deduction, a true dollar-for-dollar reduction.
Legally Settled
Rooted in IRC §45B and reinforced by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2002 Fior d'Italia decision. This is an established, IRS-sanctioned credit — not a loophole or a gray area.
Expanded for 2025
Under the OBBBA 2025 update, beauty & personal-care businesses — salons, barbershops, spas, nail & esthetics — now qualify for the first time, opening the door to an entirely new group of businesses.
30+ Years of Established Law
Enacted in 1993 by President Bill Clinton as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, the FICA Tip Credit was designed to incentivize small business owners to encourage full tip reporting — at a time when POS systems were rare and cash tips routinely went unreported. The law has remained largely unchanged for over 30 years, with the only notable updates being the 2025 OBBBA beauty-industry expansion and its different minimum wage calculation threshold.
The Legal Foundation
IRC §45B — The Statutory Foundation
Enacted in 1993 as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, Section 45B provides a permanent, dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for FICA taxes paid on tips above the minimum-wage threshold. The credit directly reduces federal income tax liability.
IRC §3121(q) — Deemed Employer Tax
Section 3121(q) ensures tips are treated as remuneration for FICA purposes once reported by the employee. This mechanism guarantees the credit applies to all properly reported tip income, creating a clear pathway for employers to claim what they're owed.
Fior d'Italia (2002) — Supreme Court Precedent
The Supreme Court's landmark ruling in United States v. Fior d'Italia, Inc. (536 U.S. 238) confirmed IRS authority to assess FICA taxes on tips — and simultaneously underscored §45B as the counterbalancing mechanism. Businesses that pay FICA on reported tips are entitled to the full credit as a matter of statutory right.
This is not a tax strategy or aggressive position. The FICA Tip Credit rests on a permanent statutory provision in place since 1993, supported by FICA tax treatment rules and confirmed by Supreme Court precedent. It is a congressionally mandated benefit that qualifying employers are legally entitled to claim.
The Opportunity Gap
Total annual FICA taxes on tips
Actually claimed each year
Left on the table annually
Over 90% of the market has never filed.
IRS records show only modest growth from 66,400 filers in 2012 to 71,159 by 2022 — a penetration rate of roughly 7–10%.
This is not the "No Tax on Tips" law. That proposal deals with income tax owed by workers. The FICA Tip Credit is a completely separate, 30-year-old credit for the employer's share of payroll tax on reported tips — the two are entirely unrelated.
A 1 to 3-year retroactive lookback,
plus credits going forward depending on the industry.
Does Your Business Qualify?
The FICA Tip Credit applies broadly to any business where tipping is standard practice and that employs tipped workers.
This is critically important: this is not just for restaurants.
Food & Beverage (Original Category)
- Full-service restaurants of all sizes (independent diners to large restaurant groups)
- Bars, taverns & nightclubs
- Casual dining & fast-casual establishments with tipped service staff
- Hotels & resorts with food service operations
- Catering, banquet & event services
- Casinos & gaming (food & beverage staff)
- Breweries, wineries & food trucks
- Businesses operating in Puerto Rico
Beauty & Personal CareNEW 2025
- Hair salons & stylists
- Barbershops
- Nail salons & nail technicians
- Day spas & massage therapy
- Esthetician & skin care businesses
- Any personal care business where tipping is customary
Does Not Qualify
One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA) — Industry Expansion
Effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024, the OBBBA expanded the FICA Tip Credit to cover beauty and personal care services for the first time. This represents a significant increase in the eligible universe — potentially adding hundreds of thousands of qualifying locations nationwide. The beauty industry uses the current federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour) as its threshold, unlike F&B which retains the frozen $5.15/hour rate.
Important: Service charges (mandatory gratuities) are not tips for purposes of this credit. Only voluntarily reported tips by employees qualify. Jorns & Associates handles the precise identification of creditable vs. non-creditable tip income as part of their analysis.
What Your Business Could Recover
Per-business recovery potential ranges from approximately $16,788 to $31,158 on a 3-year basis
for an average qualifying business, with higher-revenue establishments recovering significantly more.
Estimates only — your exact figure comes from Jorns & Associates' forensic review and audit.
A Real-World Example
per tipped employee, per year, from reported wages and tips
($2,000/mo in tips, 80 hrs/mo)
annual credit for a business with
20 tipped employees
recovered across the 3-year
lookback — plus ongoing yearly credits
Illustrative calculation based on the standard Form 8846 methodology. Actual results vary with tip volume, employee count, hours worked, and years eligible.
Retroactive Credit Recovery — The 3-Year Lookback
Many eligible businesses either never claimed the credit or under-claimed it in prior years. Jorns & Associates utilizes IRS amendment guidelines to identify missed credits and prepare audit-proof filing packets — enabling your existing CPA to file amended returns and recover the dollar-for-dollar tax credit.
3-Year Lookback Window
Businesses signing up today can recover the dollar-for-dollar FICA Tip Credit from 2023, 2024, and 2025 — and, depending on how taxes were paid in those years, may also receive back any tax overpayment.
Carryback / Carryforward Flexibility
Unused credits can be carried back one year or forward up to 20 years, giving businesses maximum flexibility in how they apply the benefit.
Ongoing Annual Credit
After the retroactive recovery, the carry-forward credit continues to provide annual tax savings for as long as the business employs tipped workers.
Rolling 3-Year National Recovery Pool
A massive untapped market representing extraordinary opportunity for businesses that have never filed.
Calculate Your Estimated Credit
Use our free FICA Tip Tax Calculator to get an instant estimate of what your business may be owed.
Open CalculatorWhy So Many Businesses Miss It
The primary barrier to adoption is awareness and complexity — which is exactly the gap Win Star Solutions and Jorns & Associates are positioned to fill.
Calculation Complexity
The credit requires employee-level analysis of tip income, hours worked, and the minimum wage offset — for every employee, every pay period, across multiple years. It must account for creditable vs. non-creditable tips, the $5.15 or $7.25 thresholds, service charge exclusions, multi-year Form 941 reconciliation, and proper Form 8846 preparation. Most general-practice CPAs have never performed one.
No Retroactive Amendment Focus
Even CPAs who are vaguely aware of the credit typically file only a carry-forward for the current year. Almost none go back and amend prior-year returns to unlock retroactive cash refunds — which is precisely where the largest one-time value lies. The amendment process requires specialized knowledge of IRS procedures, statute of limitations rules, and transcript retrieval.
Lack of Awareness & Education
Unlike the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), which benefited from massive government outreach during COVID, the FICA Tip Credit has never had a large-scale awareness campaign directed at business owners. Despite being available to hundreds of thousands of businesses, only ~71,000 actually filed in 2022 — a penetration rate of roughly 7–10%.
Data Management Challenges
Many small business owners lack organized, accessible payroll records spanning multiple years. The prospect of gathering and organizing payroll data to support an IRS filing is intimidating — and without a streamlined process like Jorns & Associates provides, it can seem insurmountable.
The FICA Tip Credit market has enormous latent demand, low competition (very few firms specialize in retroactive amendment filing), and favorable economics for clients (zero upfront cost). The primary barrier is awareness — and that's our specialty.
How It Works — 4 Simple Steps
Sign Up in 90 Seconds
Complete our simple online enrollment at no cost.
Track Your Progress
Follow your progress through our secure back office portal, exclusive to our clients.
We Do All the Work
Jorns & Associates performs every calculation and prepares a complete, audit-proof filing packet. Simply hand it to your CPA to file.
Receive Your Tax Credits & Refunds
Most businesses see their refund for prior years within 30–60 days of submitting amended returns.
Who We Are
A partnership that brings together best-in-class field outreach with best-in-class technical execution —
a complete, end-to-end FICA Tip Credit recovery solution.
The Field Partner
Win Star Solutions serves as the field partner and agent training organization for the FICA Tip Credit program. Win Star connects eligible businesses with Jorns & Associates' specialized services — with no upfront cost to the client.
- Account Executives identify qualifying businesses, initiate the client relationship, and guide prospects through sign-up.
- Manages ongoing client communication throughout the Jorns & Associates audit process to determine total qualified tip wages.
- Provides marketing infrastructure, agent portal access, and training resources to empower AEs.
- Delivers referral network support that helps agents build successful, sustainable practices.
The Technical Specialist
Jorns & Associates, LLC is a specialized accounting and consulting firm focused on maximizing recoveries under complex federal tax credit programs that generalist CPA firms lack the deep expertise to execute properly.
- Established in 2021, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas — a specialized accounting and consulting firm.
- Founded by a team of tax credit veterans with deep expertise in federal tax credit programs.
- Narrow but deep focus on FICA Tip credits — a specialist complement to generalist CPAs, never a replacement.
- Guides clients from eligibility determination to IRS transcript retrieval to audit-proof file packet preparation.
Why a Specialist's Job
Most general CPAs treat FICA payroll taxes as a compliance matter — not an optimization target. The FICA Tip Credit is legal, technical, and detail-heavy: it requires employee-level reconstruction of tip income, wage offsets, and creditable calculations across multiple prior years. Firms like Jorns extract payroll detail at scale — from ADP, Paychex, Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll and more — and reconstruct Form 8846 calculations with a precision and backward-looking depth that generalist practices are simply not structured to provide.
The Credibility Behind Win Star Solutions
Jorns & Associates serves as a specialist CPA firm for this program — working alongside your existing CPA, not replacing them. Their team of FICA Tip Tax credit experts understands every complexity and prepares a comprehensive, audit-proof file packet.
Nationwide track record*
Returned to business owners*
Specialist CPA firm, est. 2021
Focused solely on FICA Tip credits
No estimates, no "modeled tips"
Turn-key Form 8846 workpapers
& Puerto Rico
Guarantee on their work
The Collaborative Model
Win Star Solutions
Identify & Enroll
Account Executives identify qualifying businesses, initiate the sign-up process, and manage the client relationship. Building relationships and opening doors.
Jorns & Associates
Analyze & Prepare
A specialist CPA firm works alongside your existing CPA (never replacing them) to prepare a complete, audit-proof file packet with all required calculations and documentation.
Your CPA
File & Claim
Your own CPA files the prepared packet with the IRS, enabling the dollar-for-dollar FICA Tip Credit. You maintain full control with your existing accounting relationship.
This collaborative model ensures clients receive specialized technical expertise while Win Star Account Executives focus on
what they do best: building relationships and opening doors. No payment unless a credit recovery is achieved.
Why a Specialist?
Your CPA manages every area of tax compliance. Jorns focuses on one highly technical niche — FICA Tip Tax Credits, federal tax incentives, and technical tax recovery.
Neither replaces the other — they work together.
Why Business Owners Appreciate This
- No upfront investment
- Independent specialty review
- Exact findings — not estimates
- Your CPA remains your trusted advisor
- Audit-ready documentation package
- Jorns stands behind its work
- Legal team and audit support
What Happens Next?
Your CPA stays in control the entire way.
- 1Authorize a no-upfront-cost independent specialty review.
- 2Jorns performs its proprietary forensic analysis.
- 3If no opportunity is identified, you owe nothing.
- 4If additional opportunity is identified, after engagement, Jorns will provide a complete audit-ready documentation package.
- 5Your CPA reviews the package, prepares and files the amended returns.
"Your CPA is your general practitioner. Jorns is the specialist. We work alongside your CPA by providing specialized forensic research, an audit-ready documentation package, and audit support. If no additional opportunity is identified, you owe nothing."
*Statistics are based on information published by Jorns & Associates. Jorns provides audit support according to its engagement terms.
Key Benefits for Your Business
A comprehensive, zero-risk program that offsets labor costs on income your business doesn't directly control or pay out.
Zero Upfront Cost
No out-of-pocket expense — Win Star Solutions and Jorns & Associates only get paid for the qualified tip wages that can be realized. If nothing is found, nothing is owed.
Dollar-for-Dollar Tax Credit
A dollar-for-dollar reduction in federal income tax liability based on 7.65% of FICA taxes paid on creditable tips — the core benefit of the program.
Immediate Cash Flow
The retroactive amendment process unlocks the FICA Tip Credit for prior years and may also generate a refund of any tax overpayment — creating real, immediate cash flow.
Carryback / Carryforward
Unused credits can be carried back one year or forward up to 20 years, giving maximum flexibility.
Fully Managed, Start to Finish
Jorns & Associates manages the entire process from IRS transcript retrieval to preparing the audit-proof file packet. Minimal effort required from the business owner.
Encourages Tip Compliance
Incentivizes proper tracking and reporting of employee tips, helping businesses stay compliant with IRS requirements.
Multi-Industry Applicability
Available to F&B businesses nationwide and now beauty/personal care services under OBBBA 2025.
Audit Protection
Jorns & Associates provides full representation and support in any audit related to Form 8846 or the FICA Tip Credit.
Ongoing Annual Value
After the retroactive recovery, the credit continues to provide annual tax savings for as long as the business employs tipped workers.
Simple, Transparent Fee — Only If You Win
Jorns & Associates charges a 2% consulting fee calculated on the verified qualifying tip wages they identify from your own records — never on projections or estimates. Upon generating the audit-proof file with the total amount of eligible tip wages, Jorns provides an invoice as laid out in the agreement signed before work began. If no qualifying credit is found, you owe nothing.
Get Your Free FICA Tip Credit Analysis
Find out exactly what your business is owed — no cost, no obligation.