ES Bancshares, Inc. Announces the Receipt of the First Installment of Its Employee Retention Tax Credit

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y., May 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ES Bancshares, Inc. (OTCQX: ESBS) (the “Company”) the holding company for Empire State Bank, (the “Bank”) today reported that the Company received a check for the first installment of $268 thousand of its Employee Retention Tax Credit. The first installment will be reported in our second quarter 2025 earnings results. The Bank filed a claim in 2023 to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) for $1.2 million, plus applicable interest, in Employee Retention Credits (“ERC”) for the years 2020 and 2021. ERC are a refundable payroll tax credit for eligible businesses that paid qualified wages during the COVID-19 pandemic. ERC are generally considered non-taxable income but also require the Company to file amended tax returns for 2020 and 2021 to reduce the associated payroll tax deductions that were previously reported as normal business expenses, which increases the federal income taxes due for those periods. The Company expects to receive multiple ERC installments throughout 2025 and 2026.