Let’s face it—tax filings have been grueling the past several years. In the 2019 tax season, extensive and swift changes under the tax reform law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act upended conventional planning and understandings. Then came 2020, when tax filers and preparers had to contend with the COVID-19 disruption, which brought about more tax law changes and threw a wrench into the ability of the IRS to process returns.
Topics: tax, S Corporation, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, tax legislation, pass-through entities, Cryptocurrency, PPP, Payment Protection Program, ERTC, PTE
Throughout 2020, Congress released numerous pieces of legislation designed to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 disruption, particularly for organizations that struggled to maintain their headcounts. One provision involved a refundable credit that organizations could apply against qualified wages and certain health insurance costs – the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC).
Topics: IRS, tax relief, tax credit, COVID19, Coronavirus, CARES Act, PPP, PPP Loan Forgiveness, Consolidated Appropriations Act, Employee Retention Tax Credit, The Act, ERTC
On March 8, the Federal Reserve announced it is extending its application deadline for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans until June 30, 2021. The announcement that the loan facility that supports the PPP would run through June comes at the end of the temporary restrictions on PPP loan applications. Designed by the Biden administration to give priority access to small businesses, the limitation spanned Wednesday, Feb. 24 through Tuesday, March 9, 2021. During that window, the Small Business Administration was only accepting PPP loan applications from businesses with less than 20 employees.
Topics: CARES Act, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, PPP, charitable contributions, SBA, loan forgiveness, PPP2
The Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) was established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, but limitations on its availability tempered interest in the relief measure. That is about to change, thanks to significant changes made on Dec. 27, 2020, by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the Act). The ERTC is now available to employers that received loans under the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), so any employer meeting ERTC eligibility criteria can benefit. Because employers potentially benefit from the enhanced ERTC on a retroactive basis, employers should immediately begin analyses to identify and calculate the value of retroactive or prospective ERTC benefits.
Topics: IRS, tax relief, tax credit, COVID19, Coronavirus, CARES Act, PPP, PPP Loan Forgiveness, Consolidated Appropriations Act, Employee Retention Tax Credit, The Act, ERTC
The Consolidated Appropriations Act passed on Dec. 27, 2020 provided some much needed COVID-19 relief measures along with its government funding provisions. After much back and forth among Congress about the size and scope of the stimulus package, several opportunities emerged in the final legislation, the first major stimulus package released since the spring’s Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Below are eight actions your organization may want to take as part of its recovery from COVID-19 disruption.
Topics: payroll taxes, FSA, student loans, tax credit, tax legislation, Paid Family and Medical Leave, COVID19, Coronavirus, CARES Act, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Employee Retention Credits, PPP, charitable contributions, SBA, loan forgiveness, Stimulus, Employee Payroll Tax Deferral, PPP2
On Nov. 18, 2020, the IRS weighed in on whether expenses used to support Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness are deductible, assuming the forgiveness occurs in the year after the expenses are incurred. In Rev. Rul. 2020-27, the IRS doubled down on its previous position by holding that expenses incurred in the year prior to forgiveness are also nondeductible.
Topics: PPP, PPP Loan Forgiveness, Payment Protection Program
The Payroll Protection Program (PPP) brought swift relief to thousands of organizations disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic by offering potentially forgivable loans to cover employee costs and certain other expenditures. Like the pandemic, the scale of the $650 billion loan program was unprecedented. Accounting and tax rulemakers are now parsing the manner in which PPP loan recipients should report their loan proceeds on financial statements and tax returns.
The window for applying for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) expired on August 8, and the next phase of the program began—application for PPP loan forgiveness. A SaaS tool to simplify submission, the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s PPP Forgiveness Platform began accepting submissions on Aug. 10, 2020.
Changes have been made to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to give loan recipients more leeway to qualify for loan forgiveness. President Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA) into law after the House and Senate passed it last week.
In addition to providing more breathing room for the loan forgiveness requirements, the PPPFA increases the minimum loan maturity date to five years for PPP loan balances not forgiven. The following takes a deeper dive into what the PPP loan forgiveness requirement now looks like.
Topics: Donald Trump, Trump, CARES Act, PPP, payment protection plan, SBA, Small Business Administration, PPPFA, payment protection plan flexibility act, loan forgiveness
One day before the deadline to return Paycheck Protection Program Funds, the Small Business Administration (SBA) updated its loan program’s frequently asked questions to create a safe harbor for recipients of loans of $2 million or less. The last minute safe harbor addition provides relief, but it also raised some additional questions, particularly coming so close to a major deadline.
Topics: COVID19, Coronavirus, CARES Act, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, PPP, PPP Loan, payment protection plan, SBA, Small Business Administration
