The New England Not-For-Profit Accounting Advisor

The Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) was enacted as part of the early COVID-19 stimulus measures, and can be claimed through Dec. 31, 2021 by eligible employers who retained employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, the ERTC was expanded through the American Rescue Plan Act to potentially cover more organizations and situations. While not-for-profit organizations are eager to take advantage of the ERTC, there are some logistical hurdles between taking the credit and reaping its benefits.

Topics: NFP, COVID19, COVID-19, Paycheck Protection Program, PPP, PPP Loan, Employee Retention Credit, Employee Retention Tax Credit, ERTC

The window of opportunity to take advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has closed, but considerations for the program, particularly around its most appealing benefit, remain.

Topics: tax, NFP, COVID19, COVID-19, CARES Act, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Paycheck Protection Program, PPP, PPP Loan, SBA, Small Business Administration, PPP Loan Forgiveness

Not-for-profit entities have a new, optional accounting alternative for evaluating goodwill impairment triggering events. The accounting alternative is intended to simplify and eliminate the requirement to monitor for triggering events throughout the reporting period that would cause an entity to perform a test for goodwill impairment. Rather than performing a continuous assessment of triggering events, an entity electing the alternative would evaluate the existence of a goodwill impairment triggering event as of an interim or annual reporting date. The new alternative is available for not-for-profit entities that account for goodwill as an indefinite-lived asset as well as not-for-profit entities that have elected to amortize goodwill. It is available for entities that have not yet issued their Dec. 31, 2020 financial statements and could cause some entities that experienced significant, but short-lived impacts from COVID-19 to forgo performing a test of goodwill impairment during 2020. The policy election to apply the alternative can also be made at a future date.

Topics: accounting, goodwill, goodwill impairment, GAAP, not-for-profit, FASB, NFP, intangible assets, COVID19, reporting, accounting alternative, FDIC, indefinite-lived asset

As the country continues to implement the COVID-19 vaccine distribution in phases, employers may deliberate whether to encourage voluntary compliance or mandate employee vaccination.

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, employees, COVID-19, OSHA, Covid vaccine, legal, vaccination, EEOC, ADA, employers

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) was originally enacted as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The ERC was extended and expanded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), and then again by the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. Eligible employers can obtain the ERC with respect to wages and health plan costs paid during periods of disruption brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. The most common way to become an eligible employer under the CARES Act, the CAA, and the ARP Act is to satisfy a gross receipts test. Until recently, not-for-profit (NFP) entities faced significant uncertainty about the manner in which gross receipts is defined for purposes of the ERC. Although the CAA provided this clarification, NFP entities now must consider unusual planning decisions in order to maintain ERC eligibility.

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, tax credit, Employee Benefits, COVID-19, CARES Act, Employee Retention Credit, Consolidated Appropriations Act, The Act, ERTC, American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, CAA

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 passed in March is the second largest COVID-19 stimulus measure to date and brought significant benefits to individuals, organizations, and benefits offerings. Among the individual rebate checks and expansion to tax credits for parents, there are a handful of provisions of particular interest for not-for-profit organizations. A brief recap of the most notable changes follows.

Topics: not-for-profit, NFP, Employee Benefits, Paid Family and Medical Leave, COVID-19, Paycheck Protection Program, PPP, PPP Loan, Stimulus, Employee Retention Tax Credit, ERTC, American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, ARP Act, American Rescue Plan

Additional relief from COVID-19 disruption came at the end of 2020 that may be beneficial for not-for-profit organizations. While much of the attention has been on the updates to the Paycheck Protection Program in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 a second law brought changes that not-for-profit organizations may want to note as well.

Topics: Grants, COVID-19, PPP, EIDL, SBA, PPP Loan Forgiveness, Consolidated Appropriations Act, PPP2, The Act, gross revenue, SVO, relief, Shuttered Venue Operator

On February 22, the White House announced changes to the Paycheck Protection Program that give exclusive access to certain small businesses.

Year-end legislation provided additional funding and an extension of the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for the first quarter of 2021. Effective February 24, the Biden-Harris administration is instituting a 14-day holding period on new PPP applications (sometimes referred to as PPP2 loans) for businesses with 20 or more employees. The goal of the hold is to lessen the PPP competition for small businesses and sole proprietorships that may have had difficulty accessing the federal funds previously.

Topics: Election, COVID-19, CARES Act, Paycheck Protection Program, PPP, PPP Loan, SBA, PPP Loan Forgiveness, PPP2

While it is unclear how long COVID-19 will continue to affect businesses, it is important to have your return-to-work plan prepared now so that you can safely and successfully resume operations and bring employees back to the workplace.

Topics: Business owners, employees, COVID-19, remote work, social distancing, guide, safety, mental health, operations, return to work, tips, office layout

Organizations should be gearing up to file the Massachusetts “Return of Property Held for Charitable Purposes” (State Tax Form 3ABC). If you are a Massachusetts-domiciled charity that owned real or personal property as of January 1, you must file Form 3ABC by March 1 of that year to receive a local tax exemption for the fiscal year that begins the next July 1.

Topics: Massachusetts, non-for-profit, Non-profits, Form 3ABC, nonprofit, form PC, 3ABC