4Thought Blog

The federal government has announced new rules for Paycheck Protection Program loans intended to help more small businesses obtain them.

Starting Wednesday, only businesses with 20 or fewer employees can apply for PPP loans during a two-week period. The 14-day exclusive application period will allow lenders to focus on serving small businesses, President Biden’s administration announced.

The administration also announced plans to assist sole proprietors, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals receive more financial support. Many were structurally excluded from the PPP or were approved for as little as $1 because of how PPP loans are calculated.

Pennsylvania has approved legislation clarifying tax rules on PPP loans and also providing $912 million in COVID relief aid.

The legislation, approved Friday, clarifies that Paycheck Protection Program loans that are forgiven are not taxable in Pennsylvania and that businesses may deduct eligible expenses paid with PPP loan proceeds. This aligns Pennsylvania’s PPP rules with federal rules approved in December and is very beneficial to businesses and individuals with PPP loans.

The Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) provision of the 2020 CARES Act was overshadowed by the PPP loan program, primarily because the original ERTC provisions prohibited an employer with a PPP loan from claiming ERTCs.

The 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act, passed just weeks ago and most known for allowing businesses a tax deduction for the expenses paid with tax-free PPP funds, made sweeping changes to the ERTC rules as well. Most notably, lawmakers removed the provision disallowing businesses with PPP loans to participate in the ERTC program.

As a result, these valuable credits are now available to more business owners for wages paid in Q1 & Q2, 2021 (and possibly for wages paid in 2020). For more information about the original provisions of this program, see our article here.

Before President Trump signed the latest economic stimulus law, several temporary COVID-19-related federal tax relief measures were set to expire on December 31, 2020.

This article explains the current status of eight important temporary relief measures and whether the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) extended them.

With its $900 billion price tag, the second federal stimulus bill includes a multitude of benefits for businesses – so many we couldn’t fit them in one article.

Our first article on the bill focused on the new Paycheck Protection Programs rules and additional allocation (you can read it here if you missed it) but there are other provisions businesses should learn about, including the extension and expansion of the Employee Retention Credit and Families First Coronavirus Response Credit.

Read on below for more details on both credits along with other new and extended tax provisions:

Congress has approved a second COVID-19 stimulus deal with both business and individual benefits. 

Top on the list may be the deductibility of businesses expenses paid with Paycheck Protection Program loans. This was Congress’s original intention and the new stimulus deal remedies the problem. It’s great news for anyone with a current PPP loan.

Each state would now have to act to allow these expenses to be deductible on your state income taxes, as well. We’ll be following the situation in all the many states where our clients are located and will keep you up to date.

New federal guidance confirms bad news for businesses with PPP loans: You can’t deduct expenses paid with proceeds from a loan if it’s fully forgiven.

The IRS also warns you can’t deduct businesses expenses if you believe your loan will be forgiven. So for businesses considering waiting until 2021 to apply for forgiveness with the hope of deducting your 2020 business expenses, that’s also off the table if you expect your loan to ultimately be forgiven.

Paycheck Protection Program loans have now been around for seven months, and in that time, there have been many major rule changes and clarifications.

As your business works to prepare your forgiveness application and get your books in order for year end, here are the latest qualification changes and rules on tax deductibility you should know.

In the COVID-19-ravaged economy, debts can pile up beyond a borrower's ability to repay. Lenders sometimes may be willing to forgive (or cancel) debts that are owed by certain borrowers.

While debt forgiveness can help struggling borrowers survive financially, it can sometimes trigger negative tax consequences. Here's what borrowers need to know about the tax implications of so-called "cancellation of debt" (COD) income.

The IRS last week provided additional clarity how employers can defer withholding and remitting employees’ Social Security taxes in response to President Trump’s executive memorandum.

We still recommend our clients continue to withhold and pay the tax. This deferral is ripe for problems for both the employee and employer.

For employers interested in learning more about the option, here is the new guidance from the IRS: