covid-19 Archives - Page 2 of 3 - William Vaughan Company

Restaurant Employee Relief Fund

Mar 31, 2020

The National Restaurant Association has created the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund to help aid employees who are experiencing hardship during the COVID-19 outbreak. This fund will offer grants to restaurant industry employees who have experienced financial hardship from either loss of employment or a decrease in wages. The grants will be awarded to individuals on a first-come, first-served basis while funds are available. Restaurant employees can apply for the grants beginning on April 2, 2020.

Employees that are eligible to receive grants must meet the following criteria:

Individuals must have worked on a part or full-time basis in the restaurant industry for at least 90 days in the past year; and
Individuals must have had their primary source of income be from working in the restaurant industry for the last year; and
Individuals must have experienced a decrease in wages or a job loss on or after March 10, 2020; and
Individuals must live in the United States, an overseas U.S. military base, or a U.S. territory; and
Individuals must be over the age of legal majority in their U.S. state or territory.

The $500 on-time grants are meant to help offset the financial burden that many restaurant employees are experiencing during the COVID-19 outbreak. Listed below are many of these expenses:

Home rent or mortgage
Car payments or other transportation costs
Utility bills
Student loan payments
Child Care expenses
Groceries
Medical bills

The National Restaurant Association, in conjunction with Guy Fieri, kicked off this relief campaign on Friday, March 27, 2020. The campaign has already raised $5.5 million for restaurant employees and 100% of the funds will be used to help these employees. There are numerous other founding partners of this relief effort including, PepsiCo and Uber Eats to name just a few. It is estimated between 5 to 7 million restaurant workers may become unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The restaurant industry, with over 1 million restaurants in the U.S., employs approximately 15 million people. Eligible workers can apply for aid by clicking here.

If you want to help make a difference in the lives of these workers? You can donate to the fund here.

Categories: Restaurant & Hospitality

Employers Can Provide Tax-Free Qualified Disaster Payments To Employees

Mar 24, 2020

Employers are scrambling to find ways to help their employees who are impacted by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Help is available. Now that the COVID-19 has been declared a national emergency,[1] Internal Revenue Code Section 139 can be used to allow employers to make tax-free payments or reimbursements to employees as “qualified disaster payments.” Below are some frequently asked questions about how employers can use Section 139 immediately to help employees cope with COVID-19.

Q1: What is a “qualified disaster payment”?
A1: Qualified disaster payments are payments that are not otherwise reimbursed by insurance made by an employer to an employee that are reasonably expected by the employer to:

Reimburse or pay reasonable and necessary personal, family, living, or funeral expenses incurred as a result of a qualified disaster; and
Reimburse or pay reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for the repair or rehabilitation of a personal residence or repair or replacement of its contents to the extent that the need for such repair, rehabilitation, or replacement is attributable to a qualified disaster.

The payments should not include non-essential, luxury, or decorative items or services.

Insight

Wage replacement (such as paid sick or other leave) would not be covered by Section 139, so such payments would still be taxable wages and would remain subject to income and payroll tax withholding and reporting.

Q2: What expenses might be considered to be eligible as a qualified disaster payment with respect to COVID-19?
A2: With respect to COVID-19 circumstances, it appears that employers can pay for, reimburse, or provide in-kind benefits reasonably believed by the employer to result from the COVID-19 national emergency that are not covered by insurance. For example, it appears that employers could pay for, reimburse or provide employees with tax-free payments for over-the-counter medications, hand sanitizers, home disinfectant supplies, child care or tutoring due to school closings, work-from-home expenses (like setting up a home office, increased utilities expense, higher internet costs, printer, cell phone, etc.), increased costs from unreimbursed health-related expenses and increased transportation costs due to work relocation (such as taking a taxi or ride-sharing service from home instead of using public mass transit).

Q3: What is the federal tax treatment of qualified disaster payments?
A3: Qualified disaster payments are federal tax-free to employees and are fully deductible to the employer. Such payments are not considered “gifts.” There is no federal reporting or disclosure, so such payments are not reported on Form W-2 or 1099 and are not subject to federal income or payroll tax withholding.

Q4: What is the state tax treatment of qualified disaster payments?
A4: Generally, state treatment for income tax withholding purposes will mirror the federal treatment of qualified disaster relief payments. That is, states generally exclude qualified disaster relief payments from the definition of wages for state income tax withholding purposes, either expressly or by applying the federal definition of “wages” for state income tax withholding purposes. However, qualified disaster relief payments may still be considered “wages” for purposes of state unemployment insurance tax. Employers should determine on a state-by-state basis whether certain income tax withholding and/or unemployment insurance tax contribution obligations may arise in connection with such payments.

Q5: Is there a cap on how much an employer can provide to an employee as a qualified disaster payment?
A5: No. Section 139 does not impose any limit on the amount or frequency of qualified disaster payments that an employer can make to any individual employee or to all employees in the aggregate.

Q6: Must employers have a written plan to make qualified disaster payments to employees?
A6: No. Employers are not required to have a written program for qualified disaster payments. But having such a program is recommended, so employers can inform employees about the parameters of the employer’s program in the COVID-19 context. Such a program might include a description of who is eligible, what expenses will be reimbursed (perhaps up to a “per employee” maximum), how and when payments will be made, etc.

Q7: Are employees required to substantiate their expenses to prove that they are eligible for qualified disaster payment treatment?
A7: No. Employees are not required to provide receipts or other proof supporting their expenses. However, employers could require such proof as part of its written program, perhaps using rules similar to the long-standing IRS “accountable plan” rules.

[1] COVID-19, was designated as an emergency under the Stafford Act on March 13, 2020. Although there is some debate over the legal technicalities of that declaration, it appears that Section 139 relief has been triggered. Specifically, Rev. Rul. 2003-29 says that for Section 165(i) (which is cross-referenced in Section 139), an “emergency” is treated as a “disaster.” In addition, an IRS Chief Counsel Memorandum dated June 28, 2019, states “A Federally declared disaster includes a major disaster declaration under section 401 of the Stafford Act and an emergency declaration under section 501 of the Stafford Act.”

Categories: Other Resources

Small Business Loans & Grants Available To Overcome COVID-19 Impact

Mar 23, 2020

Monday, March 23, 2020

The Federal Reserve announced today an unlimited expansion of bond purchasing programs to help the U.S. economy due to the near-total shutdown to fight the coronavirus.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said is he working closely with the Fed to ensure small businesses get the money they need quickly to survive. The bill in Congress would enable small businesses with 500 or fewer employees to get an SBA-backed grant to cover approximately two months’ payroll and some overhead expenses. Methods to distribute the money quickly are being debated, including an option to route the funds through payroll companies. About 40% of all U.S. businesses use a payroll service to process their employees’ payroll.

Businesses in all U.S. states and territories are currently eligible to apply.

The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (in addition to the potential grant) provides small businesses with working capital loans of up to $2 million to provide economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing.

The Fed also announced Monday it will buy certain corporate bonds and said it will “soon” announce a Main Street Business Lending Program. These programs are meant to provide ample availability of loans to small and large businesses on top of any efforts Congress does.

Many businesses have business interruption insurance although there is debate on whether a pandemic would be considered since it is not an act of God. Now is the time to contact your insurance agent to review your policy to understand precisely what you are and are not covered for in the event of an extended incident.

Categories: Other Resources

COVID-19 Data Security Insight

Mar 23, 2020

In just a short amount of time, COVID-19 has had an immense impact on the global economy, as well as business operations around the world. How companies stay resilient and can adapt in the face of COVID-19’s impact, will be a topic of discussion for many business leaders as new information continues to surface. Along with COVID-19’s impact, the changes business leaders implement to respond to the ongoing crisis may introduce unintentional security and privacy risks.

Our daily routines are being impacted, along with the activities we perform. This creates opportunities for hackers, and others with malintent, who thrive in this type of environment, to take advantage of uncertainties and changes to routines. What has not changed, however, is an organization’s responsibility to protect data and to secure systems to reduce the risk of a breach or unauthorized access to information. The regulatory requirements, and other state and industry standards for protecting information, are as critical as the day they were implemented, if not more so. GDPR, CCPA, NYDFS, PCI DSS, CFIUS, HIPAA, HITRUST, SOX, and so on – still need to be adhered to.

The risk to an organization could increase if processes, implemented to help secure systems, protect data and information, and maintain daily operations, are not followed. Personnel, who have the assigned roles and responsibilities for managing systems and the corresponding data environment, need continued support and assistance to meet their job assignments.

To add to the complexity of daily operations, organizations have been forced to consider remote work options and telecommuting to slow the spread of the virus. There are certain technical considerations for remote workers, the first being the devices that they will use to conduct business. For organizations that provide laptops, this is generally a non-issue, however, if your workforce is typically in the office, working remotely can present some additional challenges from an equipment standpoint.

How will businesses secure remote access to company systems and data?

Businesses across the globe have been instituting remote work requirements to decrease the likelihood of spread and impact on business operations. Due to the increase of remote workers, businesses should secure access to company systems and data to ensure secure transmission of personal information. The actions below can help secure remote access to the organizations’ systems:

Require secure connections to remotely access company systems. A VPN solution should be leveraged to ensure the transmission of data is secured over public networks. A common practice for many organizations is to use multi-factor authentication in conjunction with VPN to ensure authorized access.
Ensure session timeouts for connections into company systems. Allowing remote connections to stay open indefinitely increases the window of availability for unauthorized access.
Ensure workstations timeouts for remote workstations. With the increase of remote workers and remote workstations, businesses will be unable to physically secure these areas. By implementing workstation timeouts, businesses can reduce the availability of unauthorized access if a workstation were to be left unattended remotely.
Require email using the organization’s distributed solutions. Organizations are so dependent on email communications and in most instances, corporate email is available remotely. Employees should be reminded not to conduct corporate business over personal email accounts, text messages or third-party apps that are not managed by the organization. This is a great opportunity to pick up the phone and speak with people in lieu of other typical communication channels.

How will businesses secure mobile assets?

Businesses should consider how mobile workstations will be secured. Due to remote working capabilities, an increase of mobile workstations provided to employees will need to be secured. Data at rest should be encrypted. Hard drives on workstations are commonly encrypted to ensure confidentiality of data. Just to start.

We are all adjusting to the changes as a result of COVID-19. By supporting and reinforcing your organization’s processes, procedures and solutions, which were implemented to protect your data, the risk can be better managed.

If you are concerned about the vulnerability of your organization, contact our Risk Services Leader, Tiffany Pollard (tiffany.pollard@wvco.com) to help guide you through ensuring your systems are safe and secure.

Categories: Other Resources, Risk Services

Federal Aid Package Helps Individuals Affected By Coronavirus

Mar 19, 2020

Provided by BDO Alliance, USA

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201), became law on March 18, 2020. The Act guarantees free testing for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), establishes emergency paid sick leave, expands family and medical leave, enhances unemployment insurance, expands food security initiatives, and increases federal Medicaid funding.

The Act includes up to 80 hours of emergency paid sick leave for workers who are unable to work while they are sick or complying with COVID-19 restrictions or caring for school-age children due to the closure of schools or child care facilities, as well as paid family and medical leave that employees will be able to use to care for family members (not for personal illness) for up to 12 weeks. The first 10 days of an emergency family and medical leave may be unpaid unless employees opt to use accrued paid time off for those days.

The mandatory paid leave provisions apply to employers with fewer than 500 employees and government employers, with exceptions for health care workers and first responders. Self-employed individuals would be eligible for the new benefits provided under the Act. It is not clear if individuals who have self-employment income from their partnership or limited liability company would be eligible for the new self-employed benefits, as the Act does not specifically address those situations. Employers with 500 or more employees would not be subject to those rules. Employers who are required to provide paid time off would need to initially bear the costs of paying their employees, but the federal government would provide payroll tax credits to help cover those costs.

Background. Currently, the federal Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) provides eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave a year and requires group health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if employees continued to work instead of taking leave. Employees are also entitled to return to their same or an equivalent job at the end of their FMLA leave. Special rules apply to military personnel.

To be eligible for FMLA, an employee is required to have been employed by their employer for a year, worked for 1,250 hours, and worked in a location where there are 50 other employees within a 75-mile radius. The FMLA applies to all private-sector employers who employ 50 or more employees for at least 20 workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year (including joint employers and successors of covered employers). Many states have enacted laws that are similar to federal FMLA, which apply to smaller employers who may be exempt from federal FMLA. The FMLA also applies to federal, state and local employers. These current provisions remain available for qualifying employees.

Employer Mandates

Emergency Paid Sick Leave. Through December 31, 2020, the Act requires employers with fewer than 500 employees and government employers to provide all employees (including union employees and regardless of how long the individual worked for the employer but excluding health care workers and first responders) with 80 hours (e.g, 10 business days) of emergency paid sick leave for full-time workers (pro-rated for part-time employees or employees with varying work schedules) for employees who are unable to work or telework because the employee:

Is subject to a federal, state, or local COVID-19 quarantine or isolation order;
Has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine because of COVID-19;
Is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis;
Is caring for an individual subject to or advised to quarantine or isolation;
Is caring for a son or daughter whose school or place of care is closed, or child care provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions; or
Is experiencing substantially similar conditions as specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of Labor and Treasury.

Generally, employers would pay employees at their regular rate of pay for emergency sick leave, capped at $511 per day ($5,110 in the aggregate) if the leave is taken for an employee’s own illness or quarantine (i.e., for the first three bullets above). Employers would pay employees two-thirds of their regular rate of pay for emergency sick leave, capped at $200 per day ($2,000 in the aggregate) if the leave is taken to care for others or due to school closures (i.e., for the last three bullets above).

An employer cannot require an employee to use other paid leave before using this paid leave. Employers would not be able to require employees to find replacement workers to cover their shifts if employees use emergency paid sick leave. The federal government is supposed to provide a model notice within seven days after enactment, which employers would be required to post at their workplace, informing employees of their right to emergency paid sick leave. The U.S. Department of Labor is directed, within 15 days after enactment, to issue guidelines on how to calculate the amount of emergency paid sick leave. The Department of Labor also has the authority to issue regulations to exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees from having to provide emergency paid sick leave to employees who need to care for a son or daughter whose school or place of care is closed, or child care provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions if the imposition of such requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.

Employers would face penalties for failing to comply with the new emergency paid sick leave rules and are prohibited from discriminating against employees who take emergency paid sick leave. Eligible employees could use emergency paid sick leave before using new, emergency paid family and medical leave created by the Act.

FMLA Amendments. The Act would add provisions to the FMLA to provide employees (including union employees) who have been employed for at least 30 days by employers with fewer than 500 employees or government employers, with the right take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave through December 31, 2020, if the employee is unable to work or telework due to having to care for a child under age 18 if the child’s school or place of child care has been closed (or the child care provider is unavailable), due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Employers may elect to exclude health care workers and first responders from taking this public health emergency FMLA.

The first 10 days of FMLA under these new provisions may be unpaid. Employees can use other paid time off such as vacation, sick days, sabbatical, or emergency paid sick leave to cover that gap, but employers cannot require employees to use their accrued paid time off before using these 12 weeks of extended FMLA leave. Employers would pay employees two-thirds of their regular rate of pay for this emergency FMLA leave, capped at $200 per day ($10,000 in the aggregate per employee). Adjustments would be made to the amount of paid time off for employees with varying schedules.

The Act gives the U.S. Department of Labor authority to issue regulations that would exclude certain health care providers and emergency responders from being able to take emergency family and medical leave. The Department of Labor also has the authority to issue regulations to exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees from the emergency family and medical leave requirements if the imposition of such requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern. The Act would also exempt employers with fewer than 50 employees in a 75-mile radius from civil damages in an FMLA lawsuit.

Under the Act, covered employers (those with less than 500 employees) are required to hold an employee’s job open for them until the end of the leave period. However, an exception applies to employers with fewer than 25 employees if the employee’s position no longer exists due to economic conditions or other changes in the employer’s operations that affect employment and are caused by the COVID-19 crisis, and the employer made reasonable efforts to restore the employee’s job. And, if those efforts failed, the employer agrees to reinstate the employee if an equivalent position becomes available within a year.

The Act creates new, refundable payroll tax credits for employers to help cover the costs of this new paid sick and family leave.

Payroll Tax Credits

To assist employers who are required to provide emergency paid sick leave or FMLA leave under the programs described above, the Act provides for a refundable tax credit applied against the employer’s portion of Social Security or Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA) tax for amounts paid under those programs. The credit is equal to 100% of the compensation paid in each calendar quarter to employees who are not working for the reasons enumerated above, subject to the following limitations:

For payments to an employee who needs time off for self-isolation, diagnosis, or care of a COVID-19 diagnosis, or compliance with a health care provider’s recommendation or order, the credit is capped at $511 of eligible wages per employee per day. For payments to an employee who needs time off to care for a family member who has been exposed to or diagnosed with the COVID-19, or a child under age 18 whose school or place of care has been closed, the credit is capped at $200 of eligible wages per employee per day. The credit for emergency paid sick leave wages is only available for a maximum of 10 days per employee over the duration of the program. For expanded FMLA, the credit is capped at $200 of eligible wages per employee per day and $10,000 for all calendar quarters.

Both of the credits are increased by any amounts paid or incurred by the employer to maintain a group health plan, to the extent those expenses are (1) excluded from the employee’s gross income under the tax code and (2) “properly allocable” to the respective qualified sick or FMLA wages required to be paid under the Act. The exact method of allocation will be provided by regulation at a later date, but the Act provides that the allocation will be treated as properly made if done “on the basis of being pro-rata among covered employees and pro-rata on the basis of periods of coverage.”

If the credit exceeds the employer’s total liability for Social Security or RRTA tax for all employees for any calendar quarter, the excess is refundable to the employer. The employer may choose not to apply for the credit. Further, to prevent a double benefit, the employer cannot obtain a deduction for the amount of the credit. In addition, employers may not receive the credit in connection with wages for which a credit is allowed under Section 45S (credit for paid family and medical leave).

Similar rules apply to a self-employed individual that allows a refundable tax credit against the individual’s self-employment tax. The credit is capped at the lesser of the amounts that apply to eligible wages per employee or the individual’s lost self-employment income. The House-passed version of the Act provides guidance on how to determine the individual’s lost income due to the coronavirus.

Notably, required payments for emergency paid sick leave or FMLA under the Act will not be considered wages for purposes of calculating the employer’s portion of the Social Security or RRTA tax. In addition, the tax credits available to an employer are increased by the amount of the employer’s liability for Medicare tax on wages paid under the Act, effectively exempting the emergency sick leave and FMLA payments from that tax as well. In this way, the Act provides employers with two tax benefits: (1) refundable credits against the employer’s portion of Social Security or RRTA tax; and (2) an exemption from, or credit against, the employer’s portion of Social Security or RRTA and Medicare taxes on the wages required to be paid under the Act.

However, the law does not exempt these payments from the definition of wages for the purpose of other taxes (including the employee’s portion of Social Security, RRTA and Medicare taxes).

The Act ensures there is no negative impact to the Social Security program caused by the tax credit or the exemption of sick pay and family leave pay from Social Security tax by authorizing a transfer of funds from the General Fund to the Social Security and disability insurance trust funds to replace the lost employer contributions. The tax provisions discussed herein will apply beginning on a date to be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury after the enactment of the Act and ending on December 31, 2020.

Categories: Other Resources, Tax Compliance, Tax Planning