New USDA Loan Program Focused on Food Supply Chain Revitalization
Feb 08, 2022
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary, Tom Vilsack recently announced that the USDA is deploying $100 million under the new Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program to make nearly $1 billion available in loan guarantees. The objectives are to support new investments in infrastructure for food aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling, and distribution, and to also increase capacity and create a more resilient, diverse, and secure U.S. food supply chain.
What is the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program?
The Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program is a part of the USDA’s Build Back Better initiative to strengthen critical supply chains and our food system. This program guarantees loans of up to $40 million for qualified lenders to finance food system projects, specifically for the start-up or expansion of activities in the middle of the food supply chain.
Who qualifies?
Eligible borrowers must be directly engaged in the middle of the food supply chain, specifically the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of food. Examples of the types of entities that may qualify for the program include meat processors and food hubs. Lenders may provide the loans to eligible cooperatives, corporations, for-profits, nonprofits, Tribal communities, public bodies, and people in rural and urban areas.
How can funds be used?
Funds are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and may be used to:
- start-up or expand food supply chain activities such as aggregating, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distributing food.
- address supply chain bottlenecks.
- increase capacity and help create a more resilient, diverse, and secure U.S. food supply chain.
How do I apply?
The USDA is accepting electronic applications from lenders through the Food Supply Chain Online Application System until funds are expended. Paper applications will not be accepted.
To access the online application system, lenders must submit a request to rdfoodsupplychainloans@usda.gov.
USDA Rural Development encourages applications for projects that advance the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, promote equitable access to USDA programs and services, and reduce the impacts of climate change on rural communities. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov/priority-points.
Categories: Agribusiness
Timely Estate Planning Strategies: Part Three
Nov 01, 2021
Charitable Gift Planning Opportunities
In the third installment to our Timely Estate Planning Strategies Series, we outline how traditional income and estate planning may incorporate an individual’s desire to fulfill philanthropic goals. Giving can be done both while living (receiving current income tax deductions) and through one’s will at the time of death (garnering estate tax deductions). However, given the current ‘perfect storm’ we outlined in the first blog of the series, there is no better time to address your giving strategies.
The estate tax exclusion is currently $ 11.7 million per individual which means persons with an estate less than this will NOT benefit from charitable bequests in their wills. The emphasis for these individuals should be obtaining current income tax deductions while fulfilling their charitable intent. Individuals with taxable estates greater than $ 11.7 million can receive a double tax benefit by making lifetime charitable gifts. The donation is deductible for income tax purposes when the gift is made; the property along with any future appreciation is removed from the taxable estate.
Several opportunities to benefit from current charitable gifts are available. It is important to note, total itemized deductions including charitable deductions must exceed the standard deduction to receive a current income tax benefit. Some of your options include:
- Bunching contributions into one year to make sure you exceed the standard deduction.
- Contributing to Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs). A large contribution to the fund in year one provides the income tax deduction. After which, amounts can be paid from the fund to charities over a designated number of future years.
- Donating to Charitable Remainder Trusts. The remainder interest in a given property is donated to charity, obtaining a current income tax deduction, and retaining an annuity (income) interest in the property during the donor’s lifetime. Or the reverse of this,
- Giving to Charitable Lead Trusts. This provides a charity an annual distribution while the remainder interest passes to a Trust beneficiary in the future.
- Making Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs). Taxpayers over the age of 70 1/2 contribute directly from their IRA to a specified charity. The distribution is not taxable and no charitable deduction is taken. Structured properly, this can convert required minimum distributions into nontaxable withdrawals from the retirement account.
Your WVC advisor would love to meet with you and your estate planning team to see how charitable transactions could help you meet your philanthropic goals in a tax-efficient manner.
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Categories: Estate Planning
SBA Announces Opening of Paycheck Protection Program Direct Forgiveness Portal
Aug 23, 2021
The SBA has published new guidance on PPP loan forgiveness on loans of $150,000 or less. A new portal has been established in which borrowers can request forgiveness directly w the agency instead of going through their lenders. The portal, launched in early August, is the latest attempt by the SBA to make the PPP loan forgiveness process easy and streamlined.
“The SBA’s new streamlined application portal will simplify forgiveness for millions of our smallest businesses — including many sole proprietors — who used funds from our Paycheck Protection Program loans to survive the pandemic,” said Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman. “The vast majority of businesses waiting for forgiveness have loans under $150,000. These entrepreneurs are busy running their businesses and are challenged by an overly complicated forgiveness process.
The SBA has also created a PPP customer service team that will answer questions and directly assist businesses with their loan forgiveness applications. This team can be reached at 877-552-2692, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.
Click here to access the Paycheck Protection Program Direct Forgiveness Portal.
Categories: COVID-19
Everything You Need to Consider About the Advance Child Tax Credit Payments
Jul 16, 2021
As we are heading into the second half of 2021, individuals are now starting to receive their advance Child Tax Credits payments as a result of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. The law, signed in March, increases the overall child tax credit, expands it to include children turning 17 this year, and adds another annual $600 benefit per child under six years old. While the advance payment on the credit may be a welcomed windfall, there are some important aspects of this tax credit individuals should be aware of when receiving these payments.
Receiving Payments
Individuals with dependent children started receiving monthly payments on July 15th which are estimated to total half of the amount of their estimated 2021 Child Tax Credit. The other half of the Child Tax Credit will be received when the 2021 Tax Return is filed in 2022. Individuals are required to reconcile the payments received on their 2021 Tax Return so they should keep track of the payments received throughout the year and include that information with their tax documents.
Overpayment
If an individual receives more than what is due to them, they will be required to pay back the difference. This differs from the stimulus payments, where individuals were allowed to keep the additional funds. This primarily applies to those with a dramatic increase in income during 2021. An example of this scenario:
- If your income level qualified you to receive additional Child Tax Credits in 2020, and your new income level in 2021 does not, you will have to pay back the money received in regards to the additional Child Tax Credit you no longer qualify for.
Increase in Tax Due
The advance child tax credit received will be in lieu of claiming the tax credit on the 2021 income tax return. Since half of this credit will be received by the time the 2021 income tax return will be due, the amount of the child tax credit will be halved on the 2021 Return. This means that there will be fewer credits to offset against the tax due, which may cause a higher-than-normal tax due, or decrease the potential refund some are used to receiving. This holds especially true for those with a dramatic increase in income for 2021.
Opting Out of Advanced Payments
If taxpayers do not wish to receive the advanced payments of the Child Tax Credit, they can elect out of them. Typical reasons for opting out of the advanced payment are as follows:
- An individual normally has a balance due to the IRS after filing their taxes
- An individual doesn’t claim a dependent every year due to shared custody arrangements
- An individual’s dependent(s) is(are) aging out of the range of the credit
- An individual prefers having a large tax refund
Anyone wishing to elect out of the advanced payments, you may do so by clicking this link and following the instructions provided.
Changing Bank Account Information
If taxpayers would like to learn how to change/update their banking or direct deposit information, click here.
New IRS Portal
The IRS is currently developing a portal in which a user can enter updated information impacting the amount of payment an individual will receive. A user can do all of the following in this portal:
- Update marital status
- Enter in children born in 2021
- Re-enrollment into the Child Tax Credit if you were previously unenrolled
- Adjust your income for the calculation of the Child Tax Credit
As previously stated, this portal is still in development but the IRS is looking to release this portal in the coming months. Reach out to your WVC professional for questions on your specific situation.
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Categories: Tax Planning
Ohio’s Municipal Payroll Withholding Dilemma – Take 2
Jul 09, 2021
On June 30, Governor Mike DeWine signed into law Ohio’s 2022-23 budget. One of the key items in the law was the clarification of a municipal income tax withholding dilemma that has been ongoing since virtually the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this clarification means good news for many employees, it may also be a massive headache for employers.
The Good News
Earlier this year, we penned a blog outlining how a temporary “Pandemic” law change intended to ease municipal income tax withholding burdens on employers was, in fact, having unintended negative consequences on remote workers. Many were left paying taxes to municipalities they did not live in and did not physically work in either, due to stay-at-home orders.
The 2022-23 budget bill extends the temporary law noted above through December 31, 2021, and clarifies that it applies only to employer withholding requirements and not to the actual liability an employee has to a given city. This means, for 2021 only, employees can request a tax refund for any days they neither lived nor physically performed work in a municipality. It is important to note an employee may still owe tax to the municipality in which they live.
The Bad News
Yes, the temporary law is extended to the end of 2021, but that means, beginning in 2022 “pre-pandemic” law will be back in place.
While the ever-expanding world of technology was leading us down a road where remote work would become the norm, the COVID-19 pandemic put us in a Lamborghini and sped us there in a matter of a year. Employers have realized their workforce can get work done remotely, and employees are becoming accustomed to more time with their families and much less time commuting while continuing to be productive in their work. Remote work is here to stay, and absent any future, permanent law changes, the reversion in 2022 back to pre-pandemic rules has the potential to be a huge problem for two reasons.
- First, pre-pandemic law included a 20-day municipal withholding rule, only requiring employers to withhold if an employee physically worked in a municipality for more than 20 days. Unfortunately, this rule will not align very well with a remote work environment. Even if a business is modestly flexible, allowing employees to work remotely just two days a month, this would trip the 20-day rule, requiring withholding from wages for every municipality within which their employees reside.
- Second, although many employers offer courtesy withholding so may already be withholding taxes for those cities, tripping this 20-day rule will now require those wages to be allocated to that municipality for purposes of the net profits (income) tax, subjecting the company to Income tax in each of those municipalities.
To ease into the 2022 transition, employers could consider formalizing hybrid work arrangements and creating an internal system to easily track days worked remotely.
We will be keeping our eyes peeled for any future legislation that may alter municipal tax rules for 2022 and beyond. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact your William Vaughan Company advisor.
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wvco.com | 419.891.1040
Categories: COVID-19, Tax Planning