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

New Guidance Released on Deductibility of Expenses Paid with PPP Funds

Nov 19, 2020

Yesterday, the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released guidance clarifying the deductibility of expenses paid with paycheck protection program (PPP) loan funds.

The two significant rulings can be found here: Revenue Ruling 2020-27 and Revenue Procedure 2020-51. Both address issues related to the deductibility of expenses paid with PPP funds.

What is the significance of the new guidance?
Previously, it was unclear what would happen if a taxpayer incurred the expenses in one year (2020), but received forgiveness in the next year (2021).

Rev. Rul. 2020-27 states if a business reasonably believes a PPP loan will be forgiven in the future, expenses related to the loan are not deductible, whether the business has filed for forgiveness or not. Meaning, if you used all of your PPP funds in 2020 and expect to receive full forgiveness, those expenses are not deductible, regardless of whether or not you have applied for or have received forgiveness notification as of the end of 2020.

What happens if loan forgiveness is partially or fully denied in 2021 after one has filed their 2020 return?
Revenue Procedure 2020-51 establishes a safe harbor for taxpayers whose loan forgiveness applications are partially or fully denied, or who decide not to apply for forgiveness after filing their 2020 tax return.

While these expenses may ultimately become deductible with a future act of Congress, we encourage you to connect with your William Vaughan Company advisor to assist you in determining the best path forward for you and your business.

Need further PPP guidance? Check out our COVID-19 Resource Center.

Categories: COVID-19, Other Resources, Tax Planning

President Trump Signs Much Needed PPP Flexibility Bill Into Law

Jun 05, 2020

Today, President Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (the PPP Flexibility Act). This Act provides much-needed relief by relaxing the stringent guidelines for businesses to receive loan forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program.

Key provisions include:

  • The original 8-week period in which borrowers needed to spend the PPP Loan proceeds received can now be extended to 24 weeks. This extension provides additional time and opportunity for businesses to make the qualified expenditures necessary to have the loan proceeds forgiven. However, it is advisable if all loan proceeds have already been spent, businesses elect to apply for the original 8-week period (which is permissible) and expedite their forgiveness assuming the full-time equivalents (FTEs) have been restored.
  • Previous regulations required a minimum of 75% of the loan proceeds forgiven must be spent on payroll expenses, health insurance, and/or retirement plans. If not met, loan recipients would forfeit a portion of their forgiveness. Thankfully, that hurdle has been dramatically reduced to 60% which allows businesses to now allocate up to 40% of the potentially forgivable loan proceeds to rent, utilities, and interest on secured debt. However, it does appear upon reading this is a “cliff rule”. Meaning if you only spend 59% on payroll, potentially ZERO dollars will be forgiven.
  • Before H.R. 7010, PPP loan forgiveness rules indicated the amount forgiven would be reduced proportionately to the reduction of a recipient’s workforce during the original 8-week window if that same number of employees were not brought back by June 30th. According to updated legislation, this window has been modified to use the new 24-week window mentioned above with the amnesty rehire date being pushed back to December 31, 2020. For example, take an employer with 80 employees pre-pandemic who reduced its workforce to 40 employees during the 24 weeks. Assuming they spend the loan proceeds on qualified expenses during said 24 weeks, the employer will receive complete forgiveness so long as they’ve brought the workforce back to 80 by December 31st.
  • Whether due to government restrictions still in place, a lack of qualified individuals, or even individuals choosing not to return to work as a result of the current federal unemployment subsidy, an exception to the rehire rule has been enacted. To qualify for this exception, the borrower must establish they have been unable to restore previous FTE levels due to one or more of the aforementioned scenarios. Unfortunately, this exception is still largely a gray area and we are hopeful that additional guidance is imminent aucasinosonline.com.
  • The repayment period for loan proceeds still owed after reductions for forgiveness and EIDL grants (up to $10,000) has been extended from 2 years to 5 years with the interest rate remaining unchanged at 1%. Additionally, payments on the amounts still owed can be deferred up to the date on which the SBA makes the loan forgiveness determination.

Many loan recipients were hopeful for some clarification and additional guidance as it pertains to the deductibility of expenses for which the PPP loan proceeds were used. However, this still remains unanswered.

William Vaughan Company continues to keep a careful watch on additional legislation and is committed to sharing with you our insights and perspectives as regulations develop aucasinosonline.com/nz. To ensure you are staying up-to-date, we encourage you to sign-up for our WVC Insights emails here.

Categories: COVID-19, Other Resources

The Treasury Department and Small business Administration’s (SBA) Latest Guidance, Loan Forgiveness Application and the WVC Forgiveness Calculator

May 26, 2020

On May 15, the SBA released its Loan Forgiveness Application for the Paycheck Protection Program. The application outlines the computation for debt forgiveness.  While there are still many questions that need to be addressed, the guidance helped clarify some larger items:

  • The first day of the Covered Period for your PPP loan must be the same as the PPP Loan Disbursement Date and extends over the 56-day Covered Period. Borrowers with biweekly or more frequent payroll periods may elect to use the Alternative Payroll Covered Period that begins on the first day of their first pay period following the date when you receive the loan proceeds.
  • Payroll costs that have either been paid or incurred in the 56-day Covered Period are both eligible for forgiveness. If a cost is incurred and paid in the Covered Period, it will only be counted one time toward the forgiveness calculation.
  • Eligible Nonpayroll for forgiveness consist of:
    • covered mortgage obligations: payments of interest (not including any prepayment or payment of principal) on any business mortgage obligation on real or personal property incurred before February 15, 2020 (“business mortgage interest payments”);
    • covered rent obligations: business rent or lease payments pursuant to lease agreements for real or personal property in force before February 15, 2020 (“business rent or lease payments”); and
    • covered utility payments: business payments for a service for the distribution of electricity, gas, water, transportation, telephone, or internet access for which service began before February 15, 2020 (“business utility payments”).
  • Under the SBA’s guidance, the total amount of cash compensation eligible for forgiveness for each individual employee cannot exceed an annual salary of $100,000, as prorated for the Covered Period; that is, it cannot exceed $15,385.

All guidance on the Loan Forgiveness Application can be found here. While we are expecting more guidance from the SBA, we advise our clients to keep careful and detailed records and documentation throughout this process to maximize forgiveness.

WVC Calculator

William Vaughan Company is working diligently to update our Forgiveness Calculator to meet the latest SBA guidance. We will be sending you the latest version as soon as possible. Keep an eye out for our email. If you do not already receive our timely communications, please subscribe to WVC Insights here.

Categories: Other Resources

IRS Denies Tax Deductions for Expenses Related to Payroll Protection Program Loan Forgiveness

May 11, 2020

What happened?
On April 30, 2020, the IRS released Notice 2020-32 (the Notice) answering a major tax question involving the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). It ruled that any deductible expenses that result in forgiveness of a PPP loan will not be deductible in computing the taxpayer’s income. This conclusion contradicts the language in the CARES Act (the Act) under Section 1106(i) which states the cancellation of indebtedness of a PPP loan, under the provisions of Section 1106(b), “shall be excluded from gross income” in computing the taxpayer’s taxable income.

The IRS points out in the Notice that while the Act provides that PPP loan forgiveness is not taxable income, no provisions of the Act address the ability to deduct eligible expenses paid from such loan proceeds.

What’s Next?
Stay tuned! It is unlikely the end of this controversy. First, it is possible a taxpayer may decide to challenge this position in court. Whether they would or would not prevail is open to question, and the other big problem is being able to afford the litigation. The more likely scenario is that Congress would reverse the notice by simply enacting an amendment in the next Coronavirus bill (if there is one) to make clear expenses used to justify PPP loan forgiveness are deductible, regardless of any provision by the IRS.

Visit the WVC COVID-19 Resource Center for more insights by clicking here.

Categories: Other Resources, Tax Compliance, Tax Planning

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