New Developments – February 2021
Governor Newsom signed two bills on February 23, that will provide cash grants to qualified small businesses impacted by COVID-19 and cash (stimulus) payments to lower-income families. The Legislature is still negotiating a PPP/EIDL conformity bill that would allow businesses to deduct expenses paid with these loans/grants. It is hoped that this bill will be passed by the end of this week.
President Biden February 22, announced a series of changes to the Paycheck Protection Program designed to make the program more accessible to underserved borrowers. The changes:
- Starting Wednesday, February 24, for a two week period only, businesses with fewer than 20 employees can apply for loans
- The way loans are calculated will be revised so businesses without employees get more relief. Details to be announced later.
- Set aside $1 billion in PPP loan funds for businesses without employees in low- and moderate-income areas.
- The elimination of an exclusion that prevents business owners with non-fraud felony convictions from accessing the program.
- The elimination of an exclusion that prevents business owners who are delinquent on federal students loans from accessing the program.
- Non-citizen small-business owners who are lawful U.S. residents will be able to apply for loans using individual taxpayer identification numbers.
- The SBA reported Monday that it approved more than 1.9 million PPP loans for a total of $40 billion from Jan. 11 through Feb. 21. The application window for the current, $284 billion iteration of PPP is scheduled to close March 31.
- FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Increases Lending to Small Businesses in Need, Announces Changes to PPP to Further Promote Equitable Access to Relief
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By Nick Sabbatini, CPA, Audit Manager
By now, we are all aware of the Coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having on our lives, including the impact on businesses and the overall economy. Companies are working remotely, where possible. Disruptions to vendor and customer bases, market value declines and day-to-day changes in the global economy are also creating broad impacts to companies’ operations.
At this point, the general impacts on operations for most companies are known through media coverage and changes in our daily lives, but most of us may not be fully aware of the impact on financial reporting. We have summarized a few financial statement considerations: (more…)
By Laura Mays, Director of HR & Employee Development
Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, working from home has very quickly become the new normal for a lot of us. For some, it’s convenient to skip the commute and jump right into a day’s work, for others, it may be a little uncomfortable and challenging to juggle a work-life balance. Here are a few tips to help keep you productive while working from a home office: (more…)
New Developments – 2/18/21
As required by law, all first and second Economic Impact Payments issued; eligible people can claim Recovery Rebate Credit
The IRS provided greater flexibility, due to the pandemic, to employee benefit plans offering health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) or dependent care assistance programs. Under the COVID-related Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, these plans now have additional discretion in 2021 and 2022 to adjust their programs to help employees better meet the unanticipated consequences of the public health emergency.
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Categories: Uncategorized
New Developments – 2/26/21
IRS officials issued an alert concerning amended returns and claims for the Domestic Production Activities Deduction (DPAD). This provision of tax law was repealed as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for taxable years after December 31, 2017. In the wake of the repeal, the IRS has received a wave of questionable amended returns and claims for tax benefits in the billions of dollars.
FHFA announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are extending the moratoriums on single-family foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) evictions until June 30, 2021
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