More than 43 million people have filed for unemployment benefits since the start of the pandemic. That’s 1 in 4 US workers.
American billionaires got $434 billion richer during the pandemic. Jeff Bezos added $34.6 billion to his wealth and Mark Zuckerberg added $25 billion.
PPP Loan News:
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said employees who don’t go back to work stand to lose their unemployment benefits under the Paycheck Protection Program, which helps businesses cover employee salaries.
PPP Loan Update:
As of May 19th, 4.2 million small businesses have received $530 billion in PPP loans.
PPP Loan News:
Restaurants want an extension to the amount of time they could spend the loans granted through the Paycheck Protection Program — from eight weeks to 24 weeks. Under the existing rule, restaurants must rehire all of their employees within eight weeks for the loans to be forgiven.
Due to $600 a week unemployment benefit provided by CARES Act, unemployed Americans are now getting an average weekly benefit of about $1,000. Unemployment benefit is considered taxable income and recipient will have to pay federal and state income taxes.
PPP Loan Update:
IRS states that expenses that are paid by PPP forgiven amount are not currently tax deductible. Lawmakers are working to make them tax deductible.
PPP Loan Update:
Loan forgiveness application along with instructions is now available.
Click here for PPP forgiveness application.
Stimulus Proposal:
If the latest stimulus proposal by Democrats passes, taxpayers could see unlimited State and Local Taxes deductions for the 2020 and 2021 tax years.
PPP Loan Update:
SBA is extending the repayment date to May 18, 2020, to give borrowers an opportunity to review and consider borrowers’ required good-faith certification concerning the necessity of their loan request. Borrowers do not need to apply for this extension. This extension will be promptly implemented through a revision to the SBA’s interim final rule providing the safe harbor.
PPP Loan Update:
Any borrower that, together with its affiliates, received PPP loans with an original principal amount of less than $2 million will be deemed to have made the required certification concerning the necessity of the loan request in good faith.
SBA has determined that this safe harbor is appropriate because borrowers with loans below this threshold are generally less likely to have had access to adequate sources of liquidity in the current economic environment than borrowers that obtained larger loans.
In addition, given the large volume of PPP loans, this approach will enable SBA to conserve its finite audit resources and focus its reviews on larger loans, where the compliance effort may yield higher returns
PPP Loan Update:
Remember that the forgiveness of the PPP loan is not automatic; the borrower must apply to the lender for forgiveness and provide supporting documentation.
2020 Texas Franchise report and payment due date extend to July 15 from May 15.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering letting workers take Social Security benefits early in exchange for lower payments later.
Democrats propose a second round of direct payments of $1,200 per person and an extension of $600/w unemployment through Jan ’21
The IRS has set a noon deadline on Wednesday, May 13, for eligible recipients of stimulus money to provide bank account information online to get direct deposit.
PPP Loan FAQ:
If I laid off workers, do I need to rehire the same employees to meet the payroll requirement?
No. Your PPP lender will not check to see if you hired the same employee, but simply that your payroll amount is the same or greater than the average upon which the loan amount was based.
PPP Loan Update:
SBA reminded borrowers to review carefully the required certification on the Borrower Application Form that “current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.” SBA guidance and regulations provide that any borrower who applied for a PPP loan prior to April 24, 2020 and repays the loan in full will be deemed by SBA to have made the required certification in good faith.
SBA is extending the repayment date to May 14, 2020. SBA intends to provide additional guidance on how it will review the certification prior to May 14, 2020.