Jun 29, 2020
The SBA made it very easy for practice owners to receive an EIDL loan of up to $150k with a fixed 3.75% interest rate over a 30-year term. And a lot of practice owners decided to accept this EIDL loan. As we posted last month at:...
Jun 29, 2020
If your practice had a 401k/Profit Sharing Plan in place during 2019, make sure to file a Form 5500 for your practice retirement plan by July 31st. There are no taxes due with this form. Instead, the Form 5500 is an informational filing only. SEPs and SIMPLEs are...
Jun 29, 2020
The rules concerning whether retirement plan contributions and health insurance premiums paid on behalf of practice owners can be included in the PPP forgiveness calculation were revised yet again. According to the SBA on Page 4 of the information available at:...
Jun 29, 2020
According to the SBA on Page 4 of the information available at: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/PPP–IFR–Revisions-to-Loan-Forgiveness-Interim-Final-Rule-and-SBA-Loan-Review-Procedures-Interim-Final-Rule.pdf: A nonpayroll cost is eligible for...
Jun 29, 2020
Last week Laurie LaBrie presented to members of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs to get us practice owners up to speed with what business owners in Mass need to do to keep their staff safe during these challenging times. Laurie’s talk included the following very...
Jun 22, 2020
June 30th is the deadline for business owners to apply for a PPP loan if they haven’t already done so. Believe it or not, the SBA recently issued a revised PPP Loan Application form available at:...
Jun 22, 2020
In a move to make it even easier for small business owners to have 100% of their PPP loans forgiven, the SBA issued a simplified version of the PPP Loan forgiveness application as follows: Form 3508EZ:...
Jun 22, 2020
Until the most recent revision to the PPP loan forgiveness rules, there was a potential PPP pitfall for self-employed individuals who have no staff nor pay rent or utilities for office space. Having 100% of their PPP loan forgiven would have been virtually...
Jun 22, 2020
The revised rule allowing practice owners to include up to $20,833 of their compensation towards the PPP loan forgiveness calculation extends to S-Corp owners too. Previously, owner comp was capped at $15,385, which is a max salary of $100k divided by 52 weeks...
Jun 22, 2020
The SBA incorporated the revised forgiveness rules in the updated PPP Loan Forgiveness Application available at:...
Jun 22, 2020
When it comes to having the PPP Loan fully forgiven, what was keeping practice owners up at night was the requirement to re-staff to 2/15/20 levels by 6/30/20 to qualify for full forgiveness. The revised PPP Loan Forgiveness Application available at:...
Jun 15, 2020
Last week the HHS (Health and Human Services) announced there will be a Provider Relief Fund Distribution (established by the CARES Act) for Medicaid/CHIP providers. The funds granted do not have to be repaid. Payments to each provider will be at least 2% of reported...
Jun 15, 2020
One of our non-healthcare clients is GreenStreets USA Inc, a distributor of paper and cleaning products to businesses throughout New England, New York and New Jersey, has stocked up on KN95 masks and is now offering this deal to Schwartz& Schwartz clients: KN95...
Jun 15, 2020
The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA) signed into law on June 5, 2020 had some extremely beneficial changes for practice owners. One of the more significant changes reduces the minimum percentage of the PPP loan proceeds required to be spent on...
Jun 15, 2020
The deadline to file and pay your 2019 federal income taxes has been extended to 7/15/20. Same deadline applies for Q1 and Q2 estimates for your 2020 federal taxes as well as for most states. However, some states including ME, NH, NY and RI appear to have pushed...
Jun 15, 2020
A battle seems to be brewing between Congress and the IRS on whether businesses can write off expenses paid with PPP funds that are forgiven. As a general rule, “forgiveness of debt” is taxable to businesses that are solvent. Even so, Congress and the IRS both agree...
Jun 8, 2020
On Friday, President Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA) into law. Let’s start with the To Do List based on the recently revised PPP rules: PPP TO DO LIST (Updated after new rules enacted on 6/5/20): If you haven’t yet applied for the...
Jun 8, 2020
Last week brought great news for practice owners who want to best utilize their PPP money. Here are the changes made to the PPP rules by the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA) enacted into law the end of last week: Extends the 8-week Covered Period to...
Jun 8, 2020
The CARES Act included a provision allowing employers to repay up to $5,250 of their employee’s student loans as a tax-free benefit. That’s a great benefit for any staff member burdened with student loan debt. Practice owners benefit too since they can write off the...
Jun 8, 2020
Practice owners with staff, or self-employed individuals without staff, can take advantage of an interest-free loan in the form of a deferral of 2020 matching Social Security taxes into 2021 and 2022. Practice owners are required to withhold Social Security taxes from...
Jun 8, 2020
According to the DOL at: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-employer-paid-leave: The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA or Act) requires certain employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for...
Jun 1, 2020
Last week brought great news for practice owners who haven’t spent all their PPP money yet. On Thursday May 27th, the House of Representatives passed a bill making the following changes to the PPP forgiveness calculation: Extends the 8-week Covered Period to 24 weeks,...
Jun 1, 2020
Beware. We’ve now heard from multiple clients that fraudulent unemployment claims were filed under their name and SSN. Scary stuff. Here is the advice we’re giving to those clients: There is a Mass website to report suspected fraudulent claims:...
Jun 1, 2020
U.S. Unemployment jumped from a record low of close to 3% last fall to the current unforeseen historic highs. Add to this that many white-collar workers are forcibly getting accustomed to working from home. And think back to your Economics 101 class to the situation...
Jun 1, 2020
Looking for a company to help you with lease negotiating or with the purchase of commercial space? How about a company where the fee for their services is actually paid by your landlord or by the person you purchase the real estate from, and isn’t paid you? We...
Jun 1, 2020
With home mortgage rates at ALL TIME LOWS, now is a great time to look at refinancing your home mortgage. If you can lock in a fixed-rate mortgage for at least .5% less than your current rate, then it’s the proverbial “no-brainer”. Start by reaching out to the...
Jun 1, 2020
MA DUA has updated their site with information that answers many unemployment questions as it relates to employees refusing to come back to work and how unemployment is related to the PPP loan. Unemployment Insurance Benefits and Returning to Work: Guide for Employers...
May 26, 2020
Understanding how the number of Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) working at your office impacts the PPP loan forgiveness calculation is essential for anyone looking to max out the portion of this SBA loan that will ultimately be forgiven. According to the SBA rules...
May 26, 2020
Last week we posted information about how the PPP loan forgiveness calculation works at: https://www.schwartzaccountants.com/2020/05/ppp-forgiveness-guidelines-finally-issued. Included in that post was the following vague guidance from the SBA about how certain...
May 18, 2020
Over the weekend, the SBA finally issued guidelines on how the loan forgiveness calculation will work. The Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness Application is available at:...
May 18, 2020
The clock is ticking. Assuming your office has been closed for more than a month, what can you do now to maximize the loan forgiveness? The first step is to determine if you will be able to fully staff up by 6/30/20 to qualify for the Safe-Harbor described above. ...
May 18, 2020
Later this year, most likely during June or July, our payroll team and staff accountants will be proactively helping our clients who utilize our firm’s payroll service with the info needed to prepare the loan forgiveness application. Remember, we need the 6/30/20...
May 18, 2020
As we wrote last week, the SBA is now reaching out to small business owners that their Economic Injury Disaster Loans are now available. That article is available at: https://www.schwartzaccountants.com/2020/05/economic-injury-disaster-loans-eidl-are-now-granted/...
May 11, 2020
Maximizing the portion of your PPP loan to be forgiven should be one of your goals. Taking steps to ensure that the full amount of your loan is forgiven might be short-sighted. Too many clients seem singularly focused on doing whatever it takes for the full PPP to be...
May 11, 2020
Here is a question we got from one of our clients and the response provided by our firm’s payroll manager Greta Malstrom (payroll@schwartzaccountants.com): Q: Two of my staff members have contracted this virus while on furlough. I am trying to find out the legal...
May 11, 2020
Many of our clients got the PPP during the initial phase three or four weeks ago. Others got their PPP loans much more recently. Either way, should you consider fully repaying the PPP loan by Thursday, May 14th? One big issue that impacts your decision is whether...
May 11, 2020
According to one of the local dental lenders: We are soon expecting an update from management and SBA about forgiveness, I shall keep you posted. You can apply as early as June 30th for forgiveness. That’s when the first phase customers 8 weeks end. Rumor is that date...
May 11, 2020
By the end of last week, a few clients reached out to us to let us know that they received the SBA approval for their EIDL loan. The amount for most loans came in at $150k. We were then asked if they should take advantage of these loans. We are recommending that...
May 4, 2020
Included in the recently passed CARES Act is Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) which provides additional unemployment insurance benefits to those who normally would not qualify to receive unemployment benefits. Recipients of PUA include self-employed individuals...
Apr 23, 2020
As Part of the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund, $50 billion has been allocated to Medicare facilities and providers impacted by COVID-19. The funds are being distributed directly to Medicare providers in order to help offset reduced revenue and additional healthcare...
Apr 21, 2020
Congratulations if you received either your PPP 7(a) loan or notification from your lender that you will receive those funds soon. Now you need to figure out how to make the best use of this forgivable loan. Please remember that the primary purpose of the PPP loan is...
Apr 14, 2020
Hindsight is 2020. That being said, you don’t have the luxury of hindsight when it comes to figuring out when is the best time to apply for a PPP 7(a) loan for your practice. Let’s assume you meet these three conditions: You have temporarily closed your practice and...
Apr 10, 2020
The Families First Act took effect April 1 and does cover household employers. However, the Department of Labor has the discretion to exempt businesses with under 50 employees if the business can demonstrate that the new requirements would jeopardize its viability....
Mar 30, 2020
We’ve received numerous calls and emails about completing the EIDL Application with the SBA. Now that I’ve spent some time looking at the forms and limited instructions, I see why. Here are line by line instructions (based on my understanding of how they should be...
Mar 29, 2020
The CARES Act passed last Friday included a few excellent incentives for small employers to retain their staff. The “Paycheck Protection Program” SBA 7(a) loan: The loan is equal to 2.5 times your average monthly payroll costs from the 12 months prior to the loan...
Mar 28, 2020
Now that the CARES Act has been passed into law, now is the time to finalize your planning for this period of time that your office is temporarily closed and also for when the office reopens later this year. • Submit the paperwork with the SBA to receive the $10k EIDL...
Mar 27, 2020
The CARES Act focuses on helping small employers with less than 500 employees keep their doors open and retain their staff. Let’s first take a look at the forgivable loan being offered. Known as SBA 7(a) loans, the rules move the processing of these loans from the...
Mar 27, 2020
The CARES Act allows people not paid as W2 employees to collect unemployment. Never eligible in the past, self-employed individuals and independent contracts can now file for unemployment benefits as long as their loss in income is connected to the current pandemic...
Mar 27, 2020
Let me start by saying that retirement accounts for working people should be used only as a last resort. That being said, the CARES act includes a provision allowing you to withdraw up to $100k from your IRA or work Retirement Plan penalty-free if you are affected by...
Mar 27, 2020
The CARES Act includes a provision suspending payments and waiving the interest on any federal student loans through September 30, 2020. Please go online with your loan servicer to make sure that they are following through on this valuable break from paying these...
