After numerous trade organizations challenged the legality of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Necessity Questionnaires, the SBA announced this month that it is dropping the requirement for loan necessity review for PPP loans of $2 million or larger. The questionnaires were an additional step to collect supplemental information to evaluate borrowers’ good-faith certifications on PPP loan ... more
Timely News
PPP Update: Deductibility of Eligible Expenses on California Returns
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 80 (AB 80) on April 29, 2021 to allow certain businesses to deduct their eligible expenses that were paid with forgiven Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Prior to this new legislation, California did not allow a tax deduction of eligible expenses paid with forgiven PPP loan funds. California did not conform to the federal law that was enacted on December 27, 2020 as part of the ... more
New IRS Guidance: Non-Deductibility of Expenses Paid with PPP Loans
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides loan funds to small businesses in order to help them pay eligible expenses (payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent, and utilities). These covered loans are to be fully forgiven and not to be treated as income to the loan recipients as long as the loans are used to pay eligible expenses. While it was clear that a ... more
Big CPA Firm or Local Firm: Which Career Move is Best For You?
After years of late nights, hitting the books to earn your degree while doling out an unfathomable amount of money to pay for that education, you are finally ready for your first career position in accounting. Now what? Perhaps you’ve already passed a couple of parts of your CPA exam and are on your way to being licensed. Or maybe not. Instead, perhaps you prepared a few tax returns or participated in auditing a company while apprenticing at an ... more
Webinar Round-Up: Risk Identification Matrix Unveiled
S. Scott Seamands, partner at Lindquist von Husen & Joyce, LLP, and Julie Goldfine, COO/CFO at Mutual Housing California, revealed a risk identification matrix currently under development by our firm that serves as an information network for financial learning in the nonprofit affordable housing industry. After years of interviews and discussions with CFOs about their approach to risk, we are creating this comprehensive tool designed to help ... more
SBA Revises Forms for PPP Loan Forgiveness, Including New EZ Form
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has issued a revised Form 3508, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Forgiveness Application. The SBA also released a streamlined PPP Loan Forgiveness Application, Form 3508EZ. The newly issued application forms were needed to address the changes brought upon by the PPP Flexibility Act (PPPFA) of 2020. Form 3508EZ This new three-page form reduces the documentation and calculations required to apply ... more
Webinar Round-Up: PPPFA Forgivable Loan Accounting
Partners S. Scott Seamands and Stanley Woo hosted our quarterly virtual affordable housing roundtable, along with our client Mutual Housing of California. We have hosted these quarterly roundtables since the early 1990’s but in the current environment the roundtables have become virtual meetings. This quarter we outlined the issues related to obtaining loan forgiveness and other aspects of the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). We also ... more
Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020
The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA) was signed into law on June 5, 2020, to modify certain provisions related to the forgiveness of loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). One change allows recipients of loan forgiveness under PPP to also defer a portion of 2020 payroll taxes, but there are several other modifications. The following chart summarizes the key provisions compared to the original CARES Act ... more
PPP Loan Forgiveness Application and Instructions Now Available
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has finally released the much-anticipated guidance on how borrowers can request forgiveness of their Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Borrowers will file SBA Form 3508, Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness Application. Form 3508 is an 11-page application with instructions that provide guidance on calculating the amount of loan forgiveness. The application form consists of four components: ... more
SBA Provides New Safe Harbor for PPP Loans, Extended Repayment Date
Ever since the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act introduced the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in late March 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) continues to release piecemeal guidance to the public. One major concern for the borrowers is whether they had met the requirement that the loan was necessary, as borrowers not meeting the necessity requirement could be subject to fines and criminal ... more
CARES Act Key Tax Provisions for Individuals and Businesses
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act is a $2 trillion relief package aimed at providing relief to the American economy in combating the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. While the CARES Act is not a tax relief measure, it does include provisions that center on tax relief to individuals and business owners. Following are some of the more noteworthy tax provisions ... more
Changes to Sec. 163(j) that Impacts LIHTC Partnerships under CARES Act
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) amended Section 163(j) to allow many taxpayers to deduct more business interest expense for taxable years beginning in 2019 and 2020 by increasing the limitation from 30% of Adjusted Taxable Income (ATI) to 50% of ATI. For partnerships, the increase to 50% of ATI applies to years beginning in 2020 only, and not to years beginning in 2019. The LIHTC partnership may elect to not ... more
Changes to Filing of Amended Partnership Returns Under Revenue Procedure 2020-23
On April 8, 2020, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2020-23 (Rev. Proc. 2020-23), which allows an eligible partnership to file an amended partnership return for taxable years beginning in 2018 and 2019 using Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income (Form 1065), with the “Amended Return” box checked, and issue an amended Partner’s Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc. (Schedule K-1), to each of its partners. Eligible partnerships are only ... more
Expanded Relief for Tax Filing and Payment Due Dates
The IRS has issued a series of notices (Notice 2020-17, Notice 2020-18 (superseded Notice 2020-17), Notice 2020-20, and Notice 2020-23) in an effort to provide administrative relief to those taxpayers affected by COVID-19. Collectively, these notices extend the filing and payment deadlines to July 15, 2020 for various returns and payments. The latest IRS Notice 2020-23 amplifies the earlier notices and greatly expands the July 15, 2020 ... more
Paycheck Protection Program Part II
The Senate passed a bill of nearly $480 billion on Tuesday afternoon to extend funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), provide additional funding for hospitals, and expand funding for COVID-19 testing. Some $310 billion is earmarked for the PPP, which last week had exhausted all of the program’s initial $349 billion funding in less than two weeks due to overwhelming demand. The bill now goes to the House, which is expected to vote on ... more
LvHJ’s COVID-19 Update
We hope you and your loved ones are well! It has been an unprecedented week for California. We are all learning how to adjust to our new circumstances; both professionally and personally. In the wake of Governor Newsom's Stay-at-Home order for California, we have had no choice but to further restrict our activities to stay in compliance. Our doors at both 301 Howard St and 111 Pine St will remain closed for an indefinite period and will only ... more
OMB Provides Single Audit Extension Due to COVID-19
The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released memorandum M-20-17 on March 19, Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations. This memorandum is addressed to federal awarding agencies and instructs that the federal awarding agencies are authorized to take certain actions, as they deem appropriate and to the extent ... more