Monthly Archives: May 2020

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois, Tips

June 2020 Chicago BACP Business Education Workshop Webinars

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Note: I’ll continue to add to this list as the City releases more dates.

Wednesday, 6/3 at 3:00 PM Webinar
Marketing Basics: What you need to know!
Presented by Donna R. Rockin, Managing Partner at Rockin Enterprises, Inc.
At this presentation, you’ll learn how to identify your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) as well as identify your target markets or ideal customers. The four cornerstones of marketing will also be reviewed and discussed: Product, Price, Promotion and Placement. Finally, learn 10 low-cost methods to promote your goods or services.
Click here to register for the Wednesday, 6/3 Webinar.

 Friday, 6/5 at 9:30 AM Webinar
COVID-19’s Impact on Employment Handbooks & Policies Going Forward
Presented by Charles Krugel, a Management Side Labor, Employment and Human Resource Attorney
An interactive discussion concerning the kinds of policies and practices employers will need to consider upon reopening.
Click here to register for the Friday, 6/5 Webinar.

Wednesday, 6/10 at 3:00 PM Webinar
Plan for A Successful Business
Presented by Score Chicago
A great Business Plan leads to success.  A thoughtful and well-executed business plan is the first step for every potential entrepreneur. Good planning increases the odds of success. This workshop covers the essential elements of business plan development. Topics include: setting goals and objectives, preparing marketing and financial plans and defining action steps to attain appropriate goals. With a good plan, build your road map to success.
•       Establish the information needed for a detailed business plan.
•       Create the Environment of the Company
•       Establish Pro Forma P&L Statements
•       Identify the Risks
•       Develop the Expected Cash Flow
•       Prioritize Your Action Steps
Click here to register for the Wednesday, 6/10 Webinar.

Friday, 6/12 at 9:30 AM Webinar
Introduction to Intellectual Property, Part I
Presented by Lema Khorshid, Fuksa Khorshid LLC
An introductory seminar for the savvy entrepreneur who wants to learn to identify the basic forms of intellectual property and formulate an effective intellectual property strategy for his/her business.
Click here to register for the Friday, 6/12 Webinar.

Tuesday, 6/16 at 2:00 pm Webinar
Labor Standards Records Requirements and Other Employer Obligations
Presented by Office of Labor Standards
Review of employer obligations including record requirements and notice/ posting.
Click here to register for the Tuesday, 6/16 Webinar.

Wednesday, 6/17 at 3:00 PM Webinar
Accounting in Quickbooks
Presented by Trak Patel, ARCC Consulting
Learn how to keep your financial recordkeeping books using QuickBooks. We will identify the differences between QuickBooks Online vs. QuickBooks Desktop and list the important features and benefits.
Click here to register for the Wednesday, 6/17 Webinar.

Wednesday, 6/17 at 2:00 PM & Thursday 6/18 at 10:00 AM Webinars
Outdoor Dining during Phase Three
Presented by the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP), the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
Join this webinar for an overview of all outdoor dining options during Phase Three of Chicago’s Reopening Plan. This webinar will cover rules and guidelines for outdoor dining, including how to obtain a sidewalk café permit or the new Expanded Outdoor Dining Permit.
Click here to register for the Wednesday, 6/17 2:00 pm webinar.
Click here to register for the Thursday, 6/18 10:00 am webinar. 

Thursday, 6/18 at 2:00 pm Webinar
Anti-Retaliation Ordinance
Presented by Office of Labor Standards
Overview of the new Anti-Retaliation Ordinance, designed to protect workers from retaliation during COVID-19.
Click here to register for the 6/18 Webinar.

Friday, 6/19 at 9:30 AM Webinar
How to Open a Concession at O’Hare and Midway International Airports
Presented by the Chicago Department of Aviation – Concessions Department and Unison Retail Management
Are you interested in operating a restaurant or shop at O’Hare or Midway International Airport, but don’t know where to begin? Come and learn about the Request for Proposals (RFP) process and how to operate a business at the airport.  This workshop will also provide an overview of the Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) program.
Click here to register for the Friday, 6/19 Webinar.

Monday, June 22 at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM Webinars
Indoor Dining: Options for Restaurants and Bars
Presented by the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection
The City of Chicago has announced that bars and restaurants can begin indoor service under limited capacity and strict guidelines on Friday, June 26. Join this webinar for an overview of the guidelines for bars and restaurants to reopen indoors.
Click here to register for the 6/22, 10:00 AM Webinar
Click here to register for the 6/22, 1:00 PM Webinar

Phase Four Webinars
While the phase four start date has not been announced, the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection will be holding webinars to help all industries prepare for the phase four guidelines.
Tuesday, June 23 at 9:00 AM: Hotels – click here to register
Tuesday, June 23 at 10:00 AM: Personal Services – click here to register
Tuesday, June 23 at 11:00 AM: Health and Fitness – click here to register
Wednesday, June 24 at 9:00 AM: Arts/Performance Venues and Museums – click here to register
Wednesday, June 24 at 10:00 AM: Retail – click here to register
Wednesday, June 24 at 11:00 AM: Restaurants and Bars – click here to register

Wednesday, 6/24 at 3:00 PM Webinar
The Power Is In Your Pivot: Series 2
Presented by ChiBizHub
This webinar, is the second in a series that will convene a panel of business owners and ChiBizHub resource providers to share insight on how they’ve pivoted their businesses during COVID-19. The webinar will provide an overview and tips on how these businesses have remained relevant, gained a new customer base and skills amidst the pandemic to keep their businesses alive.
Click here to register for the Wednesday, 6/24 Webinar.

Thursday,  6/25 at 10:00 AM Webinar
COVID-19 Relief for Small Businesses
Presented by: An SBA Illinois District Representative
Join us for an update on the Small Business Administration’s programs to assist small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, the Paycheck Protection Program, and more. We’ll discuss eligibility requirements, applying for forgiveness, and other sources of funding. Bring your questions!
Click here to register for the Thursday, 6/25 Webinar.

Friday, 6/26 at 9:30 AM Webinar
Tips & Tricks for Networking in a Pandemic World
Presented by Anna Maria Viti-Welch, President of the Viti Companies
Anna Maria Viti-Welch, President of The Viti Companies, will discuss strategies for building business through networking in unusual global circumstances – business might be on pause, but networking is still going strong. Bring your questions!
Click here to register for the Friday, 6/26 Webinar.

Email BACPoutreach@cityofchicago.org with any webinar questions.

And please — also take a look at the additional industry-specific webinar series for the re-opening framework for Chicago during Phase 3, also available on the BACP Business Re-Opening Portal —

To view Reopening Chicago: Retail Service, click here.
To view Reopening Chicago: Food Service, click here.
To view Reopening Chicago: Health and Fitness, click here.
To view Reopening Chicago: Personal Services, click here.
To view Overview of Chicago’s Reopening Plan for Businesses (Spanish), click here.
To view Overview of Chicago’s Reopening Plan for Businesses, click here.

And get ready for the upcoming Phase 4 with Phase Four Webinars:
The Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection is holding webinars to help all industries prepare for the Phase 4 guidelines.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois, Tips

Chicago Reopening Framework Webinars

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UPDATE: the webinar dates have passed, but the City of Chicago has made most of the recordings available for viewing, and on the BACP Business Re-Opening Portal.

To view Reopening Chicago: Retail Service, click here.
To view Reopening Chicago: Food Service, click here.
To view Reopening Chicago: Health and Fitness, click here.
To view Reopening Chicago: Personal Services, click here.
To view Overview of Chicago’s Reopening Plan for Businesses (Spanish), click here.
To view Overview of Chicago’s Reopening Plan for Businesses, click here.

——————-

BACP will be holding a series of webinars to prepare Chicago’s businesses for reopening under Phase 3 of the Protecting Chicago framework.

Specific Industry Webinars:

Monday, 6/1 at 3:00 PM Webinar
Reopening Chicago: Personal Services
This webinar will provide an overview of the industry guidance for Personal Services such as hair/nail salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors, as they prepare to reopen in Phase Three.
Click here to register for the Monday, 6/1 Webinar.

Tuesday,  6/2 at 12:00 PM Webinar
Reopening Chicago: Health and Fitness
This webinar will provide an overview of the industry guidance for Health and Fitness Centers as they prepare to reopen in Phase Three.
Click here to register for the Tuesday, 6/2 12:00 PM Webinar.

Tuesday, 6/2 at 4:00 PM Webinar
Reopening Chicago: Food Service
This webinar will provide an overview of the industry guidance for Food Service establishments, such as restaurants and coffee shops as they prepare to reopen for outdoor dining in Phase Three.
Click here to register for the Tuesday, 6/2 4:00 PM Webinar.

Wednesday, 6/3 at 12:00 PM Webinar
Reopening Chicago: Retail
This webinar will provide an overview of the industry guidance for Retail Stores as they prepare to reopen in Phase Three.
Click here to register for the Wednesday, 6/3 Webinar. 

Thursday, 6/ 4 at 4:00 PM Webinar
Reopening Chicago: Commercial Buildings
This webinar will provide an overview of the industry guidance for Commercial Buildings as they prepare to reopen in Phase Three.
Click here to register for the Thursday, 6/4 Webinar.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

IRS

E-Filing Finally On The Way For 1040-X Amended Returns

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This post:
1) has nothing to do with the PPP!
2) is all good news!

The Journal of Accountancy and many other news outlets reported the happy news from the IRS today that later this summer, the 1040-X (Amended Individual Income Tax Return) will be available for e-filing.

From the IRS:

Making the 1040-X an electronically filed form has been a goal of the IRS for a number of years. It’s also been an ongoing request from the nation’s tax professional community. Currently, taxpayers must mail a completed Form 1040-X to the IRS for processing. The new electronic option allows the IRS to receive amended returns faster while minimizing errors normally associated with manually completing the form. About 3 million Forms 1040-X are filed by taxpayers each year.

The new electronic filing option will provide the IRS with more complete and accurate data in an easily readable format to enable customer service representatives to answer taxpayers’ questions. Taxpayers can still use the “Where’s My Amended Return?” online tool to check the status of their electronically-filed 1040-X.

When the electronic filing option becomes available, only tax year 2019 Forms 1040 and 1040-SR returns will be able to be amended electronically. Taxpayers will still have the option to submit a paper version of the Form 1040-X.

“This new process is a major milestone for the IRS, and it follows hard work by people across the agency,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “E-filing has been one of the great success stories of the IRS, and more than 90 percent of taxpayers use it routinely. But the big hurdle that’s been remaining for years is to convert amended returns into this electronic process. Our teams have worked diligently to overcome the unique challenges related to the 1040-X, and we look forward to offering this new service this summer.”

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois

Senator Durbin To Speak About COVID-19’S Impact On Illinois – Wed, June 3

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COVID-19’s Impact on Illinois: A Conversation with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin
Wed, Jun 3, 2020 2:45 PM – 3:30 PM CDT
Registration is FREE but capacity is limited.
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6964066264482415884

Illinois is facing immense challenges as a result of COVID-19, including rising unemployment, health care issues and significant impacts on small businesses. Join U.S. Senator Dick Durbin as he explores the effect of the pandemic on our state, as well as his insights on international vaccine efforts, the need for increased testing and what Congress should do next in response to the crisis.

Featured Speaker: U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, State of Illinois
Moderator: Greg Hinz, Political Reporter, Crain’s Chicago Business

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Tips

To Clarify: Yes, You Can Spend More Than 75% of PPP Funds On Payroll

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UPDATE: THIS POST IS ALMOST A YEAR OLD AND NO LONGER IS USEFUL INFORMATION.

(Way too many folks are landing on this page and I want to dissuade them from using this as a reference — there have been so many changes to the PPP since this was published. Make sure you restrict any internet searches to posts made in the past month!)

I’m getting this question a lot:

I have someone telling me that they can use all 100% of their PPP for payroll instead of the 75/25 rule of payroll/rent+utilities. Is that correct?

Yes, it is — and yes, you absolutely want to include all of your payroll costs in the forgiveness application calculations!

Some folks are in the situation whereby they have more payroll costs than 75% of the loan will cover. In fact, in some cases, the entire PPP loan — 100% — will be used on payroll costs. And that’s a good thing when it comes to requesting forgiveness, for reasons I’ll explain.

In my firm, for example, I’m paying staff tax-season rates right now, and I have a new employee as of January 2020… but my loan total was calculated based on the average of all of 2019 — so it’s much lower than my actual current payroll costs. I’ll be using 100% of my PPP funds for payroll (and then some). By including all my payroll costs in the forgiveness application and projection calculations, I don’t have to worry about going to the effort of submitting rent/mortgage interest and utilities costs (which are very low for me anyway, as my staff is entirely work-from-home).

But it’s not just a matter of having low overhead and not wanting to spend administrative effort to gather mortgage interest and utilities cost substantiation… it’s more importantly because for forgiveness, we’re all aiming to hit three important tests: the FTE reduction, wage/salary reduction, and 75% of forgiveness hurdles. These are all based on payroll measurements, so it’s best when plugging in your forecasting calculations to first include all the payroll you can… and then just make up the difference with non-payroll costs. The total forgiveness cannot exceed the loan total, so there is no harm in taking this approach.

It is, after all, a Paycheck Protection Program.

Reminder: owners themselves (be they sole proprietors, partners, or shareholder-employees) cannot have more than 8/52 of their 2019 compensation forgiven for PPP purposes, which does mean that for a business owner with no employees, they will not be able to use 100% of the funds for payroll. But for everyone else, yes!

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Site News, Tips

How To Forecast PPP Forgiveness Using The AICPA Spreadsheet Calculator – FREE Zoom Recording

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I’ve been doing regular 40-minute free zoom sessions for my clients for a couple months now, mostly centering on questions concerning PPP & EIDL applications and forgiveness.

Today I did a run-through of how to use the AICPA’s great spreadsheet calculator tool to forecast forgiveness for a single S-Corp shareholder with a staff of both hourly and salaried employees. I’ve received a lot of feedback about how helpful it was, so I decided to make the mp4 download available for free on my blog in the hopes that it will assist other CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, and small business owners. The spreadsheet with sample data that I used in the session is available below. (More on the AICPA tool here.)

S-CORP w EEs ppp-forgiveness-calculatorDownload

A few important points:

1) I have taken six webinars on the new PPP forgiveness rules in the past week — and gotten six different interpretations. They vary widely, on topics such as the EIDL advance subtraction, incurred and-vs-or paid, what an acceptable utility is… as well as some flat-out mistakes (such as including owner compensation in FTE/wage reduction calculations — this is simply not okay). There was even one where the person doing the presenting and the person answering questions in chat were conflicting with each other. So keep in mind that just because someone (including me) sounds confident — this does not mean they are right. They’re just AN expert… there is currently no such thing as THE expert. Just do your best with the information you have — the smartest approach to take is to do whatever you can to make it easy for your banker to just glance at your substantiation and decide it’s sufficient to support your calculations, whatever interpretation you choose.

2) This tool is a DRAFT. For one, there are some small errors in it that I’ve reported to the AICPA; but more importantly — we know this guidance is going to change. In fact, there is pending relief legislation in Congress (to extend the forgiveness period or remove the 75% rule) that may render most of what we’re doing now useless (including the fact that we don’t yet know when we’ll be submitting anything for forgiveness).

However: some folks are more than half-way through their forgiveness period and we have to plan based on the law as it stands now… and hitting the FTE reduction, salary/wage reduction, and 75% of payroll tests is hard. So as a tool for forecasting, as well as establishing your goals and gauging your progress, I encourage you to fill this spreadsheet out to the best of your ability, so you aren’t surprised by a large loan balance at the end of this.

3) Remember, you will only fill out the sections on the application that are highlighted in BLUE. The spreadsheet bases all calculations on that data. Grey fields are calculated, and green are ones that pull from data you entered elsewhere. The instructions aren’t entirely complete, and there are a couple small errors, but it’s still the best tool I’ve found out there (including my own). The spreadsheet formula cells are locked, but you can resize any areas you need to in order to view the full content. Lastly, it seems maybe folks with Macs or using cloud spreadsheet software may have challenges getting their systems to recognize it’s not read-only.

Best of luck, and I’ll try to post other examples for other entity types as time allows.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Tips

Long-Awaited SBA Rules For Forgiveness Application

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The Small Business Administration gets some kind of perverse joy out of releasing guidance on Friday nights. Last week, it was the new PPP loan application, and this week, it’s the guidance to accompany it.

The Journal of Accountancy did a nice job summarizing each of the new documents on Monday — I definitely recommend reading their brief write-up under the heading “Provisions of note in 2 new interim rules”.

I spent some quality time myself on Sunday going through all 45 pages — it’s actually two sets of guidance, the interim final rule to outline the requirements for loan forgiveness, and the one for loan review procedures and related borrower and lender responsibilities.

Here are my takeaways, with page numbers referenced in each document:

Paycheck Protection Program – Requirements – Loan Forgiveness

  • Accrued interest will be forgiven with the rest of forgiveness (no guidance on interest calculation for partial forgiveness) (page 7)
  • Still no confirmation one way or the other re: EIDL advance subtraction (page 8) — is this only for EIDL advances that meet the characteristics outlined in the CARES Act, or all EIDL grants?
  • Paid OR incurred (not paid AND incurred) — which means unpaid costs from prior periods are in fact eligible (page 9)
  • Supplements to salary/wages are included:
    e.g., bonuses, hazard pay, and additional wages paid to replace tips (except to owners in excess of 2019 income) (page 11)
  • Payroll to furloughed employees is included (page 11)
  • Owners are limited to 8/52 x 2019 compensation (shareholder-employees can also include health insurance and retirement employer contributions, but not Schedule C sole proprietors or partnership partners)
  • Otherwise not limited to 8/52 of costs (except owner payrolls) (page 12-13 utility example)
  • Prepayments are allowed (only mortgage interest specifically excluded) (page 13)
  • FTE reduction exception clarified somewhat (page 13-15)
  • Salary/wage reduction (page 19) appears to take hours-worked into consideration for salaried employees — but heads-up: that is not reflected in the AICPA workbook
  • Similarly, loan forgiveness will not be reduced for exemptions (page 22), but only an FTE solution is offered; I suspect this means that for the wage reduction spreadsheet, only employees working during the 8-week forgiveness period should be included. (I’ll be asking AICPA to clarify this in the instructions.)

    And although not new, I felt they drove home the point that we should make sure to maintain written records of any employees who voluntarily resigned. This will be part of the documentation when substantiating the forgiveness application.

Paycheck Protection Program – SBA Loan Review Procedures and Related Borrower and Lender Responsibilities

  • There will be an opportunity to respond to SBA questions regarding loan forgiveness substantiation before a decision is made (page 9)
  • There will be an appeal process if eligibility is denied by SBA (page 10)
  • The lender will have to review but not audit (independently verify) all documentation and calculations supplied by the borrower, before submitting to SBA
  • The lender may rely on third-party payroll processor records (not required to review source data unless these records are not available) (page 11)
  • Lenders may rely on borrower representations, but must confirm calculations and substantiation (page 12)
  • No date yet by which forgiveness application is due – but bank then has 60 days to submit to SBA and SBA has 90 days to respond (page 12)
    …so it could easily be well over 5 months before you find out whether you got forgiveness.

In summary, I’d say some of these were already clear from the forgiveness application but they finally put it in writing; and some actually confirmed something I could only guess at before; but a few examples actually drove home some important new — or previously vague — points; others were just confirmation that we still don’t know some things, such as the all-important EIDL question.

For a more in-depth walk through the PPP loan forgiveness application, please see Tony Nitti’s excellent line-by-line deep dive — and the AICPA’s spreadsheet calculator. Or if you’re a sole proprietor/ independent contractor/ gig worker who files a Schedule C, then skip the in-depth stuff and follow along with Brian Thompson’s short article instead.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

Education, IRS, Tips

IRS Switching to Prepaid Debit Cards For Stimulus Payments

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UPDATE 6/7/2020 — per the IRS: there are two recent changes from MetaBank, the issuing company for the EIP Card program. Individuals who have lost or destroyed their EIP Card may request a free replacement through MetaBank Customer Service. The standard fee of $7.50 will be waived for the first reissuance of any EIP Card. The company has also increased the limit on ACH transfers to a bank account from $1,000 to $2,500 per transaction.  Additional information is available at EIPcard.com and the IRS FAQs, starting at Question 45.

——————————————

HEADS-UP — if you have not already received your stimulus check, it may be arriving in the form of a prepaid debit card.

The IRS sent a reminder to taxpayers this week confirming that some Economic Impact Payments are being sent via prepaid debit card instead of paper check. The debit cards arrive in a plain envelope from “Money Network Cardholder Services.” Nearly 4 million people are being sent their Economic Impact Payment by prepaid debit card.

CPA Practice Advisor reports, “IRS began distributing economic stimulus payments in April via direct deposit to taxpayers who had up-to-date information on file. It followed up with payments by paper check starting in mid-May. However, the agency estimated it might take as long as four to five months to mail out the millions of remaining checks. Now it says that sending four million prepaid debit cards will cut down on the time.”

Per the Treasury Department’s press release:

EIP Card recipients can make purchases, get cash from in-network ATMs, and transfer funds to their personal bank account without incurring any fees. They can also check their card balance online, by mobile app, or by phone without incurring fees. The EIP Card can be used online, at ATMs, or at any retail location where Visa is accepted.

This free, prepaid card also provides consumer protections available to traditional bank account owners, including protections against fraud, loss, and other errors. 

Hopefully this will not end up like the fiasco whereby folks have been throwing out their prepaid Key Bank cards loaded with unemployment funds.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

Education, Site News, Tips

PPP Forgiveness Application Calculator Spreadsheet

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UPDATE: AICPA has partnered with a Fintech lender to create an online version of their forgiveness tool — www.PPPForgivenessTool.com — available free of charge. More on the project here. The spreadsheet below still works, and I personally prefer it, but the online tool is easier to use if you don’t already have background into how the PPP rules work.

My husband and I have collectively spent nearly 18 hours preparing, updating, editing and testing our PPP Forgiveness spreadsheet, as well as comparing it with colleagues’ versions… only to be stymied at every last moment — each time we were ready to “go live” with it, some new guidance, analysis or interpretation was released that had us going back to the drawing board. At this point I’m joking with my clients that it’s a mythical creation.

And it might have to stay that way — the AICPA has done such an incredible job with their version that I’m not sure we can do any better.

It’s not pretty, and it’s a bit clunky, and there’s no budget tool or FTE calculator included — but the logic is sound and it does a lot of the calculations for you. And they’ve made it public! Just scroll down to where it says “PPP loan forgiveness calculator“.

CPA Practice Advisor notes, “As the AICPA has emphasized throughout this process, questions surrounding guidance make critical decisions unnecessarily challenging and complex for PPP loan recipients and those who are considering applying for the program.” They created a loan forgiveness calculator last week that reflected both the latest SBA guidance and additional AICPA recommendations, and presented it to Treasury. Unfortunately that was not the version that became the final application (released this past Friday night).

“The AICPA loan forgiveness calculator provided more support and details than the SBA loan forgiveness application, and we will continue to encourage Treasury and SBA to leverage our recommendations,” said their VP of Firm Services.

So they reconciled their previous version with the forgiveness application, released it to the public — and you should use it.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

Education, Site News, Tips

PPP Loan Forgiveness Application Update & Resources

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As I reported Friday evening, the SBA has released their PPP loan forgiveness application — and it’s not all the good news we had hoped for, unfortunately.

Because some politicians involved with the drafting of the forgiveness rules had been saying on twitter that a longer time-frame and more flexibility on how the funds can be spent were key to making the PPP more effective, we had been hoping for an application reflecting these characteristics — but it did not turn out that way. The entire thing at this point feels like “too little, too late”.

What Were Hoping For But Did Not Get (The Bad News)

  • An extension to the 56-day (8-week) forgiveness period (at least for restaurants, bars, cafes and other fully- or partially-closed businesses)
  • Simplified rules for FTE and salary/wage reduction calculations
  • EIDL advance funds used for non-PPP purposes exempt from forgiveness subtraction (per analysis by many colleagues, this is still the case; but on the application it is not apparent, and many banks will not understand the subtle distinctions)

What We Did Get (The Good News)

  • Unpaid rent and utilities from a period prior to forgiveness can be paid during the forgiveness period
  • Rent and utility payments made shortly after the forgiveness period can also be included, if for services during the 8-week timeframe
  • Forgiveness period — as it relates to payroll costs (including employer portion of health insurance and retirement) — can be delayed to coincide with the first pay period after disbursement
  • If an employee was fired, quit, or voluntarily had their hours reduced due to non-pandemic reasons, their FTE and salary/wages will not count against the employer
  • Safe harbor for salary/wage reduction (however, additional complicated calculations are required)
  • Safe harbor for FTE reduction (however, additional complicated calculations are required)
  • Clarification on various calculations (e.g., FTEs, forgiveness phase-out, and forgiveness reductions)

There is a lot more to unpack, of course, but those are some highlights. I recommend the following excellent articles for step-by-step explanations and analysis (no, I do not have any affiliation with Forbes — I just think they are writing some of the best material on the topic these days). Also, many thanks to colleague Andrea Carr CPA for preparing a Fillable Version of the SBA PDF Forgiveness Application.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.