Small businesses that manage to get their Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven may find themselves losing valuable tax breaks, according to new guidance from the Internal Revenue Service.
Companies that qualify for loan forgiveness under legislation Congress approved won’t be able to deduct the wages or other businesses expenses they paid for using the loan, according to an IRS notice published Thursday.
“This treatment prevents a double tax benefit,” the agency said in the notice. “This conclusion is consistent with prior guidance of the IRS.”
The guidance clarifies a point of confusion in the $670 billion small business loan program to help businesses struggling as the coronavirus has brought the economy to a standstill. The law states that the forgiven loan won’t be taxed, but didn’t specify whether companies could still write off the expenses they covered with that money.
Tim Laehn is a director at Denim, a mobile and social media advertising automation platform for financial services companies.
Anthony Pumphrey, CFA, ASA, is vice president of Valuation Research Corporation. He has over 10 years of experience performing business enterprise valuations, purchase price allocations, impairment analyses, and the valuation of claims within complex capital structures for public and private companies under IRC 409a, ASC 350, ASC 360, ASC 718, ASC 805, ASC 820, and ASC 852. Mr. Pumphrey has presented on financial reporting at the American Institute of CPAs' Forensic & Valuation Services Conference and has guest lectured on valuation topics at Drexel University. Mr. Pumphrey holds a bachelor of business administration (BBA) degree in finance and real estate from Temple University. He also holds the designations of chartered financial analyst (CFA) and accredited senior appraiser (ASA), issued by the CFA Institute and the American Society of Appraisers, respectively.
Paul Centopani is an editor for National Mortgage News. Prior to joining Arizent, he worked as an editor at a private equity publication and freelances as a sports writer in his spare time. Paul grew up in Connecticut, graduated from THE Binghamton University and now resides in Chicago after seven years as a New Yorker.
The tax code permits companies to write off businesses expenses, such as wages, rent and transportation expenses, but generally doesn’t allow write-offs for tax-exempt income.
The ruling adds to the list of stumbling blocks facing businesses as they try to qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Small businesses have reported technical issues in trying to apply for the funds, which restarted Monday after the first round of funding ran out after just 13 days.
The program, run by the Small Business Administration, provides funds to cover eight weeks of payroll costs and the loans are forgiven if the employers keep workers on the job or quickly rehire laid-off workers.