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.
Al Rogers is a seasoned healthcare executive with over 20 years of experience in consumer-driven health and benefits innovation. At ECHO, Al leads the growth and strategy for Premium Payment Manager—an automated payment solution purpose-built to help brokers, TPAs, and carriers deliver ICHRAs that feel and function like traditional group plans.
Joel Campbell leads TreviPay's financial and treasury operations, financial controls, statutory accounting, financial planning and analysis, and process improvement initiatives to optimize order-to-cash with TreviPay's fully managed B2B payments platform. He has more than two decades of domestic and international financial expertise. He joined TreviPay in 2020.
Christopher Williston is the president and CEO of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas.
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.