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.
Rachel Hudgins is Counsel in Hunton Andrews Kurth's Insurance Coverage group in the firm's Atlanta office. Rachel helps policyholders present and resolve insurance claims across the country and U.S. territories
Helena Plater-Zyberk is the co-Founder and CEO of Supportiv, the on-demand peer-to-peer mental, emotional, and social support service that serves large employers, hospital systems, and health plans including Medicare and Medicaid. The digital support service has already helped over 1.8 million unique users cope with, heal from, and problem-solve daily life struggles like loneliness, caregiving burdens, anxiety, depression, stress, and burnout. Helena is the former CEO of Simple Therapy, an AI-driven at-home physical therapy alternative, with previous leadership roles at Scholastic and Condé Nast.
Tatyana Marchuk is an associate professor in finance at BI Norwegian Business School and a research associate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, or CEPR.
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.