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.
Michael Wolfson, Municipal Strategist
Phani Ilapakurty is the president of Mueller dotKonnect, which is a related entity of PKF Mueller, a CPA and business advisory firm that serves clients both domestically and internationally. MDK specializes in business process management, business process outsourcing and tax services, backed by a team of 300-plus finance, accounting & tax professionals located in Chicago, Dallas, Portland, Philadelphia, Sarasota and in Hyderabad, India. Ilapakurty is a Chartered Accountant, a Cost & Management accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner and an Enrolled Agent, with more than 20 years of consulting, finance & accounting industry experience. He is also the co-founder of Qount.io, a SaaS practice management solution to improve, automate and streamline accounting & tax practices to positively impact the bottom line. Reach him at phani.i@muellerdotkonnect.com.
Caleb Jenkins began his career at RLJ Financial Services and leads the outsourced tax planning & business accounting services team. He has been recognized as a Top Up-N-Comer ProAdvisor and Top 40 Under 40 in the accounting profession, and serves on numerous councils including the Intuit ProConnect Customer Tax Council and the ADP Accountants Advisory Board. Reach him via email at caleb@rljfinancial.com.
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.