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.
Ken Moss is chief technology officer of Bill. He brings more than 30 years of experience in global technology teams at a variety of companies and industries including online commerce, search and interactive entertainment. Before joining Bill, he was chief technology officer for eight years at Electronic Arts, where he led the company through a cloud-based transition and pioneered broad uses of data and AI to improve the game creator and player experience. Prior to that, he was vice president of marketplaces technology, science and data at eBay. He was also general manager, director of development, and founder of internet search at Microsoft, where he oversaw the development and engineering with key product teams working on Bing and MSN Search.
Flora Coleman heads up the global policy and government relations team at Klarna. Before that, she developed the global government relations and social impact team at international money fintech Wise. This follows a decade of senior political advisory work, including three years as a senior legislative advisor to the U.K. Government.
Chris Bennett is a skilled senior leader in risk management technology with over 14 years of direct RMIS experience in client service, sales, and product management. As the Head of Strategy for the Origami Risk core solutions division, Chris is responsible for business development and strategic alliances as well as for delivering new business solutions to insurers, MGAs, TPAs and risk pools. Chris is skilled in both the RMIS and claims administration markets and previously served as Vice President with CS STARS where he was an integral part of the firm's period of rapid growth and high customer satisfaction. For more information on Origami Risk, visit https://www.origamirisk.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.