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.
Carlos Marmolejo is CEO of Finsus.
Mark McDonald is president of Visual Lease and CoStar Real Estate Manager (formerly Virtual Premise), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CoStar Group. McDonald joined Virtual Premise as a member of the professional services team during the company's start-up phase. He also served as the leader of the field sales team during a multi-year period of hyper-growth, worked to establish implementation partnerships with the Big Four, and has guided numerous Fortune 500 companies through the digital transformation of their real estate portfolios and lease accounting compliance. He currently leads CoStar Real Estate Manager's overall strategy development and operations.
Csaba Farkas joined TMF Group in March 2021 as the head of accounting and tax consultancy services. He is an ACCA-qualified professional with several years of experience at professional services organizations in Budapest and London. He has a strong technical accounting background and, having worked as an interim financial controller in multiple engagements, has significant experience in implementing new enterprise resource planning systems in finance functions and in optimizing finance processes.
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.