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.
Diana Cabrices is the founder of Diana Cabrices Consulting and acting chief evangelist at Trust & Will.
She partners with financial services and technology firms to scale advisor engagement and growth. She is also a frequent industry speaker and contributor.
Rebekah Olson, CPA, is CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs.
Gregg O'Connor is a vice president at Stout. He has experience providing domestic and cross-border tax due diligence and tax structuring services to both private equity and strategic clients. He has extensive experience across a broad range of industries, including technology, media & telecommunications, healthcare, business & professional services, industrial, and consumer products. He advises private equity firms as well as public and private companies throughout the M&A transaction lifecycle. Prior to joining Stout, he was a manager in PriceWaterhouseCoopers' M&A Tax group. He also worked at KPMG in the M&A Tax group and Grant Thornton on the International Tax team.
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.