The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee said the Treasury Department “missed the mark” in new guidance that limits tax breaks for businesses that get their Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven.
In a joint statement Thursday, Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley and Democrat Ron Wyden said the Treasury is depriving some small businesses of much-needed economic relief by forcing them to choose between getting their PPP loans forgiven or claiming write-offs on expenses they covered with the loan money. The IRS published guidance on the issue Wednesday.
“Regrettably, Treasury has now doubled down on its position in new guidance that increases the tax burden on small businesses by accelerating their tax liability, all at a time when many businesses continue to struggle and some are again beginning to close,” Grassley and Wyden said.
The congressional reaction to the guidance puts additional pressure on the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service to allow taxpayers to claim the expense deductions. Grassley and Wyden encouraged the IRS to reverse its position.
The lawmakers said they are working to include language in year-end legislation clarifying that taxpayers qualify for expense deductions even if their loans are forgiven. That could be included in government spending legislation that Congress must pass by Dec. 11 before federal funding runs out.
Chris Moran, a tax attorney for law firm Venable LLP, said, “the IRS guidance seems to be inconsistent with congressional intent” in the CARES Act, which created PPP loans for businesses struggling from the pandemic. The law stated 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.
Wolf Ruzicka is chairman of EastBank Technologies. He has been a leader in the technology industry for more than two decades. Since joining EastBanc Technologies in 2007, originally as CEO, he has overseen the organic growth of the company taking it from 35 employees to over 150.
Lynne Doughtie is U.S. chairman and CEO of KPMG LLP. She also is a member of KPMG’s Global Board and Executive Committee. From 2011 to 2015, Lynne served as vice chair of KPMG’s Advisory business, establishing Advisory as the firm’s fastest growing business. She also oversaw the expansion of KPMG’s capabilities in innovative services and solutions, including information security, strategy, digital/mobile, and transformation. Lynne began her career in KPMG’s Audit practice in 1985 and has served in a number of national, regional, and global leadership roles, including lead partner for several of KPMG’s major clients. Lynne is a governing board member for the Center for Audit Quality and a member of The Committee of 200. She also serves as a board member for NAF, the Partnership for New York City, and LUNGevity.
Alexandre Bilger is president and chief executive officer at Sinequa. With over eighteen years of experience as a top executive within enterprise software, Alexandre has a proven ability to build and lead high performing organizations. In addition of being a thought leader, he is passionate about cutting edge technologies i.e. artificial intelligence, machine learning, cognitive computing and NLP. Prior being appointed CEO of Sinequa, Alexandre co-founded and was chief technology officer at E-Front, a data-processing software vendor specializing in the financial industries. He started his career as a lead architect at NAT System, a leading client server development tools vendor.
Excluding the forgiven loan from tax “is essentially meaningless if the expenses funded by the loan are nondeductible,” Moran said.
Still, many taxpayers aren’t expecting to get permission to claim the deductions, from the IRS or Congress, in the short term.
“I think most of them are, at least for now, resigned” to not getting the write-offs, Joe Kristan, a partner at the accounting firm Eide Bailly LLP in Des Moines, Iowa. “They’d certainly like to be allowed by Congress to step in and allow their deductions, but they’re not counting on it.”