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.
Katie Badeusz is a senior marketer at EPAY Systems, which provides SaaS-based human capital management technology and services designed to help medium to large businesses manage their workforce.
Sanjeev Kriplani has more than 20 years of experience in SMB financial software and payments solutions, leading teams in marketing, product management, and general management roles. Prior to Bill.com, Sanjeev led Global Digital Marketing for PayPal, where he managed teams in the Americas, Europe and Asia while materially increasing marketing efficiency and effectiveness. Before PayPal, he was the founder and CEO of Inzap, which he ultimately sold. Inzap provided a web-based accounts receivable lending and digital marketing platform linking small businesses and financial institutions. Prior to Inzap, Sanjeev held several positions at Intuit, starting as one of the first product managers of QuickBooks before he led the development and launch of several new SMB financial products for the company.
Colis is the CEO of Ovid Corp., an online life insurance exchange based in San Francisco. Colis co-founded Ovid while pursuing his MBA at Stanford and previously held various positions at FCB Global. Ovid allows consumers to sell their life insurance through an auction to institutional investors.
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.”