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.
Kenneth Kelly is chairman and CEO of First Independence Bank in Detroit, Michigan, and chair of the American Bankers Association.
Axel Rebien is the CEO of Serrala, a global innovator in financial software solutions that enable organizations to optimize their financial processes. He holds the overall responsibility for the strategic direction, operations, management and performance of the company. Before he was appointed as CEO in July 2023, Rebien joined Serrala's Executive Board beginning of 2022 as CFO, driving the company's financial strategies and finance-related processes including accounting, financial planning and analysis that deliver a return in business transformation. Prior to Serrala, he held executive senior leadership positions at Unzer (CEO and CFO), a modular platform for international payments, PharmaSGP SE (healthcare and pharmaceuticals), and Tom Tailor Holding SE, where he successfully managed the 2010 IPO. He is based in Hamburg, Germany.
Jennifer A. Dlouhy is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News.
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.”