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.
Hardy Manges is Head of Municipal Dealer Sales at MarketAxess, responsible for new business development and strategy, training, and relationship management with dealers in the institutional municipal market.� Mr. Manges joined MarketAxess in February 2016 from Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. where he was Co-Head of the Municipal Debt Capital Markets Group.� Prior to that he was Head of Municipal Sales and Trading at Mitsubishi Securities.� He has extensive experience in secondary municipal market liquidity and trading and has held a variety of senior positions in the municipal divisions of Alex. Brown & Sons, BankersTrust and Deutsche Bank.� Mr. Manges received an M.B.A. in Finance from Loyola University Maryland and a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Denison University. �
John Gallagher is Head of Municipal Bonds and U.S. High Grade Product Management at MarketAxess, responsible for managing Municipal Bond and U.S. High Grade product development.�Mr. Gallagher joined MarketAxess in 2002 following the acquisition of TradingEdge, Inc. which he had joined in 2000 with the responsibility for high yield and distressed debt sales. At MarketAxess, Mr. Gallagher was initially responsible for electronic trading product development for U.S. high-grade, high yield, U.S. Agency and emerging market debt markets. Mr. Gallagher also piloted the development and sales for MarketAxess’ first inter-dealer trading platform, DealerAxess�, as well as the launch of the firm’s credit derivatives trading platform in 2005. Mr. Gallagher began his career as a fixed income and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) trader and has an established track record in MBS sales and trading with senior roles at various broker-dealers such as Merrill Lynch and Nomura. Mr. Gallagher received a B.A. in Economics with a Minor in German Language from Fairfield University.
Bill Seguin is a researcher at Forrester Research.
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.”