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.
Jody Bhagat is President of Americas at Personetics, a global leader in data-driven personalization and customer engagement for financial institutions. In this capacity, he is responsible for driving customer impact and establishing market leadership with the company's Self-Driving Finance proposition. Personetics delivers personalized insights, advice, and automated programs to help customers improve their financial well-being. Previously, he was a Partner at McKinsey, where he helped financial institutions execute digital transformation programs to drive organic growth. Jody has also held digital leadership roles at leading AI-driven fintechs and North American Banks, including U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Providian, and Citizens Bank.
Yaniv Bertele, co-founder and CEO of VESTTOO, is an experienced strategist and business development and investment executive.
Before the establishment of Vesttoo, Yaniv served as VP Business Development in a number of global companies, including Consumer Physics, Goji, CTG Holdings and Poseidon Diving Systems; In addition, while leading the corporate VC of Mekorot, Israel's National Water Company, he personally led 16 different equity investments in various startups, including the successful exit of Bacsoft. Acquired by Sun Corporation (TYO: 6736). Yaniv holds a Master's degrees in Physics and Mathematics and is an active reserve officer at an IDF Elite Unit.
Aaron Harris has more than 25 years of high-tech engineering experience in business applications and software development strategies. From Sage Intacct's earliest days, Aaron has led the company's product vision and technology direction. A pioneer in cloud computing, Aaron helped Intacct build the world's first cloud architecture delivering on-demand financial applications. He regularly contributes to the development of best practices for cloud computing, service-oriented architecture, platform as a service, and accounting and finance technology standards.
As Sage's Global CTO, Aaron is responsible for Sage's technology and product vision. Aaron is hands-on leading investments in AI/ML, blockchain, and other emerging technologies to transform the way people think and work.
Aaron holds a Master's degree in information systems and a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Brigham Young University.
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.