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.
Matt Waters is a CPA and director of lease accounting and sustainability at CoStar Real Estate Manager. Matt Waters is a CPA with 20+ years of lease and energy accounting experience. He serves as the director of lease accounting and sustainability at CoStar Real Estate Manager and has helped over 1,000 companies streamline lease administration, lease accounting and ESG reporting. He is a leading expert in lease management and sustainability and has previously shared insights with writers from Bloomberg, Reuters and various trade publications. He is a frequent speaker at lease management, real estate and accounting events such as The CoreNet Global Summit, The NRTA National Conference, BlackLine's Beyond The Black and more. You can hear more from him on his podcast, The Lease Alert, streaming wherever podcasts are available.
Frank T. Young is president of vertical market software solutions at Global Payments.
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.