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The coronavirus relief legislation passed at the end of 2020 included an enhancement to the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) that makes it available to more businesses. What is the Employee Retention Credit? The ERC provides for a refundable tax credit for companies that continue to pay their employees, even if the business is closed or experiences a slowdown due to…
We first told you about fraudulent unemployment claims a couple of months ago, and their prevalence has increased since then. The Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) reports they have stopped more than 100,000 fraudulent claims to date, with more pouring in. As you can imagine, the demand for unemployment payments has skyrocketed during the pandemic - since March 15, 2020,…
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) extends some key provisions of earlier legislation, including additional loans under a new Paycheck Protection Program and an additional $300/week unemployment compensation payment (because the previous $600/week allotment expired last July). It also extends a variety of tax provisions set to expire at the end of 2020, including an extension of the Work Opportunity…
Background In October, the SBA rolled out loan forgiveness applications for the PPP, with a simplified application for loans of $50,000 or less. Businesses have either 8 or 24 weeks to use the loan proceeds, and 10 months after that to apply for forgiveness before loan payments begin. PPP loans were issued between April 3 and August 8, so the…
As you’re no doubt aware, in early August President Trump signed a memorandum allowing employees to defer their share of Social Security taxes between September 1 and December 31, 2020. This was intended as a measure to provide individuals with extra income during this time, but merely delays the payment of these taxes and doesn’t forgive them. And now we…
Each year, the dollar limits for many employee benefits and tax-related items are updated for inflation. Usually that happens in November for the next calendar year, but the update for HSAs occurs earlier in the year, and here they are: Health Savings Account (HSA) Contributions for 2021 An individual with self-only coverage under a high deductible health plan can contribute…
The first of the long-awaited guidance on PPP loan forgiveness has now been released by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The PPP Forgiveness Application provides step by step instructions to walk you through the process. There aren’t any surprises in this document, but there is some welcome clarification: Payroll Period One of the most frequent questions we’ve received is whether…
Paycheck Protection Program Well, it's been more than 6 weeks since the CARES Act was signed, issuing in a new set of acronyms we're now all familiar with. If you hear "PPP" now, you automatically know it's the Paycheck Protection Program, right? And attempting to comply with the PPP is probably top of mind for most small business owners right…
Whoever said, "May you live in interesting times" is getting their wish! Many of us are juggling work, schooling our children, and managing the stress of the pandemic all within the confines of our homes. Here are some tips for managing all those new aspects of our interesting times. Making the transition to work from home can be challenging. Here…
The Paycheck Protection Program is the most talked about business provision of all the recent COVID-19 legislation. Many small businesses have applied and received loan proceeds intended to keep people employed during this economic downturn. It's a great program - but be sure you follow the rules, because there's a warning attached. The SBA issued their "interim final rule" (yes,…