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News You Can Use – Prayers, PPP Updates, Employee Retention Credits, and More!

I would like to extend my prayers to all those impacted by the recent winter storms that left many without power and water. Hopefully this newsletter finds you well and on the road to recovery and stability. This was a very trying time for many, emotionally and mentally. Many are still experiencing issues and challenges from busted pipes with damages to homes and businesses.  As of Friday 2-19-21 here are few links I have found for resources.

Also, on  top of this…..We still have the challenge with COVID-19 and the beginning of tax season.

As the tax filing season gets underway, now is a great time to review some tips to help ensure your tax return is processed without a delay. Also included are reminders of some surprising tax situations this year because of the pandemic. For small businesses there are some organizational hints that seem to work and a thoughtful article for all of us to consider about how we tend to undervalue the worth of our personal identities.

Please call if you would like to discuss how this information could impact your situation. If you know someone who can benefit from this newsletter, feel free to send it to them.

In this issue:

  • Who Qualifies for PPP?
  • Employee Retention Credit
  • 4 Ways to Make Sure Your Tax Return Doesn’t Get Stuck
  • Be Prepared For These Pandemic-Related Tax Surprises
  • Organized Business Records Save Time and Money

 

Who Qualifies for First-Draw PPP Money Today?

Two things to know about the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) first draw enacted on December 27, 2020:

  • The first draw is for those who missed getting in on the original PPP, which expired on August 8, 2020.
  • Don’t think of a PPP draw as a loan. It’s not a loan. It’s a cash infusion. You have to repay a loan. You don’t have to repay the PPP funds.

Who qualifies for first-draw PPP money today? You, most likely—if you file a business tax return and have not yet received any PPP monies but don’t wait. The money is going to run out fast, and once it’s gone, so is the PPP. And the new PPP ends March 31, even if the money is not gone by then.

You qualify for the PPP if any of the following are true:

  • You file your taxes on Schedule C of your tax return. Businesses that file on Schedule C include independent contractors (often called 1099 folks), single-member LLCs, proprietorships, and statutory employees such as life insurance salespeople.
  • You file your taxes on Schedule F (ranchers and farmers).
  • You are a general partner in a partnership, but the partnership asks for and receives the money based on your and your other partners’ combined self-employment incomes, as adjusted.
  • You operate as an S corporation.
  • You operate as a C corporation.
  • You are the only worker in the business—but if you have employees in the business, you qualify on both your ownership worker status and your employees’ W-2 status.

 

COVID-19 Relief Law Turbocharges Employee Retention Credit

Before the December 27, 2020, enactment of the new COVID-19 relief law, you may have chosen the PPP loan and given no thought to the employee retention credit. Remember, under the original law, you had to choose between the retention credit and the PPP loan. Millions chose the PPP loan route, but now the game has changed. You may, as a PPP recipient, qualify to take the employee retention credit retroactively for tax year 2020 and also going forward in tax year 2021.

Here are the key changes you as a PPP player need to know:

  • PPP loan recipients can retroactively claim the 2020 employee retention credit for wages not paid with forgiven PPP loan proceeds.
  • Wages paid from March 13, 2020, through December 31, 2020, qualify for the retroactive credit.
  • Wages paid from January 1, 2021, through June 30, 2021, can qualify for the more significant 2021 credit.
  • For 2021 quarters only, you qualify for the credit if your gross receipts for a calendar quarter are less than 80 percent of gross receipts from the same quarter in tax year 2019. Alternatively, you can elect to qualify for a quarter by comparing the gross receipts of the immediately preceding quarter with the corresponding quarter in 2019.
  • For 2021 quarters only, the relaxed requirements for qualifying wages apply to businesses with 500 or fewer 2019 full-time employees.

COVID-19 Relief Law Boosts Temporary Tax Deductions and Credits

Embedded in the COVID-19 relief law is $900 billion for financial assistance.

As you would expect in these unusual times, some of the relief is in the form of direct government financial assistance and some is from tax benefits that can impact both tax year 2020 and tax year 2021.

Most of the provisions create extra deductions or credits where Uncle Sam puts cash directly into your wallet. Here are four:

  1.  Recovery Rebate Payments and Credits

Remember those $1,200 checks many people got earlier in the year? Well, there’s another round of $600 payments coming, with rules very similar to the first round.

  1. Paid Sick and Family Leave Credits

As you may remember from the March 2020 law, Congress provided two ways to give workers paid sick and family leave:

  1. Employers received refundable payroll tax credits to fully offset the cost of the government mandate that employers provide paid sick and family leave to their employees.
  2. Self-employed persons also qualify for paid sick and family leave. They claim a refundable tax credit against their 2020 self-employment tax.

The tax credits require that the self-employed person or the employee was unable to work due to a qualifying situation between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. The maximum non-working days eligible for the tax credits are

  • 10 days for paid sick leave, and
  • 50 days for paid family leave.

Under the new law, you now can claim these tax credits for qualifying days through March 31, 2021. But the new law did not increase the maximum creditable days.

  1. 100 Percent Business Meal Deduction

The new December 27, 2020, law allows you to deduct 100 percent of your business-related expenses for food and beverages provided by a restaurant for amounts paid or incurred after December 31, 2020, and before January 1, 2023.

4 Ways to Prepare For Filing Your Taxes

Here are four ways to make sure the preparation of your tax return keeps humming along until it gets filed.

  1. 4 Ways to Make Sure Your Tax Return Doesnt Get Stuck imageKeep tax documents in one place. Missing items are one of the biggest reasons filing a tax return gets delayed! Find a place in your home and put all tax documents in this one place as you receive them. Common missing items this year will include the new 1099-NEC for any taxpayers that are contractors, consultants or part of the gig economy.
  2. Organize documents by type. Every tax professional has a story of someone bringing their documents to them in a shoebox or storage container. All this does is increase the amount of time it takes to prepare your return, so it’s best to sort your documents in tax return order. Pull out last year’s tax return and create folders for each section including income, business/rental information, adjustments to income, itemized deductions, tax credit information and a not-sure bucket.
  3. Create list of special events. You receive a Form W-2 from your employer every year. You may get a 1099-INT from your bank if you earn interest income on your deposit accounts. But selling a home usually doesn’t happen every year. Retiring from a 40-year job doesn’t happen every year. Sending a child to college also doesn’t happen every year (although it might seem like it does!). If you don’t write down these unusual events as they happen, you might forget them when your tax return is being prepared. And you may not remember until the moment your return is about to be filed. This is sure to cause delays.
  4. Don’t forget your signature! You may be surprised to learn that even if you electronically file your tax return, you still must sign Form 8879, which authorizes the e-filing of your return. So whether it’s a traditionally-filed paper tax return or one filed electronically, a signature is required.

These are four of the more common reasons why the preparation of your tax return may get delayed. Be prepared and file your return without a hitch!

Be Prepared For These Pandemic-Related Tax Surprises

Don’t get shocked by a high tax bill! Be prepared for these pandemic-related tax surprises when you file your 2020 tax return.

  • Be Prepared For These PandemicRelated Tax Surprises imageTaxes on unemployment income. If you received unemployment benefits in 2020, you need to report these benefits on your tax return as taxable income. Check to see if either federal or state taxes were withheld from unemployment payments you received. If taxes were not withheld, you may need to write a check to the IRS when you file your tax return.
  • Taxes from side jobs. Did you pick up a part-time gig to make ends meet? Payments received for performing these jobs may not have had your taxes withheld. If this is the case, you’ll need to pay your taxes directly to the IRS on April 15.
  • Unusual profit-and-loss. If you run a business that was hit by the pandemic, you may find your estimated tax payments were either overpaid or underpaid compared to normal. Now that 2020 is in the books, run a quick projection to ensure you are not surprised with an unexpected tax bill when you file your tax return.
  • Underpayment penalty. If you did not have proper tax withholdings from your paycheck or your estimated tax payments weren’t enough, you could be subject to an underpayment penalty. While it’s too late to avoid a penalty on your 2020 tax return, the solution in the future is to make high enough estimated tax payments each quarter in 2021 or have the appropriate amount withheld from your 2021 paychecks.
  • A chance to claim missing stimulus payments. (A good surprise!) If any of your stimulus payments were for less than what you should have received, you can get money for the difference as a tax credit when you file your 2020 tax return.

Please use these examples to prepare yourself for a potential tax surprise during the uncertainty caused by the ongoing pandemic.

Organized Business Records Save Time and Money

Organized business records save time and money imageHere are some suggestions to help you master the art of documenting and organizing your business now and in the future.

  • Document policies and procedures. Write down daily responsibilities, skills needed to complete tasks related to these responsibilities, and the location of all paper and electronic files. Appoint and cross-train backup staff to ensure these daily tasks are done.
  • Document your succession plan. It may not be for another 10 or 20 years, but documenting your succession plan is critical for both you as the owner and for your employees. Consider how much longer you plan on owning the business and who you have in mind to take over after you leave. If you currently don’t have a successor in mind, document your plan to either train or find this person(s).
  • Document your tax planning strategy. Be aware of possible tax incentives, such as credits for hiring certain workers and accelerated depreciation available for acquiring business assets. For example, for asset purchases, retain receipts and record the purchase details. These details include the type of equipment, the acquisition date, the amount of the purchase, the date you began using the equipment, and a schedule of related set-up costs.
  • Organize your daily documents. Organize your desk by shredding documents with sensitive information and scanning older papers into computer files. The most efficient method is to scan, file, and shred as soon as you are finished with a document. If you don’t have time, consider assigning document organization to specific employees and making it a task to be completed on a daily basis.

You’re busy, and you may feel that organizing your records will take more time than you have available. But spend a minute and consider how using these organizational tips may save you not only time, but money as well.

As always, should you have any questions or concerns regarding your tax situation please feel free to call.

If you need help this tax tax season click the link below.

Click here to book your tax appointment – Note – Sat appts available during tax season