Concerned about your financial well-being?

As COVID-19 continues to affect local communities and global economies, you may have concerns about your financial well-being, your company's financial well-being, as well as the well-being of your employees.

You may be wondering about how recently passed legislation affects you and your business.

Following is a summary of some of the key provisions impacting individuals and businesses:

• The IRS extended the filing and payment deadline dates to July 15, 2020. However, we continue to work on filing returns as soon as possible.
• Estimated tax payments due on or after April 1, 2020 and before July 15, 2020 can wait until July 15 to make the payment without penalty.
• Payments to individuals of $1,200 ($2,400 for joint filers) plus $500 for each qualifying child are NOT TAXABLE.
• Through the end of 2020, individuals who are under 59 1/2 years old can take up to $100,000 in coronavirus-related distributions from retirement plans without the usual 10% penalty for early distributions. The distributions may be repaid within 3 years and any resulting income inclusion can be taken over 3 years.
• If you were over 70 1/2 at 12/31/2019, you won't have to take a RMD in 2020. If your retirement assets have taken a hit, not having to take a RMD may allow those assets to recover some value before you liquidate them.
• If you have a federally-held student loan, your payments will be suspended through Sept 30, 2020 and interest won't accrue during this period. This does not apply to privately-held student loans.
• A refundable tax credit has been created to assist employers retaining employees. The credit is computed at 50% of qualified wages paid by eligible employers for up to $10,000 paid to each employee between March 13, 2020 and December 31, 2020.
• Employers of less than 500 employees are required to provide mandatory sick time & paid family leave but are eligible for payroll tax credits to offset the costs. Healthcare providers and emergency responders are excluded; employers with fewer than 50 employees can be exempted.
• Employers are able to postpone the employer's share of Social Security taxes through the end of this year. The delayed payments are due in 2 equal payments, one on 12/31/21 and the second is due on 12/31/22.
• Small businesses are eligible to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) grant of up to $10,000 . The grant will not have to be repaid.
• Small businesses may apply for a loan through the Payroll Protection Program (PPP). This is designed to help provide capital to cover the costs of retaining employees. If certain criteria are met, the loan can be forgiven.
• Other SBA programs are also available - see SBA's Coronavirus Small Business Guidance and Loan Resources .
• Unfortunately, many businesses are facing losses due to the economic impacts from the pandemic. For losses arising in tax years 2018, 2019 and 2020, a 5-year carryback is now allowed to help businesses recoup some of their prior taxes.
• Net interest expense was limited to 30% of adjusted taxable income. Now, that limit has been increased to 50% for tax years 2019 and 2020.
• Depreciation modifications were made in connection with qualified improvement property to allow for a faster write-off of these assets. This type of property was required to be depreciated over 39 years. Now the depreciation period is 15 years and the assets are eligible for bonus depreciation which allows for an immediate deduction of the entire cost of the property.