Author: Tony Novak
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CARES Act triggers online and telephone scams
Please be aware of the increase in scams related to the CARES Act Programs. The Small Business Administration, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of the Treasury will NOT CONTACT ANYONE DIRECTLY related to the various relief programs. In addition, bank employees will never ask for your social security number or other sensitive information via…
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Small Business Crisis Management Plan B
The new ’employee retention credit’ is a refundable payroll tax credit for 50% of qualified wages up to a maximum wage of $10,000 per employee. Wages paid starting March 13, 2020 through December 31, 2020 are eligible, even retroactively. The best way to take advantage is to integrate this cash flow benefit directly with your…
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File now to receive a CARES stimulus payment
Millions of Americans are eligible for a stimulus payment from the U.S. Treasury Department as part of the federal government’s corona virus crisis response but will not receive this money unless they take additional action. This blog post focuses on those estimated 400,000 to 500,000 who are otherwise eligible for a stimulus payment but have…
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Caution for those receiving Premium Tax Credits: AVOID CASHING IN IRAs
The new federal law providing public financial relief during the corona virus pandemic also brings some serious hidden risks for people who receive public financial assistance with their health insurance coverage. Since health insurance would be unaffordable to many people without financial assistance from Medicaid or the Advance Premium Tax Credits, any change that threatens…
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Costs associated with Paycheck Protection Program application processing
I’ve publicized here and on other platforms that my firm and some affiliates will prepare and submit economic relief applications under the CARES Act without charge. But submitting the application is the easy part. Doing the required underlying accounting and assembling the documentation to support these loan and grants applications is potentially expensive. Of course,…
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An update on crisis relief for small businesses
Almost nothing went right in the launch of the Payroll Protection Program over the past two business days. The best advice is to keep trying and don’t give up. Don’t forget what’s happening on a state level. The state programs quickly oversubscribed but today but more relief is likely. If you are sweating bullets to…
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Focus is the key to transformation and crisis recovery of small businesses
Small Business Administration Chief Jovita Carranza tweeted on Friday afternoon that 12,461 crisis response loans were already approved totaling more almost $4 Billion. The problem is, none of the nationwide network of small business accountants I am connected with online knows any small business that has been approved yet. While the aid package was supposed…
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No fee for Payroll Protection Program applications
I am not charging fees – and you shouldn’t need to pay for anyone else’s fees either – for preparing small business Payroll Protection Program applications in accordance with federal law and the guidance of both the AICPA and the NJCPA1. Specifically, the CARES Act states: ‘‘FEE LIMITS. — An agent that assists an eligible…
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Small Business “Crisis Management Live” – Update Friday April 3
For those employers planning to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program: there are new developments related to this program since yesterday. It seems likely that we will hear more today. The most important change is that late yesterday we learned that the federal funding is not yet available to the lending banks so the banks…