Tax Law Insights Blog | Burr & Forman LLP

Key Tax Provisions of COVID Relief Bill

Jeffrey T. Allen — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 09:00:01 -0500

Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the Act) on December 21, 2020. The Act, which is 5,593 pages, contains a number of stimulus measures designed to address the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis. While the bill has not become law as of the date of this blog, it is expected to be signed by the President quickly and then become law. Key provisions of the Act include:

Under the CARES Act, expenses paid with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) proceeds could not be deducted if the PPP loan was forgiven. The Act now permits taxpayers to deduct expenses paid with PPP ...

SBA Releases Broader Information on PPP Borrowers

Erik P. Doerring — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 09:00:02 -0500

The SBA has now released broader information on borrowers who received loans under the Payroll Protection Program. The SBA’s release of this information was ordered by United States District Judge James E. Boasberg in a case filed against the SBA, WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post, et al., v. U.S. Small Business Administration, Civil Action No. 20-1240 (JEB) and a related case, Center for Public Integrity v. U.S. Small Business Administration, Civil Action No. 20-1614 (JEB).

The SBA had previously released information for borrowers that received PPP loans of $150,000 or ...

SBA Gets More Time to Release PPP Borrower Information

Erik P. Doerring — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 09:00:03 -0500

A United States District Judge in Washington ordered the SBA to release the names and other information of all Paycheck Protection Loan borrowers. In WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post, et al., v. U.S. Small Business Administration, Civil Action No. 20-1240 (JEB) and a related case, Center for Public Integrity v. U.S. Small Business Administration, Civil Action No. 20-1614 (JEB), United States District Judge James E. Boesberg issued a November 5, 2020 order requiring the SBA to release the names and other information for all PPP loan borrowers by November 19, 2020.

The SBA ...

DOL Updates Factors For Selecting Plan Investments

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 09:00:04 -0500

On October 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released a Final Rule to “provide clear regulatory guideposts for fiduciaries of private-sector retirement and other employee benefit plans in light of recent trends involving environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing.” The Final Rule amended the regulations (29 C.F.R. §2550.404a-1; hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”) enunciating fiduciary investment duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). This article will review the ...

SBA Ordered to Release Information on All PPP Borrowers

Erik P. Doerring — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 09:00:05 -0500

A United States District Judge in Washington has ordered the SBA to now release the names and other information of all Paycheck Protection Loan borrowers. In WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post, et al., v. U.S. Small Business Administration, Civil Action No. 20-1240 (JEB) and a related case, Center for Public Integrity v. U.S. Small Business Administration, Civil Action No. 20-1614 (JEB), United States District Judge James E. Boesberg issued a November 5, 2020 order requiring the SBA to release the names and other information for all PPP loan borrowers. Under the order, the SBA ...

SBA Requires Borrowers Who Received PPP Loans of $2 Million or More to Submit "Pre-Audit Review" Information

Erik P. Doerring — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 09:00:06 -0500

On October 31, 2020, the SBA released new forms and related instructions requiring borrowers with PPP loans of $2 million or more to provide additional information related to their PPP loans. Titled “Loan Necessity Questionnaire”, the SBA released separate forms and instructions applicable to both for-profit and non-profit borrowers. The SBA explains that “the purpose of this form is to facilitate the collection of supplemental information that will be used by SBA loan reviewers to evaluate the good-faith certification that you made on your PPP Borrower Application.”

COVID-19 Relief Complicates Cobra Administration

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 09:00:07 -0500

Among the many employee benefit deadlines extended due to the pandemic by joint action of the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service are the deadlines for making a Cobra election and paying the Cobra premiums. For purposes of these deadlines, the COVID-19 “outbreak period” is disregarded. President Trump declared COVID-19 as a national emergency as of March 1, 2020, which is the beginning of the “outbreak period.” The national emergency will end when the President declares it ended. The end of the “outbreak period” is 60 days after the end of the national ...

South Carolina Business License Tax Standardization Act Will Simplify Compliance

Jeffrey T. Allen — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 09:00:08 -0400

Each municipality and county in South Carolina (a taxing jurisdiction) is authorized to impose a business license tax based on the gross income of a business that operates within its borders. Businesses operating in South Carolina have been faced with registration requirements, filing deadlines, and rate classes that vary by taxing jurisdiction. The South Carolina Business License Tax Standardization Act (the Act) was signed into law by the Governor on September 30, 2020, and seeks to simplify the burdens of complying with business license tax requirements. The majority of the ...

If Your Retirement Plan Holds Employer Securities, Keep an Eye on the Jander Case, Part II

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 09:00:09 -0400

In March 2020, I posted a blog reviewing the evolution of the legal analysis applied to a retirement plan’s holding of “employer securities” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”). See “If Your Retirement Plan Holds Employer Securities, Keep an Eye on the Jander Case.” In that blog, I reviewed the “Moench presumption” and the Supreme Court’s rejection of the “Moench presumption” in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, 134 S.C. 2459 (2014).

In Dudenhoeffer, the Supreme Court announced a three-factor standard for ...

The Countdown Begins for Lifetime Income Disclosures

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 09:00:10 -0400

The SECURE Act of 2019 made three statutory changes to ERISA regarding lifetime income benefit payments from defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans). This blog will cover one of those changes – an amendment to Section 105 of ERISA. Section 105 requires the plan administrator to issue periodic benefit statements to participants and requires the disclosure of certain information on those statements, such as the participant’s account balance, vesting, and the value of each investment in the account. The SECURE Act ...