Tag Archives: grants

Education, Illinois, Site News

Chicago Good Food Fund Grant Awardees Announced; Round Two Opens Aug 15

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Special congratulations to one of our cherished clients, Build Coffee, on being recognized by the City of Chicago as an essential part of their community, through nourishing food and a commitment to equity. Build Coffee is a coffee shop and bookstore in the Experimental Station on the South Side of Chicago. Surrounded by community-driven non-profits and civic journalism projects, Build is designed as a hub of great coffee and radical collaboration. They act as a small venue for performances, workshops, gallery shows, book groups, game nights, and more. They sell used books, local small press publications, journals, comics, art books, and zines. And they also run the Build Coffee Meal-Based Residency Program, a gallery show and residency aiming to nourish and sustain local art and artists.

News from the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP):

Today, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) announced the grant awardees of the first round of the Good Food Fund Grant program. Forty-one Chicago food businesses were selected to receive a grant, fully funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.  

The goals of the Good Food Fund are to increase access to culturally relevant and nourishing food on the South and West sides, increase business ownership and jobs in the food industry, create stronger and more sustainable local food economies and increase local sourcing and supply of locally grown and regionally produced foods. The Good Food Fund programs, which are part of Mayor Johnson’s Road to Recovery Plan, were designed after intensive community engagement with the Food Equity Council and seek to help expand, enhance and restore the food industry using an equity and community-based approach. The second round of the Good Food Fund Grant application will launch on August 15, 2024. 

“The Good Food Fund grant represents my commitment to equity and empowerment, ensuring every Chicagoan has access to fresh, local food,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “Congratulations to all food business grant awardees—your dedication to uplifting our communities through culinary innovation sets a remarkable example for us all.”  

To ensure an equitable grant award selection process for all, the Food Equity Council and Allies for Community Business (A4CB), in collaboration with the City, assisted in developing the criteria for the Round 1 of the grant program. The goal was to provide businesses, across the food ecosystem, in communities with inequitable food access with an opportunity to apply for and receive a grant ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. Communities with inequitable access to food were determined using the Chicago Health Atlas.  

“BACP is thrilled to collaborate with A4CB and the Food Equity Council on the Good Food Fund, a program designed to address food insecurity in underserved Chicago communities by providing customized food coaching, grants and access to low-interest loans,” said BACP Acting Commissioner Ivan Capifali. “By investing in initiatives that increase access to affordable food options, such as local growers, grocery stores and small food businesses, the City can empower its residents to make healthier choices and build more resilient communities.”  

“Allies for Community Business believes that entrepreneurs from any background can start and grow businesses that create generational wealth for their families and communities,” said Brad McConnell, CEO of A4CB. “Through our partnership with the City and the Food Equity Council in administering the Good Food Fund and our joint venture partnership with ICNC at The Hatchery food incubator, we are excited to provide the grants, loans, coaching and kitchen space that entrepreneurs need to grow great businesses.” 

Good Food Fund Grant Awardees:  

  • Back of the Yards Coffee  
  • Build Coffee  
  • Carniceria La Hacienda  
  • Carolyn’s Krisps  
  • Chicago Eats Market Place  
  • Chocolat Uzma  
  • Contemporary Farmer  
  • Dope Drip  
  • Fatso Hard Kitchen  
  • Give Me Some Sugah Bakery  
  • Herban Produce  
  • Jerk Soule   
  • Jibarito’s y Mas South Side  
  • Jus Sandwiches  
  • Kabob-it  
  • Ken Tone’s Drive-in  
  • Kilwins Chocolate Fudge and Ice Cream (Hyde Park) 
  • Kombuchade  
  • La Esperanza  
  • Let’s Eat to Live  
  • Los Candiles Restaurant  
  • Margaret’s Restaurant  
  • Nary’s Grill & Pizza  
  • Nicole’s Sandwich Shop  
  • Nuevo Leon Bakery  
  • Seafood Paradise on Jeffery  
  • Shinju Sushi Japanese Restaurant  
  • Spinzer Restaurant  
  • Sputnik Coffee Company  
  • Subway (Auburn Gresham) 
  • Subway (Calumet Heights) 
  • Supermercado Martin  
  • SydPlayEat  
  • Taquizas Y Banquetes El Siete  
  • Taste Bud 1 Inc  
  • Tatas Tacos  
  • Taylormade Que  
  • The Gilty Pig  
  • The Jibarito Stop  
  • The Tonk, Honky Tonk BBQ  
  • Ware Ranch Steak House  

A second round of the Good Food Fund Grant is scheduled to launch on August 15, 2024. An informational webinar will take place on Wednesday, August 14, 2024. To register for the webinar, please visit Chicago.gov/BACPwebinars. 

To apply for the grant when it goes live on August 15, 2024, visit a4cb.org/grants. Entrepreneurs seeking grant application assistance can contact A4CB by calling 872-710-0035 or by sending an email to help@a4cb.org.  

Good Food Fund business coaching and low-interest loans are currently still available through Allies for Community Business. Interested food entrepreneurs can contact A4CB at 312-275-3000 or schedule a consultation with a Business Coach or Community Lender at a4cb.loanwell.com.  

To learn more about Chicago’s Food Equity Council, please visit: Chicago.gov/ChicagoFoodEquityCouncil. 

Questions regarding Round 1 of the Good Food Fund can be directed to Allies for Community Business at help@a4cb.org.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois, Tips

Chicago “Joint Readiness Summit” This Fri 2/4 – Small Biz Funding Opportunities

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From Chicago Business Affairs & Consumer Protection —

JOINT READINESS SUMMIT: This Friday, February 4 from 9:00AM to 4:00PM

Join the City of Chicago, Cook County, and State of Illinois leaders as well as other experts to learn about what it takes to be “ready” to apply for grants and contracts funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and other economic recovery funding streams.

This event will take place via Zoom and will be simultaneously streamed on YouTube. Meeting information will be sent via email prior to the event. ASL interpretation and closed captioning will be provided.

Learn about the Chicago Recovery Plan — the City’s plan to amplify once-in-a-generation federal funding to create an equity-based investment strategy to catalyze a sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding under the Chicago Recovery Plan, which includes funding from the American Rescue Plan Act and over $600 million in local bond funds, is allocated alongside all other available resources in the City budget to maximize this opportunity over the next 3-5 year funding period. The initiatives and strategic priorities that make up the Chicago Recovery Plan were a result of several stages of community engagement and input during the 2022 budget development process.  The list of current funding opportunities can be found here:
Funding Opportunities (chicago.gov)

Register by visiting the Joint Readiness Summit Registration Webpage.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois, Tips

Chi Biz Strong and Outdoor Dining Grants

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From https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/chi-biz-strong-grants/home.html

The City of Chicago just opened two new grant programs: Chi Biz Strong and Outdoor Dining. These programs are extremely straightforward, easy to understand and apply for, and are funded with over $20M. To streamline the process for applicants, the Chi Biz Strong Grants and Outdoor Dining Grant Program will be available through a single application.

Applications are available now and will be open until Friday, November 12, 2021 at 11:59 pm. Grants will be disbursed via a lottery and based on eligibility and prioritization criteria. To apply and learn more, please visit Chicago.gov/ChiBizStrongGrant.

I attended today’s webinar by Allies for Community Business — formerly Accion — and they did a great job presenting the basics and answering questions. If you have questions about the program, I strongly recommend attending one of the webinars or watching today’s recording, soon to be posted on the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection’s YouTube page.

Program Overview:

  • Chi Biz Strong Grant Program: $5,000 or $10,000 grants (based on 2020 revenue reported on tax return) to small businesses and nonprofit organizations that have experienced lost revenue or increased costs due to COVID-19 to support business/nonprofit expenses
  • Outdoor Dining Grant Program: $5,000 grants for small restaurants and bars to support the purchase (or reimbursement) of outdoor furniture, pandemic-related signage, and personal protective equipment
  • Eligible organizations must have under $3M in revenue, and organizations that have not received prior government pandemic relief will be prioritized
  • Applicants will be selected by criteria and lottery; how soon you submit your application will have no impact on your likelihood to receive an award, as long as it is submitted prior to the deadline
  • Applications are open through Friday, November 12, 2021, at 11:59 PM.

Here are the details for for-profit companies (the rules for non-profits are different, so I encourage you to watch the webinar specifically for NFPs if this applies to you):

For-profit business criteria:

  • Small businesses (under $3M in revenue)
  • If you have over $60k of 2020 revenue reported on your tax return, Chi Biz will be a $10k flat grant — versus under $60k in revenue, it will be a $5k flat grant; unlike prior programs, it is not an amount based on a decline in revenue
  • Outdoor Dining is a $5k flat grant — you can apply for both Chi Biz and Outdoor Dining on the same application
  • Businesses who started in 2020 may be eligible, presuming they meet the qualifications otherwise
  • 50% of funding will be prioritized for businesses in Low and Moderate Income (LMI) communities and 50% to other geographies
  • Excludes certain business types, such as junk yards and pawn shops
  • Businesses that have not received prior State, Federal or local government aid or financial relief will be prioritized
  • Small chains and franchises are eligible below a certain size; see FAQ for details

Required Documents (For-Profit Businesses)

  • Business Owner Valid ID (driver’s license, State ID, Passport, Consular Registration Card)
  • City/State business license with Chicago business address OR other proof of Chicago address (e.g. business bank statement or tax statement with business name and Chicago address). For Outdoor Dining Grant Program, City business license is required.
  • 2020 Federal Business Tax Return all pages (Form 1120, 1065, 990 OR Form 1040 w/ Schedule C)
  • Most recent business bank statement
  • W9 Form

Timeline

  • 10/22: Grant application is available
  • 11/12: Grant application closes at 12:59 p.m. CDT
  • By third week of December: Grant recipients are chosen via lottery and notified of their acceptance

An excerpt of slides from today’s webinar:

For more information, webinar registration, and the application, please visit https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/chi-biz-strong-grants/home.html.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, IRS, Tips

IRS Finally Issues Guidance On Employee Retention Credit (ERC)

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It finally happened… the IRS released long-awaited guidance on the Employee Retention Credit (ERC):
• August 4 – Notice 2021-49 and accompanying IR-2021-165
• August 10 – Rev. Proc. 2021-33

Some major questions were answered:
• Whether wages of more than 50% shareholders and their spouses are considered qualified wages for the purpose of the credit.
(Mostly “no”, unless you’re an orphan with no living siblings or kids. Much frustration abounds — more on this later.)
• Whether cash tips are included in qualified wages.
(Yes. Good news!)
• Whether full-time employees or full-time equivalent employees should be used to calculate the number of employees to determine whether a business is a small or large eligible employer.
(Head-count, not FTEs. Good news again!)
• Timing of the wage deduction disallowance.
(Must be on 2020 tax return, so amend if already filed.)
• Does gross receipts for ERC include PPP, SVOG, RRF?
(Mostly “no”, as long as you treat them consistently. More good news!)

They also released rules on changes made to the ERC by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) regarding:
• Recovery Start-up Business
• Severely Financially Distressed Employer

There were other significant updates to the ERC as well, including clarifications as to:
• If an employer may claim both the ERC and the Internal Revenue Code Section 45B “Tip Tax Credit” that applies to food and beverage workers.
(YES! You can double-dip. Truly shocking, and good news.)
• Instructions on amending filed income tax returns returns after receiving the ERC.

Thankfully, the AICPA shared numerous resources on these in this week’s Town Hall — I strongly recommend viewing the AICPA TV session called “Employee Retention Credit: Your Questions Answered”. In this video, Kristin Esposito and April Walker review the IRS notice and explain guidance on the common questions listed above.

Additionally, AICPA released two Tax Adviser Articles:
• Guidance on claiming ERC
• New safe harbor for ERC gross receipts calculation

They are also putting together a panel of practitioners for a September Town Hall, to discuss how each is dealing with client returns based on this new guidance.

In addition to all the AICPA goodies, our go-to legal resource, Alan Gassman and Brandon Ketron recorded a “PPP and ERC Update” video on August 7th that explores (and vents) Notice 2021-49 (it was recorded prior to Rev. Proc 2021-33, so there’s no reference to the fact that PPP, SVOG, and RRF receipts are not included in gross income for ERC qualification purposes).

Which is a good segue to circle back to the frustration derived from the IRS’s “letter of the law” guidance. The basic idea is that if owners have any living relatives (regardless of association with the business), their wages do not qualify for ERC — but those of an orphan with no siblings or offspring would. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t go over well in the accounting and legal communities:

NCCPAP blasts IRS guidance on Employee Retention Credit | Accounting Today

Newly Issued Employee Retention Credit Guidance Punishes Owner Employees If They Have Living Family Members | Forbes

Practitioners call for fixes to the Employee Retention Credit | Accounting Today

IRS Issues Additional Guidance for Claiming the Employee Retention Tax Credit | Gould & Ratner LLP – JDSupra

I suspect the IRS is attempting to force Congress’s hand by taking the sloppily-written legislation at face value and therefore releasing a ridiculous literal interpretation they know could not have been intended. But without sufficient administrative authority to read their own preferences into it, the IRS has now put Congress in a position to have to release new legislation to explicitly spell out their original intent. Will this happen anytime soon? Do we hold off on filing client 941-X returns in the meantime? Or is Congress too busy to right this wrong?

We’ll be mulling these questions over in the next few weeks, with the intention of making a game-time call with enough time to get our September 15th extended business tax returns filed.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Tips

Small Business Grants For Minorities

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18 Small Business Grants for Minorities (suppliedshop.com)

A librarian for the non-profit organization Always Discovering reached out to me to express appreciation for the blog and other resources on my website, and to suggest a few more.

One of them in particular caught my eye as well-researched and time-sensitive: 18 Small Business Grants for Minorities.

Some of these grant opportunities expire soon, so if you think you might qualify, take a look and as always — make sure your books are up-to-date and tax returns are timely-filed or extended, so you have the resources needed for applications.

Let us know in the comments if any of these turn out well (or poorly) for you, so we can make sure to promote them in our channels.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Tips

National Endowment For The Arts (NEA) Grant Application Deadline 8/12

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Reminder from Arts Alliance IL:
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) ARP Grant Application Deadline this Thursday!

Arts organizations can now apply for American Rescue Plan grants from the National Endowment for the Arts! And more importantly, for the first time organizations that have not received NEA funds in the past are eligible. 

NEA ARP funding can be used to cover general operating costs. If you have never applied for an NEA grant before, there are many resources available on the NEA website or you’re welcome to reach out to us for basic application questions. The deadline for arts and culture organizations is August 12!

Learn more about how to apply here.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Tips

Restaurant Revitalization Fund Update: What To Expect Next

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Excerpt from SBA email informing an applicant that their application for the RRF was approved.

The Journal of Accountancy reported on May 10th that, “a week after opening the $28.6 billion RRF, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) said late Monday afternoon that it had begun sending out more than $2 billion in a first round of funding to restaurants, bars, and other eligible applicants.”

For the first 21 days the SBA will prioritize reviewing applications from small businesses owned by women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

After the first 21 days, the SBA will fund all eligible applications on a first-come, first-served basis. Approved applicants should expect an average of 14 days for processing, review, approval, and funds distribution.

So what will this approval look like for you and your clients? The SBA will send an email with the subject “SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund – Congratulations – Award Approved”. Enough phishers are out there that it pays to be careful, and so some recipients have ignored it because it seems too good to be true, or were suspicious of the no-reply@sba.gov email address. Remember that the SBA will not ask you for any information or provide a link for you in this email. Do not click on any links. If you have any questions, please contact the SBA’s RRF call-center support at 1-844-279-8898. The are available Monday-Friday, from 8 am – 8 pm ET.

When you log into the SBA’s RRF portal that you registered for before applying — restaurants.sba.gov — you will see, on the left-hand side, a “Status” tab. If your application was approved, it will list your award amount, SBA Number, and application status will say “SBA Decision (Approved)”.

The SBA will process the funding of the award directly to the bank account you provided during the application. Again, do not enter any bank information — this was verified during the application process and the SBA will not ask you for it again. If you have any concerns, please call their support line at 1-844-279-8898. The award will be funded within seven business days of the email notification — check your bank account as the final confirmation that this is real.

Make sure to use the restaurants.sba.gov portal to check your application’s status and monitor any messages from the SBA. They will send an email if they have any issues funding the award, but if you are worried about phishing or the message going to your spam folder, the portal and the call center are resources you can access.

UPDATE: For those not yet in the approval stage: it may appear that your application has reverted to a previous step. Please don’t panic — if more information is needed to process your application, you will receive a note directly from the SBA with an email ending in @sba.gov.

In yesterday’s Journal of Accountancy, they noted that the RRF program received 266,000 applications seeking a total of $65 billion, far more than the $28.6 billion Congress allocated the program. As a result, it has less than half the money needed to fund the existing requests.

“Unless Congress passes legislation providing the RRF with fresh funding, the program looks certain to provide the vast majority of its funding to eligible businesses owned by women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The American Rescue Plan Act, P.L. 117-2, which created the RRF, mandated that those businesses, which have submitted 147,000 applications totaling $29 billion, receive priority review for the first 21 days of the program,” the Journal notes.

The SBA said it would keep the RRF application portal open for now, because it still has some portion of funding set aside for eligible establishments with 2019 annual revenue of not more than $50,000.

After the first 21 days, the SBA will fund all eligible applications on a first-come, first-served basis, which is why it was so important to submit on Day One.

UPDATE: The Independent Restaurant Coalition released a fact sheet late this afternoon outlining what’s next and it deserves a read.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois, POS - Point of Sale, Tips

Restaurant Revitalization Fund: SBA Portal Opens 4/30/21 & Goes Live 5/3/21

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Big news from the SBA that was summarized very well by both the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the National Restaurant Association.

Today, the Small Business Administration announced that Restaurant Revitalization Fund applications will open at 11 am Central Time on Monday, May 3, 2021.

To prepare to apply, please visit restaurants.sba.gov this Friday, April 30th after 8 am Central Time to create your account. We encourage you to register on Friday and submit your application on Monday.

The portal website will be restaurants.sba.gov. We suggest bookmarking this page now for use on Friday and Monday.

Please watch the 90-Second Advocacy Update with Sean Kennedy for a great overview of what’s next. (Spoiler alert: it’s closer to three minutes long.)

The SBA has provided many resources to help you prepare — links for training, recordings, a sample application, and more. Please see below (some info is from the national office and some is from Illinois; mind the time zones).

In preparation, qualifying applicants should familiarize themselves with the application process in advance to ensure a smooth and efficient application. Follow the steps below. 

  • Register for an account in advance at restaurants.sba.gov starting Friday, April 30 at 9 a.m. EDT. If you are working with Square or Toast, you do not need to register beforehand on the application portal.
  • Review the sample application, program guide and cross-program eligibility chart on SBA COVID-19 relief options. 
  • Attend one of the webinar trainings listed below. These will be recorded and later posted on SBA’s YouTube channel. We will share the recording links via email and on SBA’s social media channels.

For more information, visit sba.gov/restaurants. 

About Restaurant Revitalization Fund The Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) provides funding to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open. This program will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023.

More about RRF Registration and application information Registration will begin on Friday, April 30, 2021, at 8 a.m. Central Time and applications will open on Monday, May 3, 2021, at 11 a.m. Central Time. The online application will remain open to any eligible establishment until all funds are exhausted.  Read more

Restaurant Revitalization Fund Training Opportunities National RRF Training: Application Overview SBA is hosting two national webinars on the Restaurant Revitalization Fund that will demonstrate how to submit an application through the portal. Both webinars will cover the same content, so choose a time that works for you! April 27, 1:30 pm April 28, 1:30 pm Register Register PPSINational RRF Briefing with SBA Administrator The SBA and the Public Private Strategies Institute (PPSI) are hosting a national briefing on the new $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund. SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman will kick off this event. This briefing is cosponsored by the SBA and PPSI.   April 28, 12 p.m. Register
Local RRF Training Watch a replay of the Illinois District Office RRF training that took place on Friday, April 23 at 4:00 p.m. to learn more about the program. Stay connected with us for more local training opportunities! Watch a replay 

RRF Resources in English and Other Languages Have a question? See if there’s an answer in the RRF knowledge base. Call center support: 1-844-279-8898  in multiple languages RRF information is now available in 17 languages Program guide Sample application NEW: 1 page overview flyer  If you haven’t already, sign up for RRF email updates. Review the sample application, program guide, and cross-program eligibility chart on SBA COVID-19 relief options. You will be able to apply through SBA-recognized Point of Sale Restaurant Partners or directly via SBA at restaurants.sba.gov.  All info about RRF E-mail questions to illinois.do@sba.gov.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Tips

Restaurant Revitalization Fund: Sample Application Released 4/17/21

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Build Coffee, Hyde Park, Chicago, IL

From the National Restaurant Association, April 17th:

The SBA just released a sample application for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and a program guide.

The SBA has not announced when they will begin accepting applications – today’s release is a sample application and guide so that restaurants can review and prepare.

We have reviewed early drafts of the application and discussed them with the SBA. Our FAQ document, released earlier this week, reflects this.

The link to the SBA RRF page is here. We are organizing regional and national briefings with our state partners and you’ll be hearing more from us soon. 

Note: the SBA also released a cross-program eligibility chart.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Tips

Restaurant Revitalization Fund: Free Webinar from Rep. Lee & New NRA FAQ

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Still no word on the SBA guidance we had hoped for this past Friday, but the end of the week did bring us some new info about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

On April 8th, Congresswoman Barbara Lee hosted a free informational webinar that was chock-full of excellent info. If you don’t have time to watch the full 41-minutes, then take a look at her twitter thread to see excerpts of the most frequently-asked questions.

Then on the following day, the National Restaurant Association released an informative updated FAQ about the RRF program. There are 39 questions in the FAQ and every one is worth reading. Please — whether you are a restaurant owner or you work with them… do your homework! I know we’re all exhausted, but this is too important not to: check it out. If you absolutely must read a summary for now, this “Nation’s Restaurant News” article does a nice job.

There were only two new pieces of info on the FAQ since the notes I took at the IRC webinar, as far as I could tell:
1) PPP loans are deducted from total eligible funds, but EIDLs and ERTCs will likely not be. This makes sense, since an Employee Retention Credit does not show up as income on a tax return, but it’s nice to know NRA doesn’t expect it to count as income, either.
2) The minimum grant award may be set at $1,000. This is apparently to address the effort that goes into applying — so many got paltry PPP loans unexpectedly and were frustrated at so little reward after so much effort.

It also reiterates the following details:
– The covered period may extend through March 2023
– Permanently closed and bankrupt businesses without reorganization plans are ineligible
– Businesses owned by women, veterans and socially/economically disadvantaged individuals will require self-certification
– Eligible expenses include maintenance and construction
– RRF grants will not be taxed as income, but are eligible for federal tax deductions

Cross your fingers for upcoming guidance from the SBA, a draft application, and a date for the program opening. We are hoping for at least a week’s notice between the draft being released and the program going live, so that small business owners and their accountants have sufficient time to prepare.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.