Tag Archives: small business

Update: Illinois Business Interruption Grants – It’s Not Too Late To Apply

BIG Application Page
BIG Application Page

The Business Interruption Grant (BIG), a program available through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (IDCEO), continues to actively seek applicants, in order to effectively disburse the full amount awarded to the state program. It leverages federal funding provided by the CARES Act to provide economic relief for small businesses hit hardest by COVID-19. The state received $540 million for BIG from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act, of which $270 million was earmarked for small businesses, according to Lauren Huffman, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity. Applications are live now.

The first round of BIGs provided $49 million to businesses such as restaurants, personal care services, gyms and fitness clubs, and businesses located in “Disproportionately Impacted Areas” (DIAs). A list of awardees is available here.

The second round of BIGs will provide $220 million to “businesses downstate, in disproportionately impacted areas (DIAs), and for heavily impacted industry and regions – representing businesses that have been unable to reopen or operating at a severely diminished capacity since the spring.” A discussion of the program, outlining the various types of prioritized and eligible businesses, as well as eligible costs, is in an earlier blog post, here.

To summarize, Round 2 includes:
– $60 million for heavily impacted industries, such as movie theaters, performing arts & concert venues, indoor recreation, amusement parks.*
– $70 million for disproportionately impacted areas, defined by zip code for communities that are most economically distressed and vulnerable to COVID-19. 
– More than $100 million for downstate communities.
– $5 million for livestock production disruptions. (Applications available from the Illinois Department of Agriculture.)
– Loan Forgiveness for Illinois small business emergency loan recipients.

*In addition to the $60 million for heavily impacted industries, the following types of businesses are being prioritized:

  • Businesses directly affected by regional mitigations implemented by state or local governments.
  • Independently owned retail.
  • Tourism- and hospitality-related industries.

(Businesses outside the categories listed above are also eligible to apply and receive funding under the program but may be reviewed later than priority businesses. Assistance with applications is available at no cost.)

A list of awardees for Round 2 (those granted so far, on a rolling award basis), is here.

However, as I started to see media coverage touting the benefits to independent retail, and promoting the program, trying to drum up applications, I began to be concerned for my own clients — many of them have received grants, to be sure, for which we are immensely thankful — but they were all in the hospitality industry, or in a DIA. To-date, not a single retail client has received any BIG funds. And since the program says that all businesses will receive a decision on their grant application within four to six weeks of application submission, I was frustrated to see that many of my clients had not heard anything, and yet new articles such as this were frequently coming my way, where my own state rep, Will Guzzardi, was saying the program did not have enough applicants. (Block Club was reporting the same story.) I reached out to colleagues in accounting, bookkeeping, law, and to chambers of commerce and heard the same story — small retailers were not receiving Business Interruption Grants.

So I contacted Rep. Guzzardi to find out what the story was, and he was, as usual, interested in the discrepancy between what he had been told and the actual experiences of small business owners. He took my questions to the state and came back with some solid explanations and more encouragement.

For starters, the state is reviewing applications in three categories: DIAs, downstate Illinois applicants, and disproportionately impacted industries — restaurants, bars, venues, etc. If an application doesn’t fall into one of those categories, it’s probably being moved further down the queue. But that doesn’t mean anything about their likelihood of getting a grant. It just means that they’ll be reviewed later in the process.

They evaluate every application first on the basis of whether or not they meet the basic eligibility criteria, and then based on how many of these criteria they meet:

  • Directly impacted by regional mitigation to prevent the spread of COVID 19, based on applicant industry and county
  • Has not received any other emergency funding, e.g. in the form of PPP or other state or local grants
  • Has under $5 million in annual revenue
  • Located in a disproportionately impacted area (DIA)
  • Located in a “downstate” county
  • Operate in a priority industry, including the following: ○ Independently-Owned Retail ○ Restaurant ○ Bar or Tavern ○ Gym or Fitness Center ○ Tourism and Travel ○ Support Service of Arts or Events

Then they conduct separate lotteries based on how many of those criteria you met. So if you meet 6/6, you’re in a lottery group with very good odds. If you only meet one or two, your lottery is less likely.
If you don’t win your lottery, your application is held over into the next lottery batch.

BIG Round 1 didn’t go to retailers at all. In Round 2, retail is in a pretty large pool with bars, restaurants, gyms, museums, etc., and so they’re just facing slightly longer odds, especially if they’re not in a DIA or downstate.

The message to retail folks is: if you applied, your application is still in the lottery — just because it hasn’t come up doesn’t mean it won’t. I expect the state is just trying to make sure those who are hardest hit have the best chance at the grants, and then they’ll turn their attention to independently-owned retail and the other eligible business types.

It is not too late to apply!

Join the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO) for an informational webinar regarding the Business Interruption Grant (BIG). Attendees will learn about eligibility criteria, required documentation and step-by-step instructions for the online application. DCEO representatives will be available to answer your questions and all attendees will receive a copy of the presentation materials with direct links to the BIG program portal, FAQs and contact information for DCEO representatives who are available for 1-to-1 technical assistance, if needed.

Wednesday, December 2 at 10am
Event address for attendees: https://illinois.webex.com/illinois/onstage/g.php?MTID=e84aa07e4dc9ede92fa8a13fa268fa538

Friday, December 4 at 9am
Event address for attendees: https://illinois.webex.com/illinois/onstage/g.php?MTID=eb884f11ff20cb4fcc9394b7081fe49fd

Thursday, December 10 at 2pm
Event address for attendees: https://illinois.webex.com/illinois/onstage/g.php?MTID=eb0276e6285a6954875c46d7da4555053

And I know I’ve shared this link countless times by now, but honestly, it is an amazing source of information on applications, evaluation criteria, assistance, eligible costs, and so much more.

For the clients who have received this grant, it has been a lifeline. It’s much more flexible than the PPP, it’s a grant rather than a loan like the EIDL, and it’s built for small business. The application is not a particularly challenging one. If you are a small business struggling due to the pandemic, you owe to to yourself to give this one a try.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

PPP Update: IRS Doubles Down — What Does It Mean For Your Taxes?

In an effort to push Congress into action, the IRS reiterated its stance on the PPP last week.

Late last week, the IRS and Treasury issued both a revenue ruling and a revenue procedure, doubling down on their stance that since businesses aren’t taxed on the proceeds of a forgiven PPP loan, the expenses aren’t deductible.

This isn’t new news, of course. The IRS is bound to statute on this one and doesn’t have any wiggle room — only Congress can legislate on the topic of what is taxable and deductible, whereas the IRS only has administrative oversight in this arena. They made it clear very early in the game — April 30th, in fact — that they had no intention of accepting deductions for expenses that were paid for with PPP funds.

But in the ensuing months, Congress — despite broad bipartisan support for a measure to render these costs deductible — has been stuck in gridlock and failed to pass legislation making it so. This recent action on the part of the IRS seems designed to signal Congress that only by their action will the original intent of the CARES Act be realized.

However, the IRS took this particular set of guidance one unfortunate step further, at least as far as my clients are concerned.

“If a business reasonably believes that a PPP loan will be forgiven in the future, expenses related to the loan are not deductible, whether the business has filed for forgiveness or not.”

Now, I have been attending the AICPA Town Halls since nearly the beginning of the pandemic, and they are still strongly recommending that no one apply for forgiveness before year-end unless:
1) they need to sell their business;
2) loan covenants are at risk; or,
3) they need to reduce FTEs after meeting a date-driven safe harbor.

Part of the reason for this suggested delay is the aforementioned statutory requirement that prohibits the IRS from permitting any deductions for expenses paid for with non-taxable income. (Also: likeliness of legislation authorizing automatic forgiveness under a certain threshold; and the need for further guidance in many areas that remain unanswered.)

The idea was that if forgiveness was not granted in 2020, then the deductions could be made as usual on tax returns filed in the first-half of 2021. When forgiveness was eventually granted on these PPP loans, one of two things would have happened:
1) Congress would since have acted to protect the deductions and therefore PPP funds could be accepted into non-taxable income; or,
2) Congress would not have acted, in which case the PPP income would effectively be made taxable in 2021.

For the record, it wasn’t just me making this assumption. The entire American Institute of Certified Public Accountants thought the same thing (and in fact are now asking their members to contact elected officials to push for it). As did my most revered and favorite tax writer, Tony Nitti, who spent an entire article describing how wrong he was.

To me, whether the expenses paid with PPP proceeds were deductible hinged on whether forgiveness was obtained; as a result, I strongly maintained that those expenses did NOT become nondeductible until that “condition subsequent” occurred. As a result, if a business were filing its 2020 tax return before word on its forgiveness application had come down from the SBA, the expenses would be fully deductible. After all, we have a little something called the “tax benefit” rule, which allows a taxpayer a full deduction if at the time of filing the return, no event has occurred to render the amount nondeductible. Then, if a future event occurs that is fundamentally inconsistent with the premise on which the previous deduction was based (for example, an unforeseen refund of deducted expenses, or in this case, the forgiveness of a loan), the taxpayer must take the deducted amount into income. Applying the principles of Section 111 to PPP loans, the taxpayer would be entitled to a full deduction in 2020, with a potential income pick-up in 2021 when the loan was forgiven.

But with this recent IRS guidance, as Tony points out — he was wrong (again).

According to the Ruling, it matters not whether the application for forgiveness has been filed by the time the tax return is ready to go; rather, what matters is that the taxpayer apparently knows, in their heart of hearts, that the loan will ultimately be forgiven. After all, as the Ruling explains, “Section 1106(b), (d), and (g) of the CARES Act, and the supporting loan forgiveness application procedures published by the SBA, provide covered loan recipients… with clear and readily accessible guidance to apply for and receive covered loan forgiveness,” a sentence which I would have found laughable had the lies contained within it not ruined the past six months of my life.

I won’t get into the details of what it means to “reasonably expect” forgiveness, or determine partial forgiveness, or whether or not the new safe harbor applies if you “reasonably expect” wrong. (I’ll let Alan Gassman, another fan of Tony’s, dive into those weeds.) But as a short summary:
1) You can deduct expenses on your 2020 return if you find out before the return is filed that the PPP loan didn’t get forgiven or if you decide not to apply for forgiveness;
2) If you guessed wrong about the amount of forgiveness (and therefore deductions), you can either a) amend the 2020 return to adjust the disallowance, or b) deduct the improperly disallowed expenses for 2020 in the year forgiveness is determined.

Somehow, with not only a revenue procedure but also a revenue ruling, the IRS managed not to address two big issues that their rulings raise:
1) How should a Schedule C filer handle the deduction question? For a self-employed person, it’s not the expenses that determine forgiveness, but rather a calculation based on their 2019 income.
2) Which deductions will be limited, and in what order (payroll, rent, mortgage interest, utilities)? This has serious ramifications for the §199A Qualified Business Income deduction, Research & Development credits, and the §163(j) Interest Deduction limitation.

But I am not even going to touch on those two issues. Why? Because I truly believe the IRS made this announcement to rile up Congress members into finally taking action. It might have worked.

As reported in Accounting Today:

The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who is now battling a coronavirus infection, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, blasted the guidance issued by the Treasury. “Since the CARES Act, we’ve stressed that our intent was for small businesses receiving Paycheck Protection Program loans to receive the benefit of their deductions for ordinary and necessary business expenses,” they said in a joint statement Thursday. “We explicitly included language in the CARES Act to ensure that PPP loan recipients whose loans are forgiven are not required to treat the loan proceeds as taxable income. As we’ve stated previously, Treasury’s approach in Notice 2020-32 effectively renders that provision meaningless. Regrettably, Treasury has now doubled down on its position in new guidance that increases the tax burden on small businesses by accelerating their tax liability, all at a time when many businesses continue to struggle and some are again beginning to close. Small businesses need help maintaining their cash flow, not more strains on it.”

Grassley and Wyden said they would continue their efforts to clarify in any end-of-year legislation the intended relief in the CARES Act to help small businesses at this critical time. “We encourage Treasury to reconsider its position on the deductibility of these expenses, and the timing of those deductions, to provide relief to the small businesses that need it most,” they added.

In the meantime… as an accountant, what do you tell your clients? As a small business owner, what do you do?

Well, if I’m right, and Congress is duly riled, then hopefully we’ll finally see some movement here, preferably before the end of the year, but (dear lord please) at least before tax season. At which point — poof — it becomes a non-issue (with the exception of the countless hours I and others have spent worrying and writing about it).

And if not?

I’ll share the recommendations of one of the most worthwhile practitioner-guests the AICPA has had on their Town Hall yet, Bill Pirolli (Partner, DiSanto Priest & Co.):

Tax Filing Approaches for Consideration
1) Wait and see
Use extensions until additional guidance or legislation is available
• Pass-through entities don’t need to be concerned until March/April 2021 deadlines
2) File return and pay taxes
• Assumes expenses paid with PPP funds will not be tax deductible
• If this changes, the borrower can file an amended return
3) File return and deduct expenses**
• Contrary to current guidance (but in the spirit of the PPP legislation)

**(CPA Academy is offering a course on how to launch a challenge to the IRS on this topic — and penalty-proof it — this Wed 11/25 and Mon 11/30.)

For what it’s worth, Bill describes himself as a “wait and see” kind of guy.
(I strongly suggest watching Bill’s participation in the most recent AICPA Town Hall — from 32:00 through 52:40. His logical process, description of history and legislative intent, and arguments are thought-provoking.)

I’ve already spoken with my tax partner, and our plan is to put all partnership and corporate clients on extension to avoid the unnecessary cost of approach #2 and the unnecessary risk of approach #3. Haven’t yet decided how to handle Schedule C self-employed filers… but also hoping we won’t have to cross that bridge.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual, trying to close out books and prepare for 1099s… as if it were any other pandemic year-end.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

SBA “Top 3 Small Business Holiday Marketing Tips for 2020”

Play Toys & Books, Logan Square, Chicago — https://www.playtoysandbooks.com/

From the Small Business Administration

With Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday in November kicking off the holiday shopping season, now is a good time for small businesses to boost sales. This year, 60% of consumers plan to do half or more of their winter holiday shopping at local retailers. Capitalize on this growth opportunity by using the following marketing strategies this holiday season.

  1. Leverage email to grow sales. In a 2020 survey, 79% of small business owners said email is “important” or “very important” to their businesses. Take time over the coming weeks to establish an effective email marketing strategy for the holiday season. Start by adopting email marketing best practices, such as using email marketing software, dividing your email list into specific demographic groups, locations or other characteristics, and writing engaging subject lines. Next, consider what types of emails will be valuable to your customers during the holiday season, such as highlight sales, new products and services, pre-ordering and curbside pickup options, and shipping timelines that may interest your customers. After a customer first signs up for your email list or makes a purchase, follow-up with a “thank you” note and a discount code to stay connected to your customers. Avoid sending too many emails each week, or you risk losing subscribers (no matter how compelling your emails are)!
  2. Engage with customers on social media. Social media is another great way to directly communicate with customers and market your business. Through social media, you can show why current and prospective customers should buy your products or services. If you’re a retail business owner, broadcast a Facebook Live event to showcase some of your latest merchandise and why they make the perfect gift. If you provide a service, consider marketing gift cards as holiday presents. Alternatively, you can explain how your services can ease the stress of the holiday season. Use hashtags and partner with other businesses to help your social media posts reach as many potential customers as possible.
  3. Add a personal touch. In some cases, you might not be seeing your customers in-person this year due to local regulations related to the pandemic. If you have a direct mailing list, send handwritten notes to customers to maintain personal connections. Post a compilation video of your staff on social media thanking customers for patronizing your business in 2020. As always, provide top-quality customer service by responding promptly to messages by phone, email, and social media. Small things can make a big difference when distinguishing yourself from the competition.

For an expert second opinion on your holiday marketing plans, reach out to local SBA resource partners, who can provide one-on-one advice and are available remotely. Take advantage of SBA marketing resources, including SBA Learning Center courses such as Marketing 101 and Social Media Marketing. Focusing on marketing this holiday season will not only boost your sales at the end of the year, but will also help you generate leads and build brand loyalty for 2021 and beyond.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

PPP Forgiveness Applications: When To Apply?

Slide from AICPA Town Hall October 22, 2020

In today’s AICPA Town Hall, they reviewed the reasons a business might decide to apply for PPP forgiveness now — even though we have been consistently recommending to loan recipients that they wait until there’s movement from Congress on an automatic or streamlined forgiveness program (and continue to do so).

Basically, unless you are:
1) selling your company; or,
2) potentially violating loan covenants because of the PPP being represented as a liability; or,
3) needing to lay off staff after meeting FTE reduction requirements;
…you should still hold off on applying for forgiveness.

However, if you are in one of the groups above, then consider the AICPA‘s list of “Factors impacting timing of forgiveness application”:
• Has the borrower spent the full amount of PPP funds?
• Is borrower trying to sell the business? See Oct. 2 SBA Procedural Notice
• Is the loan under/over the $150k dollar amount of potential threshold for simplified forgiveness in Congress? (New form for <$50K)
• Has tax planning around timing of deductibility of expenses paid with PPP funds been considered? See Aug. 20 discussion with Ed Karl (AICPA VP of Tax)
• Does the borrower need to make business operating decisions that may include FTE reductions? (See AICPA FAQ #10, below)
• Does borrower want to get PPP debt off the books? Are there loan covenants to consider?
• Is the lender even accepting applications?

It’s important to weigh all of these criteria before making the decision to apply for forgiveness.

And for reference, here’s AICPA FAQ #10:
If a borrower applies for forgiveness before the end of the covered period, how does the FTE reduction safe harbor work in operation?

The instructions for the Form 3508 forgiveness application indicate that the borrower includes the number of FTEs at the end of the covered period OR the date the application is submitted. The SBA has provided information to lenders as follows: “When a borrower submits the completed application and a lender has processed the borrower’s forgiveness application, the borrower is no longer bound to the FTE restrictions. The covered period ends when the borrower successfully applies for forgiveness.”

To summarize: we still recommend, as does the AICPA, that unless you fall into one of the groups above, you hold off on forgiveness applications for now. Work with your CPA to run the numbers to make sure you meet the requirements as they currently stand — knowing they might get easier, but protecting yourself if they don’t — but hold off on the actual application until Congress takes some action, which will be coming eventually… it’s a question of “if”, not “when”.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

SBA Announces Streamlined PPP Forgiveness for Loans Under $50K

Another late-night guidance drop from the SBA — this time, good news for PPP borrowers of $50,000 or less… and somehow managed without the Congressional action we’ve been waiting for that seems to have all but stalled out.

The SBA has released a new, streamlined forgiveness application for these borrowers (and has eased the burden on lenders as well) — but notably, the requirements are exactly the same as prior to this newest Interim Final Rule. It’s just the simplified application and reduced documentation that make it easier. This means that small business owners still have to meet all the forgiveness rules that were in place before this most recent development — and they must certify as such on the application.

So on the one had, it’s great news — on the other, I’m not sure how much this will help anyone… it’s essential to run the numbers and collect the documentation regardless, to confirm compliance, as well as for support should the forgiveness be audited or challenged.

This also is a far cry short of the “under $150,000” floor that has been introduced by numerous members of Congress. Maybe this is just a start, and it will be increased with a legislative act?

Regardless… because the calculations and documentation must be dealt with despite the shorter application (and kept for your permanent records), I still recommend using the free AICPA tool — PPPForgivenessTool.com — as it does an amazing job of taking care of much of the number-crunching behind the scenes, and turns out an application and supporting documentation pdf packet that should be just the thing for your files. It’s the best PPP calculation resource I’ve tested yet (and believe me, I’ve tested quite a few).

Given the slow pace of SBA forgiveness and the likelihood that there will be more relief coming from Congress after the election, the AICPA continues to recommend that borrowers hold off on applying for forgiveness for now — unless they need to because they’re selling a business or have restrictive debt covenants.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

Chicago Performing Arts Venue Relief Grant – FREE Webinar Oct 8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv3UTm7ATwk&feature=emb_logo

As Republicans in Congress refuse to pass further relief packages for those hit hardest by COVID-19, Chicago announced a new fund to help struggling local performing arts spaces — as it’s currently estimated that 90 percent of live music venues won’t survive without additional support, reported Block Club.

Venues can apply for up to $10,000 from the Performing Arts Venue Relief Program, funded in part by the Walder Foundation and the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund, and in partnership with Accion. The city said 120 eligible applicants will be randomly selected by lottery for the relief grants.

Interested applicants are encouraged to attend an application assistance webinar on Thursday, October 8 from 12:00pm–1:00pm. Register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/venue-program-info-session-tickets-123724718965

Eligibility criteria and applications are available at chicago.gov/artsvenuereliefthe application deadline is October 23 at 5pm Central. Grant recipients will chosen via lottery and notified of their acceptance on November 16th.

The program will prioritize funding organizations located on the South and West sides, in LMI (Low and Moderate Income) community areas, organizations that were not eligible for the City of Chicago’s Together Now program, and organizations that have not received grants through the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund, the City of Chicago’s Together Now program, or the 2020 CityArts Large program for organizations with budgets over $2M.

In addition, if you care about live performance, please consider sending this form letter to your representatives asking them to support the bipartisan “Save Our Stages” Act.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

Illinois Business Interruption Grant, Round 2, Open Now — FREE WEBINAR Sept 22

Register by visiting www.chicago.gov/businesseducation

The State of Illinois has created the Business Interruption Grants (BIG) program for small businesses in Illinois suffering losses as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as communities impacted by the recent civil unrest. Applications for a second round of funding are now live. A total of $220 million will be made available for small businesses of all types in Illinois.

The Chicago BACP has put together a free webinar on September 22, 2020 that brings together the following partners to provide an overview of the program and how to apply.
– Ciere Boatright, Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives
– Brad McConnell, Accion Serving Illinois and Indiana
– Marcus Yancey, Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago
Register by visiting www.chicago.gov/businesseducation today.

The second wave of funds includes the following provisions to ensure a wide distribution of funds geographically and across business type:

  • Heavily Impacted Industries – $60 million for heavily distressed industries, such as movie theatres, performing arts venues, concert venues, indoor recreation, amusement parks, and more.
  • Disproportionately Impacted Areas – $70 million set aside for DIAs, defined by zip codes identified by the General Assembly for communities that are most economically distressed and vulnerable to COVID-19.
  • Downstate Communities– DCEO has committed to ensuring that at least half of all remaining funds, totaling more than $100 million, are reserved for businesses in downstate and rural communities of Illinois.
  • Priority Businesses– Apart from the $60 million for heavily impacted industries, applications from the following types of businesses will be prioritized for review for remaining funds:  businesses directly affected by regional mitigations implemented by the state or local governments, independently owned retail, tourism- and hospitality-related industries including accommodations, and more.
  • Agriculture – $5 million of the remainder of funds will be set aside for livestock production disruptions.
  • Grants and Loan Forgiveness for Illinois Small Business Emergency Loan recipients – As authorized by the General Assembly, DCEO will offer grants for businesses that have incurred eligible costs to offset loans received under the Illinois Small Business Emergency Loan program.

Businesses outside the categories listed above are also eligible to apply and receive funding under the program but may be reviewed later than priority businesses. All businesses will receive a decision on their grant application within four to six weeks of application submission. More information here —
https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/SmallBizAssistance/Pages/C19DisadvantagedBusGrants.aspx

I am getting a lot of questions from recipients of Round 1 grants about what types of costs are considered eligible for this program. The Certification & Requirements pdf states the following.

ELIGIBLE COSTS
“The subrecipient will use the proceeds of the subaward supported by the Program exclusively for costs and losses incurred due to the business interruption or other adverse conditions caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. For purposes of this Program, costs incurred during a business interruption may be classified as a cost related to COVID-19. Grant proceeds may be used to reimburse costs and losses such as inventory, equipment (including Personal Protective Equipment and other supplies to promote health and safety), compensation (including salaries, wages, tips, paid leave, and group healthcare benefits), rent, technology to facilitate e-commerce, professional services procured (including the design and construction of environments necessary to promote physical and social distancing and cleaning and disinfecting services) and other costs of operation in accordance with the applicable administrative rules or the policy directives of the grantor that was incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020. All spending related to this program must be reimbursable by the Federal Coronavirus Relief Fund, as prescribed by 601(a) of the Social Security Act and added by section 5001 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act including all subsequent federal guidance. Expenses that have been or will be reimbursed under any other federal program are not eligible for reimbursement through the proceeds of this subaward.

Please pass the word along about this grant to the neediest of the Illinois businesses you know.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

New AICPA FREE Searchable Index For PPP Guidance

Screenshot from 9/3/20 AICPA Town Hall of excerpt of new PPP rule index

The AICPA has come out with yet another amazing, free tool to help business owners administer PPP loans and accountants to advise them.

If you’ve been playing along, you know that the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s troubled and challenging Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has had a ridiculous number of clarifications, FAQs, Interim Final Rules (IFR), and other guidance. Figuring out which piece of info is hidden in which document is nearly impossible.

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) felt the same way. So the organization that brought you the [free] PPP Forgiveness Calculator and [also-free] PPP Online Forgiveness Tool, now brings you a (FREE) lovely spreadsheet with (so far) 170 searchable questions about the PPP, and indicates the date and type of guidance, and links to where to find it.

From the AICPA:

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), under Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, provides small businesses with forgivable loans. Administered through the Small Business Administration (SBA), the PPP loan proceeds are to be expended on payroll, rent, mortgage payments, or utilities. The SBA, in conjunction with the Treasury, have released Interim Financial Rules (IFRs) and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to provide guidance.

This searchable index allows users to easily find guidance on the PPP loan application, eligibility, allowable use of funds, loan forgiveness, maturity date, and more.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

Illinois Business Interruption Grant Award List Released

Gov. JB Pritzker announces Business Interruption Grant (BIG) Awards

The first round of the Illinois Business Interruption Grant (BIG) program awards have been announced, and the list is available to the public, here.

(Note: I noticed when reviewing the list that in the Chicago section, it runs alphabetically, but then re-starts with another round of A-Z. Therefore one needs to look in both sections to see all the Chicago recipients.)

BIG is a program through which Illinois awards grants to a diverse group of small businesses, as well as business communities hit hardest by COVID-19 related closures. The grants are for either $10,000 or $20,000 and a total of $46 million have been awarded so far. They are intended to be used to help businesses with working capital expenses (including payroll, rent, utilities, and equipment, as well as other unexpected costs to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, such as PPE, training, and new technology).

“Business categories identified in the first round include small businesses in industries that continue to experience economic hardship due to public concerns for health and safety and in areas that sustained setbacks due to property damage and closures as a result of recent civil unrest.”

“BIG round 1 grants span a diverse geography, as well as business type – with more than 50 percent of grant recipients reporting they are minority-owned. This breakdown includes 14 percent Black business owners, 25 percent Asian-owned, and 11 percent Latinx-owned. Additionally, more than 600 grants totaling $10 million for downstate businesses.  To ensure small businesses were given a priority, grantees were required to prove annual revenues of $3 million or lower.”

“More than 5,000 businesses applied for funding, with grantees selected via random lottery. To ensure reviews were conducted with an objective, equitable lens and to maximize the turnaround time on application reviews, DCEO partnered with several community-based grant administration partners, including Accion, Chicago Urban League, Women’s Business Development Center, The Chicago Community Loan Fund, Somercor and Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives.”

More information on the program and the first round of awards can be found here, and again, the list of recipients is here.


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Illinois – No More Snail Mail for Unemployment Claim Notifications

Big news from the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES).

Two big pieces of info:

  1. Employers will no longer receive paper copies of snail mail notices — this may not sound like a big deal, but it’s huge. Employers only have 10 days to contest an employee’s potentially false unemployment claim. Often quite a few of these days have unfortunately already passed by the time the snail mail notice arrives. So although in theory this is a good move, it requires employers to regularly check their MyTaxIllinois account — potentially every few days, since there’s no other way to know when a former employee (who may have departed months ago) has made a claim.
  2. For now, #1 above isn’t that big a deal, inasmuch as for the meanwhile, IDES is going to presume that all claims are COVID-19 pandemic-related, unless the employer says otherwise. And as such, the employer unemployment tax rate will not be increased based on these charges. But when they decide to go back to letting unemployment claims affect the employer’s experience rating, this is going to be a huge problem, as most employers will not notice the claims in time to respond to those that should be challenged.

I see an opportunity for a business that monitors each employer’s MyTaxIllinois account for claims submitted, and alerts the employer immediately in case they would like to challenge the claim. Let me know in the comments if you find anyone offering this service. In the meantime, employers should actively check the IDES section of their account on MyTaxIllinois.


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. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.