We learned this week that the EIDL is permanently closing their Rapid Portal on May 16th. What does this mean for you?
If you haven’t already, download a copy of your EIDL loan agreement documents, and snap a screenshot of your loan number and save it to PDF for easy reference.
Your bookkeeper and accountant will thank you for this — and you’ll thank them for insisting you do it!
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.
Yesterday I attended an excellent webinar on how two different small business owners transitioned ownership to their employees — one using an ESOP and one using a Worker Co-op structure.
As a CPA and consultant to many small business owners, I often am asked about succession planning and exit strategies, and my experience in cooperative taxation often leads me to recommend a transition to employee ownership. So I was glad for the opportunity to learn from the experiences of these folks who are in the thick of it.
And just in case they might be helpful as an outline or while following along with the recording, the notes I took during the session are below.
Thanks again to Courtney, Steve, the panelists, and UWCC for this excellent resource!
Three main EE ownership structures —
ESOPs, most common, about 70% – better for larger busineses
Worker co-ops, less common but fast-growing
EE Ownership Trust, more common in Britain
Half of privately-held businesses are owned by boomers — who will be retiring soon (the “silver tsunami”).
ESOP – Employee Stock Ownership Plan Employee financial control, not management control. How does it work? the company gets a loan (from bank or owners) to pay the owners (whatever percentage ownership is agreed upon; can happen in tranches) The owners get paid, and the company pays the loan off over time on behalf of the staff, and releases the stock to the employees Employees just “get” their shares as opposed to worker co-ops where each member has to buy in. Owner can remain CEO as long as necessary. The tax benefits of an ESOP can save about 20% of value in terms of the company price compared to selling to private equity. Vests in 20% increments annually until the employee is fully-vested. If someone departs, the company has five years to pay them off.
Worker Cooperative Employee-Owners have both financial and managerial control. One member, one vote. Must sell 100% ownership to the workers; no partial purchases like with an ESOP. Owner may become one of the many worker-owners in the new structure. Owner or bank can finance a loan to pay the owners off over 15 years or however long. John Abrams model – buy-in for each new owner is the price of a decent used car. :) So they are two different things: buy-in by each worker-owner, vs company-held loan to pay off the owner. Company can lend each owner some of the money to buy their share if that helps. What happens if someone leaves from Marty’s worker co-op: the company has five years to pay back $9k initial investment if necessary, but usually pay it off very quickly just to get it off the Balance Sheet if they have the cash to do it. Then the internal capital account gets paid out in a different way, on a schedule with other owners.
Inviting staff to have an ownership mentality and be a democratically-run organization is very valuable, especially in anticipation of transitioning to ownership — but different from actual EE ownership.
Recommended book: John Abrams, “The Company We Keep”.
Neat idea – buying a pie for new owners as a way to say “here’s your piece of the pie”.
Questions from Q&A: Are you using the terms “Exit Planning” and “Succession Planning” interchangeably, or do they have different meanings for you? How did you educate your employees on employee ownership? I am working with two businesses doing projects with students in my co-op business management course. An existing worker co-op has lots of legal questions how they can and/or must differentially treat workers as employees and workers as owners. Can you advise a good first landing on legal assistance to help get their questions answered or directed to those who should. I’m no lawyer and most that I work with are in the farmer co-op world. Thanks. What is your advice for business-owners where the owner is the key employee with specialized knowledge and credentials that is not easily replaced by other existing staff? In Marty’s buy in model, can that buy in level be paid to the co-op over time (installments) or is it all upfront (day 1). What happens to the equity in the business as an employee leaves, and how is that different between the 2 structures Could a consumer cooperative spin off, say, 30% for employees to become owners under either of these structures? What is the difference in governance control of workers as an ESOP vs a Worker Co-op? I expect there is a range of options. A follow up to the question about spinning off 30% of a consumer co-op, could the creation of the ESOP or worker co-op component be a vehicle for capitalizing the co-op for expansion or other purposes? Are worker equity shares in a worker co-op appreciable over time? Steve, you mentioned existing ESOPs or Coops bringing in another small biz as a merger/acquisition, perhaps sold by a founder with no buyer prospects. Can you talk more about this as another pathway for transitioning an existing biz to an employee-owned company? I appreciate the conversation about sharing the wealth, but one challenge I see as a CPA is that workers are always convinced that owners are “hoarding” the profits and that’s one of the motivations for becoming worker-owned. However, the company has to be healthy and profitable for this to happen! It’s not magic. If the company is struggling, the worker-owned version of the company will struggle, too. It’s not a magic bullet. I know there are food co-ops that are also worker co-ops. How could a consumer co-op facilitate their workers starting their own worker co-op inside the food co-op? Are there incentives, support, programs, etc. for someone looking to start a private business with a roadmap from the beginning to convert to an employee ownership model? If a small worker owned cooperative or ESOP is often structured as a partnership for tax purposes, does the cooperative structure only impact management? For Marty, how do the workers owner manage or address the tension between investment in the equipment needed for the business versus profits place into the internal capital account and subsequently distributed? Interested in any ideas or models for how workers in a consumer co-op might gain “more stake in the game,” feel a real sense of ownership and directly benefit from the growth and success of the business. What are unique challenges associated with performance management (horizon problem, shirking, freeriding, etc) at employee owned businesses? Do you use any tools/tech for reviews, ratings, etc? Can you highlight top 3 challenges of running an employee owned business that technology or tools can help solve? Is there any way to plan succession or manifest employee ownership when the company is merely a one or two person shop without younger family?
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.
Last week, the Small Business Administration (SBA) made a welcome announcement for small business owners with Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) — for the third time in the past 12 months, they have announced that the deferral period for making payments on loan and interest has been extended.
As Journal of Accountancy points out, “the announcement Tuesday came exactly one year after the SBA had lengthened the deferral period from 12 months to either 18 months for loans made in 2021 or 24 months for loans made in 2020. In September, the SBA unveiled several major modifications to the program, including an extension of the deferral period for 2021 EIDL payments to 24 months as part of a series of major modifications designed to broaden the appeal of the program.”
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that borrowers taking advantage of this deferral will still be liable once their deferment period is up, to pay the principal plus interest on the whole period (including the extra deferred months). At around 3 percent, this is considered inexpensive compared to other loans, but it adds up.
We encourage borrowers to log into their SBA EIDL portal once-a-month to download the monthly EIDL statement and provide it to their bookkeeper or accountant to accrue the interest. Not only is this a good bookkeeping practice, but they may be surprised at the amount of interest that has accrued, which could change their approach toward either holding off or repaying it sooner. Unfortunately, if they don’t log into their SBA portal every 30 days, the password expires — so this is a way to avoid that issue and an added benefit of this approach.
Instructions for creating an account are here:
According to Inc. Magazine, “the announcement arrives just days after a group of 16 senators asked the SBA to extend the deferment period. In their letter, the senators emphasized the challenges that small businesses faced amid the surge of the Omicron variant, which included staffing crunches and drops in revenue. Those same challenges continue to linger for many businesses today.”
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.
This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about the useful resources offered by RCReports — but as it turns out, it’s been a while. Apparently I take it for granted that everyone knows about Reasonable Compensation requirements all too often, and then I regularly discover that it’s just not true.
Note: I am a loyal paid subscriber to RCReports, and receive no compensation or discounts for promoting their service or resources. I just think they’re great.
In any case, recently I was asked by a colleague to train her on the basics of Reasonable Compensation and walk through my process. I asked her to do these three pieces of homework first:
I know most non-accountants won’t bother with the 2-hour training session that walks through court cases and the history of Reasonable Compensation audits and challenges. And certainly folks who are not in the business of performing these calculations aren’t likely to bother with the 1-hour demo.
But anyone running their own corporation, and those considering electing S-corp status, will want to read about stress-testing. This is something you can do regardless of the calculation process, or how you got to the salary amount in the first place. A helpful excerpt (edited) from the article:
There are six main factors or tests (the IRS lists even more), but “applying just the first three will usually tell you whether a compensation is reasonable or not. In other words – three strikes and you’re out.”
1) Training and experience: Does $X/year seem like enough compensation for somebody who has this level of training and experience? 2) Duties and responsibilities: Does $X/year seem like enough compensation for someone with these duties and responsibilities? 3) Time and effort devoted to the business: Does $X/year seem like enough compensation for someone who worked this many hours/week?
There are different methods of determining Reasonable Compensation — yes, I’m referencing yet additional RCReports articles for details — the cost approach, market approach, and income approach. The Cost Approach generally works best for small businesses where the business owner provides multiple services for the business (wears many hats).
The key with all of these resources is to get shareholder-employees to take a closer look at their own salaries and make sure they are following IRS guidelines. Stress-testing is a great place to start, but for a more thorough approach to calculating Reasonable Compensation, I recommend contacting a CPA with background in this area who can walk you through an RC interview and help you support the amount you ultimately choose.
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.
Presentedby the Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection (BACP)
Sidewalk cafes provide restaurants an opportunity to expand their footprint to serve customers outside. This webinar will cover sidewalk cafe basics including sidewalk cafe operational conditions and requirements, as well as how to apply for a Sidewalk Cafe Permit, which is required to operate a sidewalk cafe in Chicago.
Also, check out this recording of BACP’s webinar, “How to Apply for a Sidewalk Sign Permit” on YouTube.
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.
This Journal of Accountancy article walks through the particular scenario where this relief — only for tax year 2021 — applies. They note that:
The relief announced Wednesday applies where:
In tax year 2021, the direct partners in the domestic partnership are not foreign partnerships, foreign corporations, foreign individuals, foreign estates, or foreign trusts.
In tax year 2021, the domestic partnership or S corporation has no foreign activity, including foreign taxes paid or accrued or ownership of assets that generate, have generated, or may reasonably be expected to generate foreign-source income (see Regs. Sec. 1.861-9(g)(3)).
In tax year 2020, the domestic partnership or S corporation did not provide to its partners or shareholders, nor did the partners or shareholders request, the information on the form or its attachments regarding:
Line 16, Form 1065, Schedules K and K-1 (line 14 for Form 1120-S), and
Line 20c, Form 1065, Schedules K and K-1 (controlled foreign corporations, passive foreign investment companies, 1120-F, Sec. 250, Sec. 864(c)(8), Sec. 721(c) partnerships, and Sec. 7874) (line 17d for Form 1120-S).
The domestic partnership or S corporation has no knowledge that the partners or shareholders are requesting such information for tax year 2021.
To learn more, I recommend this excellent Compass Tax Free 10-Minute Webinar update from 2/17/22 on the new FAQ relief for partnerships and S corporations with Thomas Gorczynski, EA USTCP, and Kevin J. Todd, EA, CPA.
(Our original blog post is below, for context and reference.)
K-2 Mountain (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
Yes, that photo is of K-2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, where apparently one person dies on the mountain for every four that reach the summit. (Didn’t expect that to show up in my search for a common-usage-right image of an IRS K-2 form.)
The good news is that — as frustrating and arduous as this new IRS K-2 and K-3 reporting requirement is — no one is likely to die while attempting to complete it, and therefore I think we should just all keep this extremely challenging K-2 mountain in mind before we get too frustrated about additional complexities in tax preparation.
In all seriousness, here’s the story: 1) The IRS, in an attempt to deter fraud, for 2021 began requiring all pass-through entities to disclose foreign transactions as part of the tax returns and the K-1 package to shareholders and partners. 2) Initially, the new schedules were only to be used by entities with international transactions to report. 3) In mid-January, the IRS issued revised instructions for the schedules that may require domestic partnerships and S corporations without any foreign source income or assets to prepare Schedules K-2 and K-3. 4) If even one of the partners or shareholders plans to or is required to report foreign tax credits on Form 1116, Foreign Tax Credit, the Partnership or S-Corp must prepare Schedules K-2 and K-3. 5) As a result, the complex and comprehensive “reporting requirement applies to a much larger percentage of pass-through-entity (PTE) returns than perhaps the IRS intended”, as Forbes pointed out.
“This seems like an overly burdensome requirement to quietly clarify in the middle of filing season.” – Tom Gorczynski, EA
All is not lost. Yes, we’re talking about well-over 20 additional pages of tax forms — but it’s likely that you won’t have to fill them all out. An exception from filing Part II and Part III, Section 2, on Schedule K-3 may apply for a pass-through-entity that:
only has US-source income;
does not have income or deductions that the partners can source or allocate and apportion; and
only has limited partners owning less than 10% of the capital and profits of the partnership at all times during the tax year.
(Though the IRS clarified that a business with no foreign-source income must still file Part II (foreign tax credit limitation) and Part III (information for preparing Forms 1116 or 1118) on Schedules K-2 and K-3 if their partners have items of international tax relevance.)
From the NATP Blog: “For preparers who are handling the returns of both the partnership and the partner, the partner can choose alternatives to filing Form 1116 and triggering the Schedules K-2 and K-3 filing requirements if one of the following applies:
The partner neither paid nor accrued any foreign taxes and there was no foreign tax credit carryover for the tax year;
The foreign tax paid was under the $300 individual reporting threshold ($600 for married filing jointly) for Form 1116, or an election is made under Section 904(j) of the Tax Code to report the credit without the form;
Schedule A is used to report a deduction for foreign taxes (which also avoids the $10,000 SALT cap).
“Preparers who are not completing returns for the partner reporting foreign tax payments will need to ask the partners/shareholders directly for their information. If they fail to respond to the request, the preparer will at least have made a documented, good-faith effort to obtain the required information and should be eligible for the good-faith relief outlined in Notice 2021-39.”
Therefore, for preparers who have to file Schedules K-2 or K-3, there are three options. – One is to extend the returns, as e-filing is not available until after the current due date of both the S corporation and partnership returns. – Another option is to paper-file the return, which will cause delays in processing. – The third option (what we will likely do for those returns we cannot reasonably extend) is to prepare the K-2/K-3 forms and attach them to e-filed S-Corp and Partnership returns as a PDF. Generally the IRS is not great about referring to these attachments, and some tax software programs have problems delivering them; but at least it will show a good-faith attempt in the case of an audit.
Per Amber Gray-Fenner in Forbes, “These alternatives, while prudent, present some potentially serious unintended consequences:
The IRS may be inundated with PDF attachments that it is not prepared to process and review. PDF attachments are often separated from original returns never to be seen again—at least not until the taxpayer receives a notice looking for the “missing” information.
Many more PTE returns may be put on extension than would normally be the case.
Extended PTE returns mean extended 1040s, which is unsatisfactory to many taxpayers and tax professionals.”
In that same article, my colleague Fred Stein hopes “Occam’s Razor ‘kicks in and IRS realizes the unintended consequences this creates for many small businesses.’ If not, the additional work involved could cause PTE return preparation prices to increase by thirty to fifty percent.”
A summary from last week’s AICPA Town Hall:
We will be reaching out to all our S-Corp and Partnership clients to let them know about these new rules, and to ask that they obtain signed confirmation from each of their owners as to any personal requirement to file Form 1116 or another foreign-related tax form on the 1040 returns.
As you may have guessed, this unexpected new guidance will cause additional time, effort, and cost to all our small business S-Corps and Partnerships — almost none of whom actually have any foreign transaction exposure. After all the requests we’ve made of the IRS to reduce the tax preparation burden on small business owners and their CPAs, I wish I could say this is laughable.
In case that wasn’t enough for you, we’ve compiled a rich list of resources for your reading and watching enjoyment.
Compass Tax Resources: • 2/10/22 Free 15-Minute Webinar – discussion on the new requirements for partnerships and S corporations with Thomas Gorczynski, EA USTCP, and Kevin J. Todd, EA, CPA Compass Tax Resources: • 2/17/22 Free 10-Minute Webinar – update on the new FAQ relief for partnerships and S corporations with Thomas Gorczynski, EA USTCP, and Kevin J. Todd, EA, CPA
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.
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)
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.
In an already unprecedented year, the IRS is taking an unprecedented approach toward managing taxpayer expectations, and with good reason: with tax season officially beginning this coming January 24th, the IRS is dealing with a severe lack of staffing — facing workforce headcounts at 1970s levels — and a backlog of tax returns from the past two years. They say to expect frustration this tax season.
The IRS has been dealing with budget shortages for many years now, and Covid forced their mailrooms to close down for months at a time, creating a massive backlog from which they have not yet recovered. Add to that the unbelievable number of new demands placed upon the agency: three rounds of stimulus payments, Employee Retention Credits for both 2020 and 2021, and demands for guidance in an unbelievable number of groundbreaking areas of code… it is certainly understandable that they would not be able to meet taxpayer needs.
So what can taxpayers do to avoid additional problems? Filing electronically with direct deposit, and avoiding a paper tax return — at almost any cost — is more important than ever this year. Additionally, those who received an Economic Impact Payment or an advance Child Tax Credit last year should be especially careful to order an IRS transcript ahead-of-time to confirm these amounts before filing a return. (We are requiring all clients to submit both federal and state transcripts this year, in their own interest.)
Also, keep in mind that by law, the IRS cannot issue a refund involving the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit before mid-February, though eligible people may file their returns beginning on January 24. The law provides this additional time to help the IRS stop fraudulent refunds from being issued.
Due to the Emancipation Day holiday falling on Friday, April 15th, the filing deadline to submit 2021 tax returns or an extension to file is Monday, April 18, 2022. Taxpayers requesting an extension will have until Monday, Oct. 17, 2022, to file (but not an extension to pay; make sure to pay an estimate of tax with your extension).
The American Institute of CPA’s VP of Tax, Ed Karl, has repeatedly shared in AICPA Town Halls and articles that the IRS Commissioner himself testified that during busy season the IRS gets 1500 calls per second — this translates into their only being able to answer 2% of calls. “No, that is not a typo.” The AICPA strongly supports penalty relief measures that are fair, reasonable and practical, and would mitigate the negative effect of the coronavirus on taxpayers and require less contact with the IRS. Such an approach would alleviate the daily struggles that taxpayers, their advisers and the IRS face. Specifically, the AICPA urges Treasury and the IRS to:
Stop compliance actions until the IRS is prepared to devote the necessary resources for a proper and timely resolution of erroneous notices, missing refunds and other matters. At a minimum, stop automatic collections at least for 90 days after the filing deadline.
Align requests for account holds with the time it takes the IRS to process any penalty abatement requests.
Provide taxpayers with targeted relief from underpayment of estimated tax penalty and the late payment penalty.
Offer a COVID-19 reasonable cause relief, similar to the procedures of first-time abatement and generally facilitate the easier adoption of reasonable cause relief.
In the meantime, here are several important dates from Tax Practice Advisor that taxpayers should keep in mind for this year’s filing season:
January 14: IRS Free File opens. Taxpayers can begin filing returns through IRS Free File partners; tax returns will be transmitted to the IRS starting January 24. Many tax software companies also are accepting tax filings in advance.
January 18: Due date for tax year 2021 fourth-quarter estimated tax payments.
January 24: IRS begins 2022 tax season. Individual 2021 tax returns begin being accepted and processing begins.
January 28: Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day to raise awareness of valuable tax credits available to many people – including the option to use prior-year income to qualify.
April 18: Due date to file 2021 tax return or request extension and pay tax owed.
April 19: Due date to file 2021 tax return or request extension and pay tax owed for those who live in MA or ME due to Patriots’ Day holiday.
October 17: Due date to file for those requesting an extension on their 2021 tax returns.
Best of luck — and please remember to be kind and patient with your tax preparer and agency representatives. We’re all human beings struggling with an imperfect system during a difficult time.
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.
The step-by-step instructions I painstakingly wrote up earlier this year for making business replacement income tax estimated and extension payments are now out-of-date, because IDOR revamped their MyTaxIllinois website in September (grrrrr). So here are the basic instructions (screenshots are coming soon, but this will have to do for now):
— Log into the business’s My Tax IL account — On the ‘Summary’ tab, look for the ‘Business Income Tax’ section — Click on the link for ‘View more account options’
There are two ways to do it from here; the first is: — In the ‘Account Options’ section, click the link for ‘Make An Estimated Payment’ — Select the period you want to pay (which is 12/31/2021 for tax year 2021 — choose a later period if paying estimated taxes for 2022) — Click the first ‘Add Payment’ hyperlink in the Payment Schedule table for each payment you would like to schedule. — If your payment information is saved in MyTax Illinois, then in the ‘Choose’ tab you can select the dropdown under ‘Payment Channel’ — Otherwise, select ‘New’ and enter your company bank info. — In either case, on the right where it says ‘Payment’, you can change the payment’s debit date and enter the amount. — Click Submit, and re-enter your password for security purposes
Alternatively: — In the ‘Periods and Submissions’ section, click the link for ‘View Account Periods’ — Click the 12/31/2021 link so that your payment is applied to tax year 2021 (or a later period if paying 2022 estimated quarterly taxes) — In the upper right corner of this page, click the ‘Make A Payment’ link — Select the ‘Bank Account Debit’ link — Click the IL-1120-ST Payment link (ST denotes a “Small Business” payment) — Enter the amount you want to pay in the Amount and Confirm Amount fields — Click Submit, and re-enter your password for security purposes
Congrats, you did it!
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With one week left before year-end, it’s possible that you are among the folks who received an email (below) back in October but hasn’t yet reported to the SBA on the eligible expenses incurred so far. This blog post (with a 20-min video walking you through the whole process) is our suggestion of how to translate the info you already have in QuickBooks into a format that will easily conform to the Restaurant Revitalization Award Portal requirements.
Sample email from SBA regarding RRF year-end reporting.
Spoiler alert: the process takes more than 5 minutes. It can easily take an hour or more. The actual entering of data into the SBA RRF portal is the part that only takes 5 or so minutes.
Our recommendation is to download the free Restaurant Revitalization Fund Tracker from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) website (like their PPP Forgiveness Calculator, you do have to register for an account, but there’s no charge). However, instead of entering each individual transaction on the form (as it’s designed for you to do), our suggested shortcut is to take the information you already have in your QuickBooks file and enter each category as one line — then subtract all the non-RRF grants and assistance received, so that you’re not double-dipping.
The RRF period runs from February 15, 2020 — the very beginning of the pandemic — to March 11, 2023. The year-end reporting is just a progress report of what you’ve spent so far that is eligible for RRF program fund allocation. So we suggest you run a Profit & Loss for your company for the period of February 15, 2020 all the way through November 30, 2021 (or whatever your most recently reconciled month-end is), and use those numbers to report what has been spent so far. Then enter the non-RRF grant funds as negative numbers on the same Expense Tracker tab, so that they net against each other. The result will be the data you submit to the SBA at restaurants.sba.gov once you log in to your portal.
Step 1 – download the AICPA RRF Tracking Tool Step 2 – enter the name of your company in the Summary tab, cell A9 Step 3 – enter the RRF amount in the Expense Tracker tab, cell C6 Step 4 – run your Profit & Loss from 2/15/2020-11/20/2021 Step 5 – export to Excel and save to your RRF file folder Step 6 – on the Expense Tracker tab, enter summary amounts from the Profit & Loss for Payroll, Rent, Utilities, Food & Beverage, Maintenance, Supplies, Covered Supplier Costs, and Business Operations Expenses
Tip: for now, skip Mortgage Payments, Debt Service, Outdoor Seating Construction, and Depreciation, or ask your accountant for help with these, as they are usually on the Balance Sheet or in the Non-Operating Expense section of the Profit & Loss, and are therefore harder to DIY.
Tip: Business Operations Expenses are all operating expenses that are not already accounted for in one of the other categories.
Step 7 – IMPORTANT: enter all the non-RRF grants and financial assistance as negative amounts on the Expense Tracker tab — this is to prevent any double-dipping Step 8 – go to restaurants.sba.gov and log in Step 9 – enter your name, address, EIN, phone, and email (if this information is not already there) Step 10 – enter the amounts from the Summary tab — Note: you cannot enter more than the total RRF grant, so you may need to reduce one or more of the categories so that you don’t exceed the total. Step 11 – if you have allocated all the RRF funds, certify as such — you will not be required to repeat this progress report next year; if you have not allocated all the RRF funds, you will be able to “Save” but not “Submit”.
If you have not allocated all the funds yet, then follow this same process next year by December 31, 2022 — you can run the Profit & Loss from 12/1/2021-11/30/2022 at that point and follow the same approach. Most folks will have sufficient eligible expenses from 2/15/2020-11/30/2021 to “use up” the whole RRF grant, but after subtracting other grant income from expenses, may find that they still have a balance left over that they can allocate costs to when reporting at the end of 2022.
You have until March 11, 2023 to allocate all the funds (aka spend them on operating expenses, and until April 30, 2023 for final reporting. If it turns out you didn’t have enough eligible expenses from 2/15/20-11/30/21 using Profit & Loss Operating Expenses, then take some time to work with your accountant to determine if you have debt service, mortgage payments, capital expenses for outdoor seating, or depreciation that counts. You can report these in next year’s RRF Program Post-Award Report, along with next year’s Profit & Loss Operating Expenses. In all cases: make sure to subtract all other grant income from expenses so you are not double-dipping!
23-minute video walking you through the whole process — Merry Christmas!
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.
