We hope each and every one of you and your families are safe and healthy. In response to the unfolding COVID-19 global pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act last Friday. This $2 trillion emergency fiscal stimulus package (“Pennies from Heaven”) was designed to help ease the economic damage caused by the virus. Below are some of the key provisions that can offer relief to individuals, families and businesses. In a number of situations, it’s important for you to act quickly. Items with time urgency are underlined. The objective is to provide short overviews of the provisions. If there are any questions, we at DWM will try to help.
Recovery Rebates. Perhaps 90% of Americans should receive some amount of Recovery Rebate. The rebate can be as much as $1,200 for a single, $2,400 for a married couple plus $500 for each child under age 17. The only limitation is your Adjusted Gross Income (“AGI”). Singles with AGI of $75,000 or less will receive $1,200 plus extra for eligible children. Married couples with AGI of $150,000 or less will receive $2,400 plus extra for eligible children. Incomes above that will get a lesser amount until completely phased out. The IRS will use the latest tax return filed to make their calculation. If your 2018 tax return has a lower AGI, wait to file your 2019 tax return until the rebates are made. If 2019 is a lesser year than 2018, get 2019 filed immediately. Please understand that the rebate will be “trued up” based on your 2020 return. So, if your income in 2018 and/or 2019 disqualified you from the rebate, you can still get the rebate in 2021 if your 2020 tax return shows you are below the $75,000 or $150,000 threshold. And, for those who received a rebate but ultimately had a larger income in 2020 that would have disqualified them-no worries. The IRS will not “clawback” any rebates. Checks and direct deposits are promised “as soon as possible” which hopefully will be in April.
Covid-19 Distributions from IRAs and Loans from 401ks. Distributions up to $100,000 from IRAs and $100,000 loans from 401ks can be made without tax penalty for those impacted by the virus. The income tax of the distribution can be split evenly over 2020-2022. Distributions are not subject to withholding and can be repaid (rolled back in) in 3 years, in a lump sum or installments which will produce a refund of the tax paid. Loans from Company Retirement Plans can be made up to 100% of the vested balance up to $100,000. Repayments on the loan may be delayed for up to one year.
Required Minimum Distributions (“RMDs”) are waived and can be returned. RMDs for 2020 are specifically eliminated for owners and beneficiaries. Owners, not beneficiaries, that have already taken a 2020 RMD and would like to return it, need to act quickly. If the distribution took place in the last 60 days, you can roll the money back in (note, if withholdings were made, you’ll need to “gross up” the net distribution) and save paying the tax. If the 60 day window has passed, you can still complete a valid rollover for up to 3 years if you can show you were impacted by the coronavirus crisis.
Charitable Contributions. To encourage contributions to charity, Congress has provided that individuals can make and deduct contributions up to and in excess of 100% of their AGI. Hence, they could wipe out their taxes and even get a carryforward for 5 years. In addition, individuals who use the standard deduction (90% of taxpayers) can get up to a $300 charitable contribution deduction “above the line” in the addition to their standard deduction.
Relief for Student Loan Borrowers. Required payments on Federal student loans are deferred until September 30, 2020, during which time no interest will accrue. Furthermore, this period of time will continue to count towards any loan forgiveness. Hence, any student borrower who intends to qualify for a program that will ultimately forgive the entirety of their Federal student debt should immediately pause payments. Any payments made in this period will simply reduce principal and therefore are reducing a debt that will be forgiven. In addition, through the end of the year, employers who provide employees with up to $5,250 of student debt payments may exclude those payments from the employee’s W-2.
Additional Unemployment Compensation Benefits. Unemployment benefits have been increased from 26 to 39 weeks. Futher, Self-employed individuals will now be eligible. Plus there will not be the typical one week of "waiting time" for unemployed employees of self-employed individuals without work. Additionally, the weekly benefit is increased by $600 per recipient for up to 4 months. Since the average weekly unemployment benefit is about $400, this will increase the average benefit to $1,000 for those 4 months. Therefore, employees and self-employed individuals who have lost their job or don't have work, could qualify for up to 9 months of unemployment benefits, with an extra 17 weeks of $600 payments - meaning, an average worker could get as much as $26,000 in the first 9 months.
Paycheck Protection and Forgivable Loans. Businesses, including sole proprietorships, with less than 500 employees can apply for an SBA loan to help with economic suffering on their business caused by coronavirus. The loan is the lesser of $10 million or 2.5 times the monthly payroll costs over the past year and must be applied for by June 30, 2020. Loans will be made on a first come-first serve basis until the total maximum of $10 Billion has been loaned. So, a company with a 2019 monthly qualified payroll of $40,000 could borrow $100,000. And, as long as the business maintains the same number of employees, the loan will be forgiven for all payroll, rent, utilities and healthcare costs incurred in the first 8 weeks after receiving the loan. For example, if payroll remained $40,000 per month, rent was $6,000 per month, utilities $2,000 per month and health care costs $2,000 per month, virtually the entire loan would be forgiven. And, any debt forgiven is not included in taxable income for the year. For the portion of the loan that is not forgiven, interest on the loan will be at 4% or less over a term of 10 years and payments will be deferred for at least 6 months and no longer than one year.
Employee Retention Credit. Businesses who doesn’t qualify for the SBA loan above but suffered a reduction in quarterly revenues in 2020 to 50% or more for the same quarter in 2019, may qualify for a $5000 employee retention credit.
Deferral of payroll taxes. Most employers, other than those who receive the special SBA loans above, qualify to defer the employer portion of payroll taxes for over one year. Their 2020 employer payroll taxes can be paid half by December 31, 2021 and half by December 31, 2022.
Net operating loss rules are loosened. The CARES act allows losses in 2018, 2019 or 2020 to be carried back five years producing tax refunds that can be used now.
Conclusion. The CARES act provides significant funds, programs and tax benefits for individuals, families and businesses. Some of the provisions have time limits as outlined above. DWM will be individually contacting our clients who we think might be able to take advantage of these programs and get their rightful share of the “Pennies from Heaven.” We will also alert them to other financial and/or tax strategies, including Roth conversions and tax loss harvesting, given the CARES provisions and the state of the current markets. If you have any questions, please contact us.
We hope that you, your family and your community stay healthy and we all can get back to normal as soon as possible.