We hope this finds you and your loved ones all safe and healthy. Today we’re bringing you several updates as guidance related to COVID-19 relief continues to roll out from various authorities. Please read the below and feel free to reach out to us should you have questions about how any of these may apply to you. We will update these as more information becomes available.
🟡 IDES has offered additional guidance on employers paying COBRA or health/dental/vision insurance for employees whom they have laid-off or furloughed. If the payments are made by the employer to the insurance company, then those payments for continued coverage are not considered wages for the purpose of determining unemployment benefits in Illinois. However, if those payments are made directly to the employee and the employee pays the insurance company for the coverage, it could be disqualifying income when determining unemployment benefits for the employee. We recommend checking with your group health plan provider for assistance in determining how and when an employee may be retained under your coverage.
🟡 Not so good news related to the SBA COVID-19 loan programs: as widely reported and confirmed by the SBA website, initial funding for both the PPP and the EIDL programs has run out. Applicants who have already submitted their applications will continue to be processed on a first-come first-serve basis, but the SBA will not be accepting any new applications at this time. Rumors abound that Congress will provide additional funding to these programs, however, as of the time of this writing nothing official has been solidified and any additional information will be pending Congressional action.
Assuming that Congress in the future allocates additional funds to the PPP program or you are self-employed and have already or will shortly receive PPP funds:
🟡 Good news: self-employed individuals who file a Schedule C on their tax return, even if you have no employees or are shut down right now, may be eligible for loan forgiveness when receiving a PPP loan based on your 2019 net self-employment income.
🟡 More good news: when calculating payroll costs, partnerships can include the self-employment income of general partners up to a maximum of $100,000 per partner. This clarification helps fill a gap in guidance the original text of the CARES Act was lacking in regards to calculation of the maximum PPP loan and forgivable expenses.
To read all of our updates on our sticky post, go to the link below:
https://bit.ly/MHCOVID19all
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