COVID-19 news and information for CPAs

TOPICS

May 4, 2020

SEC temporarily expands access to crowdfunding

Responding to the coronavirus pandemic, the SEC said it has temporarily amended rules to provide established smaller companies with opportunities to meet their urgent funding needs through Regulation Crowdfunding.

May 4, 2020

EIDL loan portal reopens for agricultural businesses only

The SBA announced that agricultural businesses are now eligible for the EIDL and EIDL Advance programs.

May 4, 2020

SBA issues PPP guidance on laid-off employees who refuse to be rehired

Paycheck Protection Program recipients calculating loan forgiveness reductions do not have to factor in laid-off employees who decline a good-faith, written offer to be rehired for the same job, pay and hours.

May 1, 2020

AICPA urges release of PPP loan forgiveness guidance

The AICPA issued an “urgent call” for the Treasury Department and the US Small Business Administration to release guidance on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness calculations.

May 1, 2020

AICPA challenging nondeductibility of PPP-related expenses

The IRS issued guidance clarifying that a deduction is disallowed for expenses for payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent, utilities, and other interest on debt obligations to the extent they are being reimbursed by loans forgiven under the Paycheck Protection Program.

May 1, 2020

ASB formally issues deferral of effective dates

The AICPA Auditing Standards board formally extended the effective dates Friday of seven new auditing standards because of concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.

April 30, 2020

PLR and other requests for IRS guidance can now be sent electronically

The IRS is temporarily allowing taxpayers to submit requests for private letter rulings, closing agreements, determination letters and information letters electronically instead of by mail.

April 30, 2020

AICPA tackles many issues in coronavirus advocacy

As the coronavirus pandemic became a public health menace and damaged the economy, the AICPA took the lead in advocating for relief on behalf of the accounting profession and the public.

April 30, 2020

How family businesses can stay resilient during the COVID-19 crisis

Jonathan Flack, CPA, the U.S. family business services leader at PwC, discusses the struggles family businesses are facing during the current economic crisis, as well as the unique strengths that can help them weather hard times such as these.

April 29, 2020

CARES Act QIP change requires action

Taxpayers with qualified property must act to take advantage of changes to the treatment of qualified improvement property, which is now eligible for bonus depreciation. Here are some considerations for taxpayers and their advisers.

FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Build reusable Skills in Anthropic’s Claude AI

Instead of rewriting prompts each time, CPAs can turn routine tasks into reusable AI Skills. This Technology Q&A walks through how to build Claude Skills that process files, ask setup questions, and export clean Excel outputs.