(Construction Executive) High-Growth AEC Firms Grew Three Times Faster Than Average-Growth Companies, Study Finds. Most, but not all, companies experienced a setback this year. What happened to businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic is dependent on the type of business and its location. For example, RV parks are booming where hotels in the same areas remain vacant. Residential homes in the suburbs are more attractive than multifamily urban units. Learn more from Marty McCarthy.

(Construction Dive) Industry Pulse: The Latest Construction Data and Statistics. This is the hub, updated twice a month, for the metrics that matter most to the commercial construction market. Read more.

(Market Watch) What a COVID-19 Vaccine Would Mean for Mortgage Rates and the Housing Market. Home-buying activity resumed with abandon. With low mortgage rates locked-in and a desire for more space amid the pandemic, Americans flooded the housing market in search of new homes. Even now in the fall, when home sales activity typically slows down with the cooler weather, Americans are still buying properties well ahead of last year’s pace. Learn what to expect.

(The Wall Street Journal) Pandemic Boosts Upper End of Housing Market Coast to Coast. Nearly one in four buyers who purchased homes between April and June paid $500,000 or more. The pandemic is revving up the market for expensive homes where many people are spending far more time, luring richer buyers and nudging more sales over the half-million dollar mark from northern California to the New York City suburbs. Read more.

(The Wall Street Journal) Home Prices Are Rising Everywhere in the U.S. The pandemic has boosted housing-market activity in a way not seen in recent history. Learn more.

(IRS.gov) IRS Provides Certainty Regarding the Deductibility of Payments by Partnerships and S Corporations for State and Local Income Taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-75, which announces rules to be included in forthcoming proposed regulations. Specifically, the proposed regulations will clarify that state and local income taxes imposed on and paid by a partnership or S corporation on its income are allowed as a deduction by the partnership or S corporation in computing its non-separately stated taxable income or loss for the taxable year of payment, and therefore are not subject to the state and local tax deduction limitation for partners and shareholders who itemize deductions. Learn more.

(Tax Foundation) IRS Signals Approval of Entity-Level SALT Cap Workaround, But States Should Still Think Twice. In proposed regulations released by the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have signaled their intention to bless one type of state workaround for the $10,000 State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap: entity-level taxes that allow owners of pass-through businesses to pay an additional state tax at the business level, with an offsetting credit against their individual income tax liability. Since the SALT deduction cap does not apply to business taxes, this functionally allows these owners to avoid the cap, since the entity-level tax substitutes for their income tax payment, which would have been subject to a capped deduction. Read more.

(Tax Foundation) Ranking Individual Income Taxes on the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index. This week’s map examines states’ rankings on the individual income tax component of the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index. The individual income tax is important to businesses because states tax sole proprietorships, partnerships, and in most cases limited liability companies (LLCs) and S corporations under the individual income tax code. Learn more.

(Construction Executive) 2020 Executive Insights: Surety Bonding. Learn what to expect.

(Financial Management) How to track a business's vital signs in a pandemic. Here are eight tips for reassessing, tweaking, and adding KPIs to keep up with changes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

(New Jersey Business & Industry Association) NJEDA Grants to Help Nonprofits Buy Meals from Restaurants Hurt by COVID-19. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) board of directors on Friday approved a $2 million grant program that will provide funding to organizations to purchase meals from restaurants that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and distribute the meals at no cost to New Jersey residents. Read more.

(Office of Governor Murphy) Governor Murphy Announces Additional $60 Million to Fulfill Pipeline of Small Business Grant Applications. Governor Phil Murphy announced a commitment of at least $60 million in additional Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to fulfillment of grants under Phase 3 of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA’s) Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program. This funding is in addition to $70 million in federal funds already allocated for the current phase of the program and will enable the NJEDA to fulfill grants for the entire pipeline of eligible businesses that applied for Phase 3 funding prior to the application deadline. Without this supplemental funding, approximately 13,000 of the nearly 22,000 businesses that applied for Phase 3 grants would have been declined based on the program being oversubscribed. Read more.

(Philadelphia Business Journal) Philadelphia Commits $10M in CARES Funding for Small Business Grants. The City of Philadelphia is putting $10 million of federal CARES Act funds into a grant program to support small businesses. Learn more.

(Philadelphia Business Journal) Philadelphia officials order sweeping Covid-19 restrictions. Indoor dining, gyms, museums, libraries, youth centers, community centers and school sports will be required to shut down on Friday. Read more.

We will continue to keep you updated. Please visit our COVID-19 Resource Page for more alerts.

Feel free to contact any member of our team at (610) 828-1900 (PA) or (732) 341-3893 (NJ) with questions. Rich Higgins, CPA, managing principal – New Jersey office can be contacted at Richard.Higgins@MCC-CPAs.com. I can be reached at Marty.McCarthy@MCC-CPAs.com. As always, we are happy to help.