Your COVID-19 News Update
Marty McCarthy, CPA, CCIFP
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Focused on You. Dedicated to Your Success.
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September 28, 2020
Here are articles on timely topics related to the pandemic that may be relevant to your business:
Articles by McCarthy & Company:
(CE This Week): Safely Getting Back on the Jobsite. By Kerrianne Brady - Firm Administrator, McCarthy & Company. With COVID–19, the words “safety on the jobsite” have a whole new meaning. Jobsite Safety now includes such things as wearing personal protective equipment and establishing safety protocols. Employees, contractors, customers, and anyone who comes onto the jobsite are now required to wear masks and other protective gear. Hand sanitation centers, procedures for disinfecting workspaces, and social distancing rules must be in place for every project. Safety and inspection officers are on the job to help reduce risks. Read more.
COVID-19 Pandemic News:
(Journal of Accountancy): Corporate governance in COVID-19: Cybersecurity and technology considerations. Cybersecurity oversight is a key fiduciary responsibility for a board of directors and was a significant concern for companies even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced so many organizations to suddenly shift to remote work. Data breaches and other cyber threats pose significant competitive, reputational, and litigation risks and require increasingly costly investments to prevent, detect, and respond to changes in the environment. The pandemic has created new risks that need to be managed with board oversight. Read more.
(Journal of Accountancy): Safety of employees, customers ranks as top pandemic-related concern. A survey of U.S. finance decision-makers sheds light on the precautions businesses are taking and how they plan to address future office space needs. Finance executives in the U.S. rank safety of employees and customers as their greatest pandemic-related business concern as some return mainly or entirely to traditional, on-site operations, according to a third-quarter survey. Supplemental questions in the AICPA Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey, released on September 3, dealt with how companies are thinking about remote work and office space plans for the next 12 months. Learn more.
(New Jersey Business): Fauci: NJ Positioned to Continue Reopening Its Economy. New Jersey is positioned to continue carefully reopening its economy because its coronavirus infection rates and associated parameters now have a lower baseline, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told Gov. Phil Murphy during a Facebook Live event on September 24. Read more.
(NJBIZ): New Jersey approved for full 6 weeks FEMA unemployment expansion. New Jersey was approved for the full six weeks of federal unemployment relief offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as the number of state jobless claims since March soars to 1.6 million people. The aid comes out to $300 a week, which many New Jerseyans will see as a single lump sum – likely in October – Gov. Phil Murphy said, for a total of $1,800 in federal unemployment relief. Read more.
(Philadelphia Business Journal): SBA opened its PPP forgiveness portal in August. Here is how it is going. The SBA officially opened its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness portal to lenders on August 10. Of the 5.2 million loans approved under the program, the agency has received only 56,000 forgiveness determinations from lenders so far. A little more than 1% of approved loans have resulted in formal forgiveness requests by a lender through the first week of September. Read more.
(Philadelphia Business Journal): Jay Powell warns recovery will suffer without stimulus. Jay Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned Congress that the U.S. economic recovery would suffer if lawmakers failed to pass a new fiscal stimulus package, saying small businesses and lower-income households still needed government help. Read more.
(Reuters): Fed, regulators take step to encourage more Main Street loans. The Federal Reserve offered updated guidance to banks on its Main Street Lending Program, telling them that U.S. regulators will not criticize lenders who make loans that meet the program’s requirements. The new guidance appears to be an attempt to address crossed signals from bank regulators that have been contributing to a limited uptake of the program. The Main Street Lending Program is designed to offer credit to small and mid-sized businesses that need capital to survive the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Read more.
(Reuters): Fed officials tussle over practical meaning of new inflation policy. Federal Reserve policymakers began fleshing out what their new tolerance for inflation will mean in practice. This is an issue critical to how investors and households reshape their own outlooks even if it may not be relevant to any immediate decisions by the U.S. central bank. The new policy, laid out in a strategic document last month and incorporated into a policy statement, pledges to keep interest rates near zero until inflation has hit the Fed’s 2% target and is on track “to moderately exceed” it “for some time.” Read more.
In other news:
(Accounting Today): IRS finalizes 100% bonus depreciation rules. The IRS and the Treasury Department issued the last set of final regulations on September 21 to implement the 100% additional first-year depreciation deduction from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), enabling companies to write off the cost of most depreciable business assets in the year they are put in service. It typically applies to depreciable business assets with a recovery period of 20 years or less and certain other property. Machinery, equipment, computers, appliance, and furniture usually qualify for the tax break. The deduction applies to qualifying property (including used property) bought and placed in service after September 27, 2017. Read more.
(CPA Practice Advisor): 2021 Estimated Income Tax Rates and Tables. Bloomberg Tax & Accounting has released its 2021 Projected U.S. Tax Rates report. Based on changes in the chained Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bloomberg Tax & Accounting's annual report is detailed and comprehensive projection of inflation-adjusted amounts in the tax code. Read more.
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.
Stay safe,
Marty McCarthy, CPA, CCIFP
Managing Partner
McCarthy & Company
Disclaimer: This alert is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Information contained in this communication is not intended or written to be used as tax advice, and cannot be used by the recipient to avoid penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code. We strongly advise you to seek professional assistance with respect to your specific issue(s).
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