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Families First Coronavirus Response Act in 2021 (FFCRA)

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What is FFCRA?

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was passed in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19. The Act became effective on April 1, 2020, encompassing two other acts, the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA).

The purpose of FFCRA was to:

  • expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) until December 31, 2020, for leave and income loss for employees who must stay home to care for children due to school or childcare closures in response to COVID-19
  • create two weeks of paid sick leave for childcare and other coronavirus-related leave
  • provide tax credits related to paid leave mandated by the act

THE IMMEDIATE QUESTION: What Happens Now that FFCRA has Ended?

When the Act was proposed, no one anticipated that coronavirus would be part of everyone’s daily life, nor that “pandemic” would become a household word. Now that this is the case – and now that there’s a new POTUS – questions buzz about the FFCRA’s fate. While the FFCRA no longer requires employers to provide COVID-related sick pay or paid leave, employers who choose to do so will receive a tax credit for those wages through March 31, 2021.

The IRS is expected to provide further guidance soon to businesses impacted by the FFCRA. Until then, employers are on their own in terms of deciding whether to provide leave. If they do, they must carefully navigate their decision to avoid potential discrimination issues.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT FFCRA

Which Employers are Responsible?

Government agencies and private businesses with fewer than 500 employees must comply with the FFCRA. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the FFCRA if they can show that providing benefits would put them at risk of going out of business. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees do not have to reinstate employees that return from leave. All businesses with 25 or more employees must reinstate employees after returning from leave.

Which Employees are Eligible and What do They Receive?

Full-time employees who have been employed for at least 30 days and are unable to work (i.e., via remote) and who must care for children at home due to the coronavirus health emergency are eligible.

Part-time employees are eligible for the number of hours of leave they work on average over a two-week period.

Employers first offer unpaid leave (or accrued vacation time) for ten days (80 hours). After that time, paid leave begins at two-thirds of the employee’s regular pay rate. Compensation can continue up to 10 weeks as long as daily pay does not exceed $200 and total pay (for the ten weeks) does not exceed $10,000.

For employees unable to work because they are quarantined for COVID-19 exposure, illness, or symptoms, employers must pay them at their full pay rate for ten days (80 hours). A 10-week extension exists for full-time employees at two-thirds of their regular pay rate if needed for a total of 12 weeks for these employees.

Qualifying Reasons for Leave

An employee qualifies for paid leave if they are unable to work at their place of employment OR via remote (i.e., from home) due to:

  • Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation related to COVID-19
  • A health care provider’s advice to self-quarantine due to COVID-19
  • Symptoms of COVID-19 while in the progress of actively seeking a medical diagnosis (i.e., testing)
  • The need to care for a quarantined individual or an individual who is having symptoms of COVID-19 (i.e., a child who cannot attend school or daycare or a child whose school or daycare is closed due to COVID-19 restrictions)

What Tax Credits are Businesses Entitled to under the FFCRA?

Private companies can seek reimbursement through fully refundable tax credits each quarter for paid sick leave and paid family leave (i.e., FMLA). The tax credits are applied against an employer’s already-owed Social Security taxes. If that is not enough to offset the payouts to employees, the Treasury Department helps cover the balance.

What’s Next?

Since Congress did not renew, the FFCRA employers are no longer required to offer paid sick time or paid leave to employees. However, employers who choose to do so voluntarily can still claim tax credits for doing so until March 31, 2021. In light of this federal ruling, employers should keep in mind that state and local laws in their areas may not be the same. Some states extended rulings that require employers to cover pay for COVID-related leave. Check with your state and local government to know the laws where you are.

And as always, your tax professional should be up-to-date on all the latest guidelines and regulations about FFCRA, so check with them first so that your business is on track moving ahead in these still-uncertain times of the pandemic.

Billing Customers for Time and Expenses in QuickBooks Online

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Sometimes, you have to spend money on your customers. Make sure you’re billing them for it.

Usually, money flows from your customers to your business. But there may be times when you have to purchase items for a job whose costs will eventually be reimbursed. Or you, or an employee, might spend time providing services for customers and get paid for those hours by your company before you receive payment from the responsible party. If you’re a sole proprietor with no payroll and no reserves, of course, you just have to wait to be paid for your work.

In the first two cases, you’re spending money upfront that will eventually be paid back. In all three cases, QuickBooks Online calls these billable expenses and billable time, and it does a good job of tracking these transactions – much better than if you were scribbling notes on a receipt or a paper timecard.

Obviously, you want to be paid for these expenditures as soon as possible to minimize their impact on your own cash flow. So QuickBooks Online “reminds” you that they need to be billed when you create an invoice for a customer. It also offers reports that help you track unbilled time and expenses. Here’s a look at how it works.

Tracking Billable Time

It’s easy to create a billable time activity. Click +New, then Single time activity. Fill in the blanks and select items from drop-down lists until you’ve completed a form. The critical section of this screen is pictured below:

 

In this example, the employee will receive $50/hour for the work done (Cost rate). Because the Service being provided will be billed back to the customer, you click in the box in front of Billable to create a checkmark. You’re charging the customer $65/hour (a $15/hour markup), so you enter that number in the Billable field. You don’t have to worry about remembering that. QuickBooks Online, as it does with all of your other company information, retains that and makes it available to you.

Tracking Expenses

You probably already know how to record expenses in QuickBooks Online. You can either click the +New button and then Expense, or you can click the Expenses link in the toolbar and the New transaction | Expense. Just as you did in recording time activities, you complete the fields and place a checkmark in the Billable column and select the Customer/Project from the drop-down list.

Once you’ve saved a billable expense, it will appear in the table on the Expense Transactions page. To display is again, click View/Edit at the end of the corresponding row. The transaction will open, and you’ll notice that there’s a small View link in the Billable column. Click it, and you’ll see this:

 

In this example, there’s been no markup applied to the transaction. If you want to add markup costs to all billable expenses, click the gear icon in the upper right and go to Account and settings | Expenses. Click the pencil icon to the far right of the Bills and expenses block of options. Click the box in front of Markup with a default rate of to create a checkmark and enter a percentage. All of your billable expenses will now include a markup of that percentage.

Invoicing Time and Expenses

The next time you invoice a customer who has outstanding time and expenses, QuickBooks Online will remind you that they’re pending. Open an invoice form and select a customer who you know has billables. The right vertical pane will contain a box containing information like this:

 

Click Open if you want to see the original expense record. Clicking Add will, of course, include that transaction on the invoice.

QuickBooks Online offers another way to see your pending billables. Click the Reports link in the toolbar and scroll down to the Who owes you section. You’ll see two related reports here: Unbilled charges and Unbilled time.

We want you to make sure that you’re getting reimbursed for all of the time and expenses you incur on behalf of your clients. So please let us know if you have further questions on this topic or if you have other QuickBooks Online issues.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

Do you ever spend money on behalf of your customers? QuickBooks Online calls these billable expenses, and it can track them. Here’s how.

If you provide services for customers, you’ll have to invoice those hours as billable time. Did you know you can record this activity in QuickBooks Online? Here’s how.

Did you know when you invoice customers with outstanding time and expense charges, QuickBooks Online reminds you about them? Find out more here.

Confused about which customers owe you for billable time and expenses? QuickBooks Online provides specific reports for that. Find out more here.

Send us an e-mail or call us today at 901-685-9411 to discuss your QuickBooks accounting needs with an experienced CPA. Or, request a free consultation online.

Crowdfunding — Exploring the Tax Implications

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Image of two young businessmen interacting at meeting in officeCrowdfunding — or funding a project through the online contributions of many different backers — is becoming increasingly popular. If you are considering raising crowdfunding revenue or contributing to a crowdfunding campaign, you will need to address the many tax issues that can arise.

Background

While crowdfunding was initially used by artists and others to raise money for projects that were unlikely to turn a profit, others have begun to see crowdfunding as an alternative to venture capital. Depending on the project, those who contribute may receive nothing of value, a reward of nominal value (such as a T-shirt or tickets to an event), or perhaps even an ownership/equity interest in the enterprise.

Is It Income?

In an “information letter” released in 2016,1 the IRS stated that crowdfunding revenues will generally be treated as income unless they are:

  • Loans that must be repaid
  • Capital contributed to an entity in exchange for an equity interest in the entity
  • Gifts made out of detached generosity without any “quid pro quo”

The IRS noted that the facts and circumstances of each case will determine how the revenue is to be characterized and added that “crowdfunding revenues must generally be included in income to the extent they are for services rendered or are gains from the sale of property.”

Frequently, the IRS learns of the activity because crowdfunding entrepreneurs have used a third-party payment network to process the contributions. Where transactions during the year exceed a specific threshold — gross payments in excess of $20,000 and more than 200 transactions — that third party is required to send Form 1099-K (Payment Card and Third-Party Network Transactions) to the recipient and the IRS. Payments that do not meet the threshold are still potentially taxable.

If It’s Income

“Ordinary and necessary” business expenses are generally tax deductible, but deductions for expenses are limited if the IRS deems the activity a hobby rather than a trade or business. Generally, the IRS applies a “facts and circumstances” test to determine if you have a profit-making motive, which is necessary for a trade or business.

New Businesses

Favorable deduction rules may be available for certain types of expenses incurred in starting a new business. If eligible, the business may elect to expense up to $5,000 of those costs (subject to phaseout) in the year the business becomes active, with the remainder of the start-up expenditures deducted ratably over a 180-month period.

For Contributors

Campaign contributors should not assume that their gifts qualify as tax-deductible charitable contributions. Tax-deductible contributions must meet certain requirements, including that they be made to a qualified charitable organization. If gifts are made to an individual or nonqualified organization, you will generally need to file a gift tax return for gifts to any one recipient that exceed the gift tax annual exclusion ($15,000 for 2020).

These are just some of the potential tax issues that may arise. Consult your tax advisor regarding your specific situation.

We offer a variety of tax planning services to both businesses and individuals. Proactive tax planning now can save you money and make tax time a breeze. Call us at 901-685-9411 and request a free initial consultation to learn more.

Pros and Cons of a Paperless Business

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rikard and neal cpas memphis TNHas your bank, broker, credit card company, or maybe even your phone or utility company sent you information about getting your statements online instead of through the mail? Going paperless has its advantages — not the least of which may be seeing your countertop for the first time in months. But it also has its drawbacks. Before you completely eliminate paper statements, look at both the pros and cons.

The Benefits

When customers manage their accounts online, companies can save substantial amounts of money in printing and mailing costs. That’s why many companies offer incentives, such as reducing interest rates or fees or making donations to environmental groups, to encourage customers to go paperless. And fewer mailings mean there’s less risk that someone could steal personal documents from your mailbox and use the information fraudulently.

The Drawbacks

While companies claim financial information sent electronically is more secure, not everyone agrees. When they happen, security breaches can put your personal information at risk. And it may be easier to miss the e-mail or forget about reviewing statements or paying bills when you don’t have them right in front of you.

Another potential drawback: Retrieving statements that are more than a few months old may be difficult, although many companies say they’re working on archiving several years’ worth of documents.

Going paperless may be to your advantage, but weigh everything carefully before you sign up.

Take charge of your financial future. Give us a call, today, to find out how we can assist you and your business.

Send us an e-mail or call us today at 901-685-9411 to discuss your business needs with an experienced CPA. Or, request a free consultation online.

10 Tips for Better Budgeting…

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Rikard & Neal Business Tax…and how QuickBooks Online can help you with the mechanics.

If you already have a budget, it’s probably been difficult for you to stick with it for the last several months. Unless you provide products and/or services that have been in great demand since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, you’ve had to adjust your budget significantly.

Better days are ahead, though, and now is a good time to start doing some planning for 2021. While there are still likely to be uncertainties next year, creating a budget will give you a starting point. A budget increases your awareness of all of your projected income and expenses, which may make it less likely that you’ll find yourself constantly running short on funds.

Here are some ways you can make your budgeting process more effective and realistic.

Use what you already know. Unless you’re starting a brand-new business, you already have the best resource possible: a record of your past income and expenses. Use this as the basis for your projections.

Be aware of your sales cycle. Even if you’re not a seasonal business, you’ve probably learned that some months or quarters are better than others. Budget conservatively for the slower months.

Distinguish between essential and non-essential expenses. Enter your budget items for the bills and other expenses that must be covered before you add optional categories.

QuickBooks tips

You can use data from a previous year to create a new budget in QuickBooks Online.

Keep it simple. Don’t budget down to the last paper clip. You risk budget burnout, and your reports will be unwieldy.

Build in some backup funding. Just as you’re supposed to have an emergency fund in your personal life, try to create one for your business.

Make your employees part of the process. You shouldn’t be secretive about the expense element of your budget. Try to get input from staff in areas where they have knowledge.

Overestimate your expenses, a little. This can help prevent “borrowing” from one budget category to make up for a shortfall in another.

Consider using excess funds to pay down debt. Debt costs you money. The sooner you pay it off, the sooner you can use those payments for some non-essential items.

Look for areas where you can change vendors. As you’re creating your budget think carefully about each supplier of products and services. Can you find less costly alternatives?

Revisit your budget frequently. You should evaluate your progress at least once a month. In fact, you could even start by budgeting for only a couple of months at a time. You’ll learn a lot about your spending and sales patterns that you can use for future periods.

How QuickBooks Online Can Help

QuickBooks Online offers built-in tools to help you create a budget. Click the gear icon in the upper right corner and select Budgeting under Tools. Click Add budget. At the top of the screen, give your budget a Name and select the Fiscal Year it should cover from the drop-down list by that field. Choose an Interval (monthly, quarterly, or yearly) and indicate whether you want to Pre-fill data from an existing year.

QuickBooks tips

QuickBooks Online supplies a budget template that already contains commonly used small business items.

The final field is labeled Subdivide by, which is optional. You can set up budgets that only include selected Customers or Classes, for example. Select the desired divider in that field, then choose who or what you want included in the next. Click Next or Create Budget in the lower right corner (depending on whether you used pre-filled data) to open your budget template. If you subdivided the budget, you’ll see a field marked View budget for. Click the down arrow and select from the options listed there.

To create your budget, you simply enter numbers in the small boxes supplied. Columns are divided by months or quarters, depending on what you specified, and rows are labeled with budget items (Advertising, Gross Receipts, Legal & Professional Fees, etc.). You simply enter numbers in the boxes that apply. When you click in a box, a small arrow appears pointing right. Click on this, and your number will automatically appear in the rest of that row’s boxes. When you’re done, click Save in the lower right. You can edit your budget at any time.

QuickBooks Online provides two related reports. Budget Overview displays all of the data in your budget(s). Budget vs. Actuals shows you how you’re adhering to your budget.

We know creating a budget can be challenging, but it’s so important – especially right now. We’d be happy to look at your company’s financial situation and see how QuickBooks’ budgeting tools—and its other accounting features—can help you get a better understanding of your finances.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

Don’t have a budget set for your business? QuickBooks Online has tools that can simplify the process of creating one.

When you’re creating a budget, it’s helpful to distinguish between essential and non-essential expenses. QuickBooks Online has tools that can help you, including budgeting for necessities first.

When was the last time you shopped for new suppliers? Now is a good time to see if you could save some money and help with your budget. QuickBooks Online has many tools that can help both you and your business budget.

Did you know QuickBooks Online allows you to use existing income and expense data to create a budget? Here is how this is done.

Send us an e-mail or call us today at 901-685-9411 to discuss your business needs with an experienced CPA. Or, request a free consultation online.

Fix Your Bottom Line by Raising Your Prices

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Analyzing electronic documentYou can’t keep prices the same indefinitely, but raising them is always a gamble. Consumers can — and do — compare prices anywhere, anytime, on everything.

If your bottom line needs a boost, raising prices can definitely help — as long as you map out a strategy and avoid some common pitfalls.

Promote, Promote, Promote

When you’re ready to roll out the increase, plan to roll out some promotions and coupons at the same time to take the sting out of higher prices. The discounts will help keep your most cost-conscious consumers in the fold. Making discounts and coupons readily available establishes the perception that all your prices are reasonable, which may or may not be true.

If you’re concerned about promotions hurting your bottom line, don’t be. Not all of your customers will clip coupons or shop sales. Ideally, you’ll sell enough items at the higher price to raise the average sale. If that’s not happening, you can always give prices another nudge, although it’s better to go with one large increase than several small ones.

Cut Carefully

Another way to improve your financial picture is to cut costs. One common tactic is to keep the price the same but shrink the amount of product (e.g., a skinnier box of cereal or slimmer container of juice). But this can backfire. If customers discover the change and feel cheated, you could become the target of a social media campaign, which could turn out badly. You could end up with less business and a ruined reputation.

Get Creative

Thinking outside the box (rather than shrinking it) might provide some opportunities to increase revenue. For instance, you might be able to unbundle a popular product. You can actually lower the price of the basic item, then add additional charges for each bell and whistle.

Add Value

Big box stores and online shopping may help customers find lower prices, but there’s one thing they can’t do. They can’t give their customers the kind of service you can. That’s a value only small businesses can offer. If you do it right, it can help you weather a price increase.

Call us today for more tips on how to ensure you’re following business best practices, and let us help you keep your company in the black.

Send us an e-mail or call us today at 901-685-9411 to discuss your business needs with an experienced CPA. Or, request a free consultation online.