Tennessee Business Relief Program
The Tennessee Business Relief Program was implemented in early June to reimburse small businesses for costs incurred as a result of the mandatory closures due to COVID-19. The program will be funded through Tennessee’s Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds and is expected to distribute around $200,000,000 in funds to over 28,000 qualifying businesses. No application is required to be eligible for the Tennessee Business Relief Program because eligibility is based on whether the business collects sales tax or pays business tax. On average, the eligible businesses have annual gross sales of $500,000 or less. Businesses are eligible for the business relief program
Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act
On June 3, 2020, Congress passed the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act, which marks the beginning of a second wave of Coronavirus related legislation expected to come out of Washington. The Act modifies several provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program originally implemented under the CARES Act in March. The goal of the Act is to create more flexibility within the forgiveness system in order to allow borrowers to achieve full or almost full forgiveness for their PPP loans. Most significantly, the Flexibility Act will allow businesses who have already received funds to extend the covered period from 8 weeks to 24 weeks.
Ways to Help Your Small Business During COVID-19; Application for Forgiveness of SBA Payroll Protection Program Loans
On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act became the first stimulus-relief package passed into law, which in part is able to provide $376 billion in relief for Americans and their small businesses. In addition to traditional SBA funding, the Act offers temporary programs directly related to Coronavirus relief. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) allows small businesses to keep their employees on payroll by funding eight weeks of payroll, rent, mortgage interest, and utilities. If the business only uses the funds for these reasons, then the SBA will forgive the loan. To receive partial or even full forgiveness of the PPP Loans,
Secure Act Revises Key Retirement Account Rules
Good News: The age at which the owner of the IRA or 401k must begin to take his or her required minimum distributions (RMD) has been increased from 70 1/2 to 72. However, if you reached 70 1/2 in 2019 or earlier you must continue to take your RMDs in 2020 and subsequent years. Beginning in 2020, IRA owners may now continue to contribute to a traditional IRA after reaching age 70 1/2 if they have earned income. A retirement account owner may now take up to $5,000 from the account to cover birth/adoption expenses without early withdrawal penalties. BAD NEWS: In most instances, at
Creditors Holding Underwater Secured Claims in Bankruptcy Thrown Lifeline by SCOTUS
On June 1, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) issued its opinion for a pair of cases, which yielded a favorable holding for secured creditors in bankruptcy. The cases of Bank of America, N.A. v. Caulkett and Bank of America, N.A. v. Toledo-Cardona involved debtors who were in Chapter 7 bankruptcy and who each owned a home encumbered with a senior mortgage lien and a junior mortgage lien. In both cases, the values of both houses were less than the senior mortgage lien, which left the junior mortgage liens wholly underwater. Both debtors sought to void the