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FEATURED CONTENT
COVID Relief Money Is Still Hiding in Plain Sight: The Employee Retention Credit
Business COVID relief funds have been plentiful. We have seen it all from state and local grant programs to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The dollars have flowed freely during the past two years although some programs were certainly simpler than others. The Employee Retention Credit (ERC), unfortunately, has been the most complex and misunderstood relief program. It deserves serious consideration along with a second and third look. ERC has suffered from a branding problem, from repeated changes, and because the PPP overshadowed it. The CARES Act brought both programs to life in March 2020 , but small businesses quickly ignored the ERC in favor of the forgivable PPP loans. A taxpayer could only choose one of these programs until the December 2020 COVID relief law retroactively allowed them to coexist in the same business. But once again a second round of PPP loans overshadowed the ERC. Perhaps now with the grants awarded and PPP funds issued, the ERC can finally get the attention it deserves. The benefits are tremendous at up to $5,000 per employee in 2020 and $28,000 per employee in 2021. Opportunities abound for businesses and advisers to be on the hunt for ERC eligibility both obvious and obscure. Today, let’s review the program and cover some of the unusual ways to qualify.
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CURRENT EDITION
An Analysis of the OBBBA’s Trump Accounts (Part 1)
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, added a new tax saving tool for minors, the aptly named Trump Accounts. In this article, I go over the details of the new Trump Accounts. In part II, I will discuss some of the potential tax planning opportunities and pitfalls related to the new accounts.
Student Loans After the OBBBA Part 1: New Rules Every Advisor Needs to Know
Big changes are coming to the student loan world (yet again), and they’re not the kind you can just skim past. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) has reshaped how much students will be able to borrow, how they’ll repay it, and which programs will qualify for federal aid going forward. For financial and tax professionals, these shifts aren’t just policy updates. They’ll set the stage for how you’ll advise clients for years to come… and could even change the way you manage your own student loans. In Part 1 of our OBBBA student loan series, we break down the nuts and bolts of these new rules to help advisors (and borrowers) get some clarity on the collective question: “Seriously, what’s going on with student loans?”
IRS And Courts Have Wisdom to Offer Startup Businesses
There is a wealth of business wisdom in a fairly unlikely area. All the businesses involved lost money, sometimes enormous sums. The source is the litigation and regulation around Code Section 183 of the Internal Revenue Code – Activities not engaged in for profit. In order to deduct those losses against other income, taxpayers need to convince the IRS or the court that they had an honest objective of making a profit. The determination of whether an activity is carried on for profit is made by reference to objective standards. Is it possible that following those standards might contribute to you being profitable? It’s worth thinking about.
SIMPLIFIED TAX STRATEGIES &
PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION
Think Outside the Tax Box provides tax reduction strategies along with practical
implementation advice in order to reduce your clients’ federal tax bill with ease.
