HD Tax Preparation & Small Business Services

Hi all! Due to COVID-19 business restrictions, we are not taking walk-ins to allow for proper social distancing parameters recommended by the CDC. If you need to make an appointment please call us at 406-531-9615 and we will schedule an appointment for either later same day or by the end of the week depending on our daily schedule. If you're feeling ill, have had a fever in the past 36 hours, or have a cough or runny nose, please consider rescheduling for the health and saftey of HD staff and yourself. We strive to keep a safe and socially distant office, please help us with that by following our very simple in-office procedures. Thank you for your continued support of our small business during this turbulent time!

HD Tax Preparation & Small Business Services, LLP updated their business hours.

HD Tax Preparation & Small Business Services, LLP updated their website address.

FUNDING FOR SMALL BUSINESSES AND SELF-EMPLOYED If you own a small business or are self-employed, PLEASE READ!! This is a lot of info, please reach out with questions. The CARES Act allocated $350 billion to the creation of a new loan program, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which will provide 100% federally guaranteed and forgivable loans (grants) to small businesses who retain their employees or restore employees who were fired after February 15. The Small Business Administration and Treasury Department will soon release guidance and further details about the program. Secretary Mnuchin stated these loans will begin on Friday (4/3). General Eligibility Guidelines- • Businesses and entities must have been in operation on February 15, 2020. • Small businesses and (501(c)(3) and 501(c)(19) non-profits with fewer than 500 employees (includes full-time, part-time, or any other status), or fewer than 500 employees per physical location for franchisees, hospitality, and restaurant businesses, or the applicable size standard in the number of employees for the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry as provided by SBA, if higher. • Sole proprietorships, independent contractors, gig workers, and self-employed individuals are all eligible. Where to obtain PPP funding/loans- You can apply with any lending institution that is a current 7(a) lender. Start by contacting the local financial institution you already use to see if they are participating. Over the next few weeks, the Department of the Treasury will approve additional bank and non-bank lenders to participate in the program. Potential Loan Amount- Any small business is eligible to borrow 250 per cent of their average monthly payroll expenses, up to a total of $10 million. This amount is intended to cover 8 weeks of payroll expenses and any additional amounts for making payments towards debt obligations. This 8-week period may be applied to any time frame between February 15, 2020, and June 30, 2020. Seasonal business expenses will be measured using a 12-week period beginning February 15, 2019, or March 1, 2019, at the seasonal employer's discretion. Basic Guidelines to Qualify for Loan Forgiveness- The amount of principal that may be forgiven is equal to the sum of expenses for payroll, and existing interest payments on mortgages, rent payments, leases, and utility service agreements. Payroll costs include employee salaries (up to an annual rate of pay of $100,000), hourly wages and cash tips, paid sick or medical leave, and group health insurance premiums. If you would like to use the Paycheck Protection Program for other business-related expenses, like inventory and capital improvements, you can do so but that portion of the loan won’t be forgiven. Reductions in employment or wages that occur during the period beginning on February 15, 2020, and ending April 26, 2020 (30 days after the date of enactment) will not reduce the amount of loan forgiveness if, by June 30, 2020, the borrower eliminates the reduction in employees or reduction in wages. Loan Forgiveness- Borrowers will work with SBA lenders to verify covered expenses so the correct amount of forgiveness can be determined. The amount of verifiable covered expenses will be forgiven at the end of the 8-week period after you take out the loan. Costs Eligible for Payroll • Compensation (salary, wage commission, or similar compensation, payment of cash tip or equivalent) • Payment for vacation, parental, family, medical, or sick leave • Allowance for dismissal or separation • Payment required for the provisions of group health care benefits, including insurance premiums • Payment of any retirement benefit. • Payment of state or local tax assessed on the compensation of employees. Economic Injury Disaster Loan v. Paycheck Protection Program • An applicant cannot “double-dip” and receive duplicate funds for the same losses. • EIDL loan proceeds may be refinanced into a PPP loan. • EIDL applications are open and currently available • PPP loan applications will be available for businesses on 4/3/2020 and 4/10/2020 for sole proprietors/gig & contract workers. Small Business Tax Incentives The following tax incentives are available to those employers who DO NOT receive funding via the Payroll Protection Program: Employer Payroll Tax Delay- Employers can defer the 6.2 per cent payroll tax due for the rest of the year until the end of 2021, 2022. Note, this is a deferment of, not relief from, payroll taxes. ie. The tax will need to be paid by the end of 2022. Congress thinks the net cost of this provision is about $12.3 billion, although estimates of the amount of extra cash this would provide businesses are much larger (depending on unemployment, about $732 billion over the next two years). Employee Retention Payroll Tax Credit- Certain employers may receive a payroll tax credit of as much as $5,000 per employee for wages (and health benefits) paid after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2021. If the credit amount exceeds the employer’s liability, the excess shall be refundable. It is estimated that the credit will provide an aggregate benefit of about $54.6 billion. Thanks to Senator Daines’ office for insights and clarification! SBA.GOV Small Business Administration

Your small business may qualify for emergency SBA funding!!! The SBA has made an initial advance of UP TO $10,000 to those small businesses who meet guidelines laid out by the recently passed CARES bill that hopes to provide financial relief for all Americans. It's unknown at this time if this particular funding will have a payback requirement, but I would like to caution anyone applying to assume that it WILL need to be paid back. The link is below, please let me know via text or email if you have any questions. https://covid19relief.sba.gov/#/ 406.531.9615 justine@hdtaxbiz.com COVID19RELIEF.SBA.GOV SBA - Disaster Loan Assistance

For all our self-employed followers and anyone who has family or friends who are self-employed, this is directly from the MT Ui website and provides at least a bit of insight into the availability of employment benefits for those of you experiencing job-loss related to the COVID 19 epidemic in our state: "Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act Federal lawmakers have passed the CARES Act, a COVID-19 stimulus bill that will expand Unemployment Insurance Benefits to those not traditionally covered. The Montana Department of Labor & Industry is awaiting guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor on the administration of this new program. Once we receive those details, we can complete the system changes to start accepting claims under the expanded program. We are prepared to backdate unemployment assistance claims authorized under the CARES Act, to the week of March 15th or March 23rd, consistent with the onset of local and state social distancing directives and last week’s “Stay at Home” directive. When the system is ready to start receiving these claims, we will make announcements through the news media, our websites, and social media. In the meantime, we encourage everyone who has experienced job loss due to COVID-19 to file a claim for regular unemployment. The claim may be denied for insufficient wages due to self-employment or otherwise; but that sets the stage to qualify for the expanded benefits. For those who were previously eligible and have already applied, please continue to file your weekly claim. Additional information on the CARES Act can be found here." In other words... EVEN IF YOU'RE SELF-EMPLOYED AND SOMEONE (INCLUDING ME) HAS TOLD YOU OTHERWISE, GO TO MONTANAWORKS.GOV AND APPLY FOR BENEFITS. PLEASE NOTE!!! Your claim will likely be denied initially. The idea here is that that once the state has the tools in place to process the federal funding appropriated for this you'll be ahead of the game and WILL receive benefits if you qualify under the federal guidelines. Get in touch with me via phone, text or email if you have trouble navigating the system. 406.531.9615 or justine@hdtaxbiz.com And thank you, Lorene, for the heads up on this😊

Happy it's Thursday, love this weekly meeting with all these great folks!

We have great group, give me a shout if you're interested!!

Justine DesJarlais is at Biz to Biz-Missoula 8. December 17, 2020 at 8:58 AM · Hanging with my Biz to Biz colleagues this morning..! We have a great group, let me know if you're interested in a wonderful networking opportunity 😊

Hanging with my Biz to Biz colleagues this morning..! We have a great group, let me know if you're interested in a wonderful networking opportunity 😊