On May 28, 2020, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R.7010, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, by a vote of 417-1. The National Conference of CPA Practitioners announces its support of this legislation.

When the CARES Act was passed in March, many of its provisions were designed to assist the small business owner; however, they were written vaguely and became subject to interpretation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in a way unintended by the legislation. Other aspects did not fully take into consideration the effects of the economic shutdown across the country. This newly proposed legislation is an attempt to rectify some of those effects.

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The National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) is a nationwide organization offering its members:

• A national voice presenting your views to Congress, the profession, the business community, and state boards of accounting.
• Quality, accredited Continuing Professional Education seminars on local and national levels.
• National newsletter.
• Membership Guide and Referral Directory. 
• Practitioners helping practitioners.  Join in on our latest discussions and follow our recent blogs.
• Cooperative buying program offering discounts on products and services used by CPA firms.

The National Conference of CPA Practitioners provides you and your firm with valuable discounts, informational tools, and the enhanced services you need to succeed in today’s business environment. NCCPAP wants to be your business partner in a whole line of affinity programs.

Normally, May is when the NCCPAP (National Conference of CPA Practitioners) Board of Directors, Tax Committee, and other members go to Washington, D.C. Their purpose is to meet with members of Congress, the IRS, U.S. Department of the Treasury, and others who create the laws, and the interpretation of those law, that affect taxpayers. This highlight of the year involves a twelve-month-long process. They set an agenda, select those government representatives to visit, match NCCPAP members with them, and confirm in-person meetings. This year, NCCPAP will organize a small group of its members and likely visit Capitol Hill in the fall. In the meantime, this video showcases the importance of this event, what has been accomplished over the years, and the impact it has on members—and the CPA profession, in general.

NCCPAP appreciates the efforts of Senator Chuck Grassley, Senator Ron Wyden, and their colleagues in the United States Senate to help small businesses across the country during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

In an open letter to Senators Grassley and Wyden, NCCPAP President Neil H. Fishman, CPA, CFE, FCPA, CAMS and Co-chairs of the NCCPAP Tax Policy Committee, Stephen F. Mankowski, CPA, CGMA and Sanford E. Zinman, CPA wrote, “At this time, NCCPAP wants to give our support to S.3612, the ‘Small Business Expense Protection Act of 2020.’

“It is clear to us that when the CARES Act (H.R.748) was passed, the intent was to provide assistance to small businesses and their owners once they were able to restart their operations. On April 30, the IRS issued Notice 2020-32 stating that businesses participating in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) would not be allowed to deduct expenses that their PPP funds were used for, even though they met the criteria for forgiveness. This, in our opinion, contradicts the intent of the previously passed legislation, which was written to assist small businesses, not hinder them.

“It is our hope that this legislation will become law, and that once the economy is allowed to restart, small business owners will get the full benefit of the CARES Act, as it was intended.”

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The National Conference of CPA Practitioners is calling for immediate action regarding the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) as a number of larger businesses have received a majority of the funds.

In an open letter to Mnuchin and Carranza, NCCPAP President Neil H. Fishman, CPA, CFE, FCPA, CAMS and Co-chairs of the NCCPAP Tax Policy Committee, Stephen F. Mankowski, CPA, CGMA and Sanford E. Zinman, CPA wrote, “This PPP Loan program was designed to assist small businesses in retaining employees during the COVID- 19 crisis by providing business owners with funds to be able to retain and pay their employees while their businesses were affected by the current situation. While intended to be meant for small businesses, the majority of the funds have been given to larger business entities. Small businesses may never recover.”

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The National Conference of CPA Practitioners is calling on the Treasury and the Small Business Administration to operate the CARES Act the way it was intended, and that is to help more small businesses and independent contractors.

In an open letter to Mnuchin and Carranza, NCCPAP President Neil H. Fishman, CPA, CFE, FCPA, CAMS and Co-chairs of the NCCPAP Tax Policy Committee, Stephen F. Mankowski, CPA, CGMA and Sanford E. Zinman, CPA wrote, “The CARES Act created a ‘working capital advance’ within the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) program at the SBA intended to help small businesses by awarding grants of up to $10,000 per business.

“This loan advance did not have to be repaid even if the application was denied and the advance was supposed to be made within 3 days. At the time it became law, there were no restrictions. NOWHERE is there indication as to how the amount is to be determined.

“With your announcement, the determining factor for the amount to be issued will be based on the number of employees. Therefore, you have, in effect: eliminated ALL Independent Contractors with no employees, and eliminated any other business entity that does not have employees.”

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Immediate Past President and current Tax Chair, Stephen Mankowski, CPA, recently attended the March 2020 IRS NPL meeting. Highlighted topics include: An update from Commissioner Rettig and important COVID-19 Compliance Issues.

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The National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) is quite pleased with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s response to their letter calling for an extension to the tax deadline. On Friday, March 20, the U.S. Department of the Treasury responded to further requests, from NCCPAP and others. They revised their initial decision and extended the deadline for both filing and payment of taxes to July 15, 2020.

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The National Conference of CPA Practitioners is calling on the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to push the federal tax filing and payment deadlines to Oct. 15.

In an open letter to Mnuchin, NCCPAP president Neil H. Fishman, CPA, CFE, FCPA, CAMS wrote, “The action taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury with respect to the preparation and filing of 2019 income tax returns, along with any payments that would be due with those returns in many cases, does not reflect the difficulties that have been imposed on both tax practitioners and their clients by the current crisis.”

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On Tuesday, March 3, National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) President Neil H. Fishman, CPA, CFE, FCPA, CAMS, and its Past President, Tax Chair and IRS National Public Liaison, Stephen Mankowski, CPA, attended the IRS Virtual Currency Summit in Washington, DC. The Summit was hosted by IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig and Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Compliance Integration John Cardone. Read the highlights from the four panel sessions below.

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