Tag Archives: taxes2020

COVID 19 UPDATES, Financial Planning, General Business News

SVOG application portal reopens today at 12pm ET

The U.S. Small Business Administration, citing negative feedback to previously announced plans to reopen the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) application portal on Saturday, announced Friday night that it was rescheduling the reopening for today at noon EDT.

“We heard you and we are taking action,” the SBA said in an emailed statement. “It is our top priority to deliver on the promise and commitment to provide economic lifelines to you ASAP. Yet, we understand the challenges a weekend opening would bring and to ensure the greatest number of businesses can apply for these funds, we decided to reschedule.”

The Friday announcement came less than 24 hours after the SBA had announced the Saturday reopening. In a brief statement issued late Thursday night, the agency said it had completed rigorous testing on the portal, which was forced to shut down due to technical issues only hours after it opened on April 8. The SBA also provided updated documents and guidance Friday. The agency said that interested applicants should register for an account in advance through the portal.

In addition, the SBA released updated FAQ guidance related to the SVOG program. The FAQs are reorganized for clarity, and content that is new or substantially changed is marked with an asterisk. Among the new information included is a Question 31 in the Application section that provides a sample statement that applicants can use for their Certification of Need. Also, a clarification in Question 11 in the Revenue section indicates that the SBA will look to the entity’s calendar year 2019 earned revenues as the basis for determining the award amount.

The application portal for the SVOG program ran into technical difficulties almost immediately on April 8, with venue owners and other eligible businesses saying on social media that they could not upload supporting documents for their applications. The SBA then shut down the portal for repairs.

The SBA said last week that its vendors had fixed the root cause of the initial problems but that more in-depth risk analysis and stress tests identified other issues.

Here is what you need to do:
COVID 19 UPDATES, Financial Planning, General Business News

WHERE IS MY FEDERAL TAX REFUND

April 21, 2021
Dear Clients, Business Associates and Friends:
Typically the IRS processes electronic returns and pays out the tax refund within 21 days of receipt.
However, the high volume of 2020 tax returns being filed daily, the backlog of 2019 paper tax returns, IRS resource issues, and IRS technology problems are causing delays in issuing the tax refunds. This is due, in part, to the IRS’s need to manually verify the large number of Refund Recovery Credits, as well as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Advanced Child Tax Credit and 2019 adjusted income lookback claims.
Currently, the vast majority of processing delays are a result from tax returns that are not loaded onto the IRS system or are in “suspense” status awaiting IRS action. As of March 25, 2021, over 6 million electronic returns have been “suspended” due to issues requiring manual processing or return inconsistencies. Until the returns are loaded into the IRS system, the IRS cannot see or access the return information so if you call them, they cannot provide any further insight on the status of your tax return.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service is working with the IRS to identify how taxpayers can use the Where’s MY Refund website to determine the status of their return.
In conclusion, until the IRS resolves all of the issues stated, taxpayers just need to sit back and wait for their refunds as there is nothing else that can be done by WZ or the taxpayer, to accelerate the refund process.