IRS Announces Updated Per Diem Rates for Business Travel

The IRS recently announced per diem rates that can be used to substantiate the amount of business expenses incurred for travel away from home on or after October 1, 2020. Employers using these rates to set per diem allowances can treat the amount of certain categories of travel expenses as substantiated without requiring that employees prove the actual amount spent. However, employees must still substantiate the time, place and business purposes of their travel expenses.

Navigating the New Normal: Customer Service

You’d be hard-pressed to find a business that doesn’t value its customers, but tough times put many things into perspective. As companies have adjusted to operating during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic fallout, prioritizing customer service has become more important than ever.

Understanding the Impacts of Furloughs and Layoffs on Employee Benefit Plans

Many employers have been forced to implement some form of workforce reduction in order to continue operating during the COVID-19 pandemic. While furloughs and layoffs have a significant and immediate impact on a company’s operations, plan sponsors also need to understand the longer-term effects that workforce reductions may have on participants’ benefits and retirement accounts.

Navigating the New Normal: Employee Onboarding

Although many businesses have had to reduce their workforces because of the COVID-19 pandemic, others are still hiring, or may start bringing on new employees in the weeks or months ahead. A thoughtful onboarding program has become more important than ever in today’s anxious environment of safety concerns and compliance challenges.

Navigating the New Normal: 6 Key IT Questions to Ask

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact businesses across all industries, business owners are being forced to reevaluate all aspects of their operations and are relying on technology now more than ever before.

5 Reasons Not to Rush Your PPP Loan Forgiveness Application

With the extended PPP loan application deadline behind us, many borrowers are anxious to start their loan forgiveness application to ensure that their loan funds are forgiven. Currently, borrowers have until 10 months after the end of the loan’s covered period to apply for forgiveness. At that point, if forgiveness forms have not been submitted, any borrowed funds officially become a loan that needs to be repaid.

Navigating the New Normal: Financial Best Practices

In the first blog in our ‘Navigating the New Normal’ series, we will take a look at finances, and discuss some best practices for maintaining control in an uncertain economy.

IRS Will Allow Midyear Changes to Health Coverage Elections in 2020

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS has increased flexibility for 2020 midyear elections under a Sec. 125 Cafeteria Plan in regard to employer-sponsored health coverage, flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) and dependent care assistance programs.

Are Your Internal Controls Effective in a Remote Work Environment?

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it over the last several months, and businesses have been forced to adapt to the ‘new normal’, which in many cases, means having an entirely remote workforce for the first time ever.

SBA Closes EIDL Advance Program

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced that it has closed its Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Advance program after granting the entirety of its $20 billion in emergency funding to nearly 6 million small businesses, including non-profit organizations, sole proprietors, and independent contractors impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.