In the News
Virginia Legislature Enacts Law to Protect Consumer Privacy: Big Consequences for Business Owners
Does your business deal with a consumer’s personal data? Does your business interact with Virginia residents? If so, your business operations could be greatly affected by a new law aimed at protecting consumer privacy. Set to take effect January 1, 2023, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (“VCDPA”) will grant Virginia residents the rights to access, correct, delete, know, and opt-out of the sale and processing for targeted advertising purposes of their personal information. It will...
COURT FIRES WARNING VOLLEY AT FINANCIAL SERVICES BUSINESSES THAT USE AFFILIATED TITLE COMPANIES IN REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENTS
The United States District Court in Maryland has recently ruled that a lender who uses an internal title company for its real estate settlements is on the hook for the title company’s alleged violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This ruling could spell bad news for financial services businesses that use owned or affiliated subsidiaries in their real estate settlements, as it indicates that courts may be willing to look bey...
IS REAL ESTATE STILL IN YOUR NAME? YOU ARE EXPOSED!
Owning property is a cornerstone of the American dream, but if it is deeded in your name, you might be opening yourself up to more risk than reward! Cost-cutting and risk avoidance are crucial to a company's success – especially small businesses. Here at Weiss LLP, we have found that transferring one's title to a property, owned in his or her sole name, into a limited liability company (LLC) offers such protection. Benefits to doing so range from avoiding payment of certain taxes otherwise ap...
SBA CONTINUES EIDL PROGRAM
NON-RECOURSE LOANS WITHOUT LOAN FEES NON-RECOURSE UP TO $200,000 - RECOURSE OVER $200,000 30 YEAR TERMS – BEST LOANS ANYWHERE! Following up a year of success in the EIDL* loan program, the US Small Business Administration will increase the maximum size of EIDL loans to $500,000. If you don’t know about this program, you should. If you already have an EIDL loan, it’s likely you maxed out at $150,000; the new COVID Act allows an increase to $500,000 if you apply on or after A...
Smallest of Businesses to Get a Leg-Up in PPP Loan Access
There is more good news for small businesses in regard to the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program! Beginning February 24th, 2021, there will be a two-week-long application period specifically for small businesses and nonprofits with fewer than 20 employees. This is in an attempt to give the smallest of our country’s businesses a leg up and make sure they are being served as best they can. There are also four additional changes to the PPP, enacted to help these small businesses even further...
Short Term Rentals – Owner Beware and Owner “Be-Smart”
The short term rental (STR) industry has taken off in the past couple of years and has generally been resilient in the face of economic struggles. Government regulation of this ever-growing industry has generally focused on zoning and tax issues, without seeming to fully address situations related to liability. One of the biggest problems arising out of this area is how to treat the relationship between owner and renter, as how that relationship is treated directly determines any liability the ...
Great News for Small Businesses – Second Round of PPP Loans Available!
On December 27th, the $900 billion relief bill became law; this law includes a revamp and extension of the Paycheck Protection Program. The Program, commonly referred to as PPP, is designed to help small businesses, nonprofits, and venues that have faced financial struggles due to the coronavirus pandemic. The most pertinent updates from the PPP revamp include the following: The bill allows new PPP applications to be submitted by eligible applicants who did not previously obtain a PPP loan;S...
Potential New Requirements for $2 million+ PPP Loan Recipients
In an effort to keep you apprised of updates to the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, we are circulating this article concerning loan forgiveness forms that may have been submitted. Specifically, it has come to our attention that the SBA plans to send additional PPP loan questionaries to businesses that received more than $2 million in loans. These questionnaires will focus on the “good faith” certification that businesses made when applying for a loan and ask f...
$50,000 or Less in PPP – If so, you will WANT to read this!
Great news for many PPP borrowers! For quite some time, the U.S. Small Business Administration and Treasury Department have been interested in simplifying the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) forgiveness process for borrowers. On October 8, 2020, the Small Business Administration released a simplified PPP forgiveness application form, Form 3508S, designed to remove the headache from many small businesses that benefited from the program. This article is written to address some of the ...
PPP Loan Forgiveness Update: Online Bank Portals
This release is yet another regarding the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness program. As the loan forgiveness process is unpredictable due to constantly changing legislation, many banks previously declined to open an online portal to submit Forgiveness Applications. This was likely in an effort to reduce confusion and ensure applicants were not applying for their loans with outdated forms or assumptions. However, given the difficulty associated with predicting any action b...