Wendy Mecham recieves a delivery at Mountain View CPA's Monday afternoon in Chehalis.
Mountain View CPAs
Wendy Mecham at Mountain View CPAs Monday afternoon in Chehalis.
Mountain View CPAs are offering free consultations for small businesses that are in the process of applying for grants or that would like to know which grants they are qualified to receive during the COVID-19 shutdown.
“We are offering additional consultation for businesses that need assistance with trying to navigate through all of these different relief measures that are available and trying to help with what might be beneficial for them and their businesses,” said Wendy Mecham, a CPA and one of the three owners of Mountain View CPAs.
Mecham said that they have helped over a dozen local clients apply for the Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and they are continually working with small businesses to help them find the loans and grants that their specific business qualifies for.
“The rules (of loans and grants) are kind of complicated and they are available for businesses as well as self-employed individuals so the rules are a little bit different depending on the number of employees. Some of these businesses just need a little bit of guidance as to what they qualify for and which items they can purchase that will grant them forgiveness prior to the loans,” she said.
The application process for small business loans opened on April 3 and opened on April 10 for self-employed individuals. Mecham said that some of the clients she has helped have had their application accepted and they are waiting on funds.
“These loans are limited. They are on a first-come, first-serve basis so it is very important for clients if they desire to get these loans to start the application process as soon as possible and not wait,” she said.
The Mountain View CPAs office locations in Centralia, Morton, and Chehalis are currently closed to the public, so they are conducting consultations over the phone. Mecham said it’s best if all calls are made to the Chehalis location at 360-748-0217 and they will set up a time for a consultation.
Tax deadlines have been extended from April 15 to July 15.
“That includes individuals, businesses, estates, trusts, all of those returns have been extended until July 15 and we are still available to do tax returns if people need those done. Right now we have a dropbox at the Chehalis location so they can drop information at the dropbox,” said Mecham.
She also emphasized that people who have not filed their tax return for 2018 or 2019 that they need to do so as soon as possible or they will not receive the stimulus payments unless they are receiving social security.
In order to qualify for the stimulus payment, individuals must have a U.S. social security number and cannot be claimed as a dependent of someone else on the 2019 tax return. There is also an income limit on who receives the stimulus payment — for individuals, the “phase-out period” starts if the individuals make $75,000 a year and for married couples, the “phase-out period” starts at $150,000, said Mecham.“For the married couple filing jointly if they make over $150,000, the stimulus payment will be reduced. They will receive a reduced payment until their income is up to $198,000. If their income is over $198,000 they will not receive any payment,” said Mecham.
Mecham said that people can call and set up a consultation even if they just have questions about the different types of loans available to them such as economic disaster loans and paycheck protection loans.
“Obviously we work with a lot of small businesses and we want to see all of these small businesses make it through this and be successful. Our business depends on them being in business as well so in the long-term it’s a benefit to see them make it through this,” Mecham.
