This Week in the iNews:

▲ 2009 RECOVERY ACT INCENTIVES

▲ SBA INTRODUCES NEW SMALL BUSINESS LOANS

▲ TECH TIP WEEKLY: INTERNET EXPLORER TIPS

▲ 2009 RECOVERY ACT INCENTIVES

The first half of 2009 is rapidly coming to a close and now is a good time to look at the business tax incentives created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). These include bonus depreciation, Code Sec. 179 expensing election and net operating loss carrybacks.

Bonus depreciation provides for a 50 percent depreciation allowance of the cost of the eligible property in the first year. Additionally, corporations that have unused research or alternative minimum tax credits may be able to accelerate them into the current year in lieu of the bonus depreciation.

Sec. 179 expensing allows qualified taxpayers to deduct up to $250,000 of the cost of machinery, equipment, furniture and vehicles placed in service during 2009. This $250,000 is reduced if the cost of all eligible property placed in service during the year exceeds $800,000.

Net Operating Loss Carrybacks have been extended from a two to a five year period for losses incurred. Therefore taxpayers may elect to carryback a 2008 loss to 2003 if that is applicable. By carrying back these losses and eliminating any tax liability in a particular year it may have the effect of releasing certain business credits that are not used in the carryback year. These credits may then be carried back one more year and any unused credits may then be carried forward 20 years.

Please contact your Prangley Marks professional if you would like more information regarding these incentives.

▲SBA Introduces New Small Business Loans

The Small Business Administration has begun offering interest-free loans of up to $35,000 to small businesses through SBA-approved lenders.

The American Recovery Capital loan program was established as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus bill that President Obama signed in February, but the loans just became available. They are intended as short-term relief to viable small businesses facing immediate financial hardship to help them ride out the current uncertain economic times and return to profitability. Each small business is limited to one ARC loan.

The loans will be made by commercial lenders and can be used for payments of principal and interest for existing qualifying business debts like credit card obligations, mortgages, lines of credit, and balances due to suppliers, vendors and utilities. Funds borrowed through the program are provided interest-free and borrowers have one year before repayment needs to begin.

Businesses that are experiencing immediate financial hardship, but deemed by the SBA to be otherwise viable, will be eligible for the loans. Congress is also pressing the SBA to swiftly implement other provisions in the Recovery Act that will help small companies access capital. In addition to the ARC loans, the Recovery Act increases the percentage of a loan that the SBA can guarantee, makes SBA-backed loans more affordable, and provides tools to unfreeze the small-business credit markets, helping small companies access capital at affordable rates.

To apply for ARC loans, businesses should visit a local SBA-approved small-business lender. The loans will be available through Sept. 30, 2010, or until appropriated funding runs out. Additional information about the ARC loan program is available at: www.sba.gov/recovery/arcloanprogram/index.html

▲ TECH TIP WEEKLY: Internet Explorer Tips, from the desk of Marty Grausam, CPA CFE CISA

Get the most from Microsoft’s new web browser, Internet Explorer 8, and search within web pages faster!

IE8’s new dynamic inline search has nothing to do with search engines. It is about searching for text within the page you are presently viewing. Previous versions of IE used a pop-up search box, into which you would enter the text you wanted to find, and then click Find.

That was then. IE8 is now.

With IE8, searching within a page (i.e. inline) is dynamic. Hit Ctrl-F to bring up the search field (appearing just below the tabs), then you start typing. The browser will highlight the closest match with each character you enter.

If you haven’t tried IE8 yet, you should seriously consider taking a look. It is far better than previous versions in many ways, so you might as well get the latest and the greatest!