Sumter County Bar committee offering webinar on tax changes amid pandemic

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Congress has enacted tax changes to help affected businesses and churches in response to COVID-19, but those benefits haven't received near as much attention as other stimulus initiatives, such as the CARES Act Payroll Protection Program.

Enter the Sumter County Bar Association's ad hoc COVID-19 Help Committee, a team of local lawyers, chaired by Archie Parnell, who want to help area small businesses and faith-based institutions navigate employee retention tax credits and other changes that have been put into place.

Parnell spoke earlier this week about a Friday webinar that he will be presenting - specifically for affected small businesses - and a webinar in the coming weeks for affected churches that have employees.

Small businesses that didn't receive a loan from the federal government's Payroll Protection Program are eligible for the tax credits, he said, and also must have been "adversely affected" by COVID-19.

That means the businesses' operations with employees were fully or partially suspended due to a governmental order amid the pandemic or had a significant decline in gross receipts compared to the same quarter in 2019.

"If businesses meet those suspension and loss-of-revenue tests," Parnell said, "and they didn't get in the Payroll Protection Program, then they can get up to $5,000 against the employer's payroll."

A Sumter native and resident, Parnell spent his career as an attorney in tax law for the federal government and Fortune 500 companies.

Friday's webinar will be via Zoom at noon and is being hosted by the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce and the University of South Carolina Sumter's Small Business Development Center. Seat registration is still open.

Parnell said other tax changes will also be discussed in the webinar.

The webinar is free, and businesses and churches can register through the chamber's website, www.sumterchamber.com, which will take individuals to a sign-up page via the South Carolina Small Business Development Center.

If anyone has questions regarding signing up, contact Catherine Blumberg with USC Sumter's Small Business Development Center at (803) 938-3833.