It is with great sadness that we, the employees of Gray, Griffith & Mays, a.c., announce the death of our partner, and more importantly - our friend, Gale Gray and his wife Pam.

Please help us welcome Sydney Miller to the Gray, Griffith & Mays team! Sydney is a recent graduate of West Virginia State University, where she played tennis and dual-majored in Accounting and Economics. Sydney joins the rapidly growing Audit Department where she will focus on Employee Benefit Plan and Not-for-Profit attestation engagements. Outside of work, Sydney enjoys going on walks and playing tennis competitively in the Charleston community.

Please help us welcome Madison Workman to the Gray Griffith & Mays team. Madison is a recent graduate of West Virginia State University and joins the Tax & Small Business Accounting Department as a Staff Associate. When she is not providing assistance to her tax and small business clients, she enjoys West Virginia flatwater kayaking, trips to the beach, and spending time with her family.
 

The industry publication Hospice News recently interviewed Ryan Lindsay, Director of The Health Group and Gray, Griffith & Mays, to discuss the major factors causing disruption in the health care industry, including Amazon's role, mergers and acquisitions, cybersecurity, and staffing shortages.

On March 20, 2021, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a Memorandum (M-21-20), Promoting Public Trust in the Federal Government through Effective Implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act and Stewardship of the Taxpayer Resources, that included information about how agencies should apply certain flexibilities provided in Appendix 3, Disaster Relief Flexibilities to Reduce Burden for Financial Assistance, as well as other flexibilities as permitted by law. The purpose of these flexibilities is to identify synergies across programs and agencies that alleviate burden for recipients.

Taxpayers can check the status of their tax refunds by going to https://www.irs.gov/refunds. You can start checking the refund status within 24 hours after an e-filed return is received by the IRS.

The Employee Retention Credit (“ERC”) is a credit that was effective in 2020 to assist businesses in keeping employees on payroll. The ERC has been extended for all of 2021 and has been significantly expanded. Even if your business did not lose revenues in 2020 compared to 2019, you still could qualify given the many eligibility factors.

As a result of the American Rescue Plan Act, taxpayers who received unemployment benefits in 2020 with modified adjusted gross income of less than $150,000 don’t have to pay tax on the first $10,200 in unemployment compensation.

Individual taxpayers do not need to file any forms or call the IRS to qualify for the automatic change in the tax filing date. Of course, taxpayers needing additional time can file for an extension, giving them until October 15, 2021 to file their return.

Small businesses that experienced a loss of revenue from 2019 to 2020 may be eligible for a second round SBA-PPP (“Paycheck Protection Program”) loan. You may also be eligible if you were not operational during 2019 or a portion of 2020.