Message to Our Valuable Clients

We have been thinking about the best way to support you since the pandemic started and mainly care that you are safe, healthy and have a plan to navigate through this temporary setback. Someone from Optima has already reached out, but if there is anything that I or our executive team can do to support you please give us a call, email or text.

Regarding COVID-19, we have added some helpful Business Accounting and HR Q&As at https://news.optimaoffice.com/  which should offer some insight that isn’t mainstream. Please take a look and let us know if you have additional questions that we can tackle or please provide some general feedback. We will continue to answer questions as quickly as we can.

At the end of the day, the optimist in me believes that society will come out of this stronger than ever. Riding the up and down waves of life creates resilience and grit.

Speaking of optimism here is a great article: Stay positive: Here are 23 pieces of good news regarding COVID-19

Payroll Tax Credits for Employers
A refundable tax credit equal to 100% of qualified family leave wages paid by an employer will be credited against the employer’s portion of social security taxes and can be claimed quarterly. If the credit exceeds the employer’s social security tax liability, the excess credit is refundable to the employer.

Charitable Deduction increase?
A potential amendment would increase the proposed $300 cap on charitable deductions included in the current Senate package of bills to roughly $4,000 for individuals and $8,000 for married couples. It would be available for all of 2020 and would have no giving floor or minimum donation amount, encouraging individual donations of any size.

Tax deadlines: The IRS will now allow individual and corporation tax payments to be delayed by 90 days after the April 15 tax filing deadline. The state of California has also extended deadlines for filing taxes until July 15th for more details visit https://www.ftb.ca.gov/about-ftb/newsroom/news-releases/2020-3-state-postpones-tax-deadlines-until-july-15-due-to-the-covid-19-pandemic.html

Need Money? Optima can help you apply for SBA loans or assist you with other financing options.

• On March 11, the President directed the SBA to provide low-interest loans to small businesses (3.75%) and asked Congress to increase SBA funding by $50 billion. This may be separate from the current Disaster Loan Assistance program. (Congress has already allocated $8.3 billion to assist small businesses as part of an emergency spending package passed on March 4.)
• Intuit also has a funding program. See link: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/smallbusinesshelp/?cid=DR_em_46556_001_Text1_US_QBOA
• Facebook is currently offering $100 million in cash grants (which do not have to be repaid) to small businesses affected by COVID-19. https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/grants

Resources for you and your kids:
Virtual field trips: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SvIdgTx9djKO6SjyvPDsoGlkgE3iExmi3qh2KRRku_w/preview?fbclid=IwAR0HMhK%20-LLR3qZmw8mH0BSVQiARk9aaOS3d0rS5amf5h5rUZlxekrgQzQYU&pru=AAABcRJ7nwI*EzIZqj9B6d9Mk26XKqhhtQ

NASA’s image library is free:
https://images.nasa.gov/

Free learning on Linkedin!
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/me

Great curriculum ideas for your kids:
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/?fbclid=IwAR0hKj8YMaKjF78cKvN6ZZL0oWSQVcLxy3PCXRWzBq1vKnRSaaryeZNjr8#.XnJKYZNKhQI

Links we are using currently to track COVID-19:
• https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-coronavirus-cases-tracking-outbreak/
• https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/ncov2019.aspx
• https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/coronavirus/ 
• https://www.bing.com/covid?ref=share
• https://sdchamber.org/coronavirus/
• https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa/programs/phs/community_epidemiology/dc/2019-nCoV.html
• https://covid19.ca.gov/img/EssentialCriticalInfrastructureWorkers.pdf
• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
• https://www.who.int/

We hope some of this helps. The Optima Team is here for you.

Jennifer Barnes, Founder & CEO

DISCLAIMER – Due to the daily changing environment and guidelines being provided by the government, this information could be outdated. Please contact our office for the latest updates and guidelines. Optima Office is not responsible for any actions taken due to the information provided. The information provided here is for instructional purposes and does not represent legal advice being given by Optima Office.