On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), legislation designed to provide economic relief for those impacted by COVID19, became law. This course provides a general review of the principal provisions of the CARES Act and of other federal tax-related stimulus legislation passed during 2020. In addition, the current course includes a discussion of the American Rescue Tax Plan Act (ARPA) that became law on March 11, 2021.

The course begins with an examination of three important provisions of the CARES Act: recovery rebates, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. It considers the CARES Act recovery rebates specifically with respect to filing status, the associated amount of the rebate, and the effect of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income on the tax treatment of the rebate and the taxpayer's eligibility for it. The PPP's provisions for SBA forgivable loans and taxability of loan proceeds is discussed as are the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) provisions of the CARES Act, including its enhancement and augmentation of normal unemployment benefits, and the ways in which PUA benefits differ from other types of unemployment benefits. It also addresses several additional issues, including the changes brought about by the Act with respect to health savings accounts (HSAs), qualified medical expenses, high deductible health plans (HDHPs), foreign earned income, tax-free exchanges of investment property, correction of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provision addressing the depreciable period applicable to qualified improvement property, changes to the deduction of losses by non-corporate taxpayers, modifications of business interest limitations, employer student loan payments and SBA loans referred to as economic injury disaster loans (EIDLs).