Coalition Urges Expedited Small Business Funding Via Payroll Processors

A coalition of CPAs, franchisees and payroll processing companies urged President Trump to speed up the cash infusion to small businesses. 

The coalition includes the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA); the International Franchise Association (IFA); and two payroll processing companies, Paychex and Intuit. The group sent a letter on Wednesday to President Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Small Business Administrator Jovita Carranza and members of Congress in hopes that swift action will keep workers “on the job.” 

The group urged the leaders to “set up a central payroll funding account” for small business payroll, according to CPA Practice Advisor. The letter comes as the unemployment numbers reveal that more than 16 million Americans are out of work. 

“It takes time to create new processes to distribute funds to small businesses – speed is of the essence here,” the coalition wrote in the letter. 

“We urge the federal government to use these existing systems to direct funds to small businesses so they can make payroll and not shut down due to restrictions caused by the pandemic. In this scenario, the federal government could set up a central payroll funding account that small business payroll processors could utilize so that millions of small businesses could continue paying workers during this time of crisis.”

The group acknowledged that this was just one of many solutions needed to address the crisis, but it is a necessary measure.

“Small businesses need to make payroll now – the clock is ticking,” the group wrote.