Several times a year we survey small business owners regarding their practices and needs and from what we learn we shape areas of our company. One thing we learned has implications for small business owners.
By Thomas Tramaglini
Chief Operations Officer
Beacon Client Solutions
From time to time, our firm collects information from small business owners through several forms of mediums, including survey data. In our latest survey, we learned that the majority of small business owners who have taken a Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) believe that that Merchant Cash Advances are loans. In our survey (2021), we found the majority of small business owners (68.1%) believe that that MCAs were loans.
The majority of small business owners believe that Merchant Cash Advances are loans but they are not.
Merchant Cash Advances are not loans – Merchant Cash Advances (MCAs) are advances of future receivables which are paid back over a short amount of time. MCAs are not classified as loans so these advances skirt most of the regulation which the banking and lending industry require.
NAV defines MCAs as: “A merchant cash advance is not a business loan but should be considered a cash advance based on the volume of your credit card receipts. The funding provider gets paid back by taking a portion of your future credit card sales each day. You can usually get approved in a day or two—with very little paperwork. But you’ll likely pay for this convenience in higher interest rates.”
Why MCA?
Loans take time and are in many cases not east to get – One of our best loan products are business loans that are guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and on average fund in 90 days from start to finish. Sometimes, they take much longer but rarely do they take fewer than 90 days to get done.
Some of our equipment loans, small business loans (not SBA) can take a few days to fund but generally speaking, Merchant Cash Advances can be funded in as little as 2 hours with minimal underwriting. The following can also be true with regards to MCAs:
Fast funding
Minimal underwriting
No Personal Guarantee
Unsecured funds
Poor credit okay
However, some negatives also include high cost of money (up to 150% interest/fees), daily or weekly payments required, as well as dealing with companies who are similar to loan sharks.
Taxes and MCA – Be Careful
Considering that an MCA is not a loan, small business owners need to be cognizant – Beacon Client Solutions also handles bookkeeping for many small businesses. What is significant is that we consistently see small business owners counting their MCAs as long-term liabilities. Rarely do we not see MCAs listed on a balance sheet as a long-term liability.
Because a Merchant Cash Advance is not a loan and is an advance of future receivables, it should be counted as that – revenue. Therefore, if one receives a $10K MCA, that is an advance of $10K in revenue.
MCAs also do not include interest. They include a pre-determined agreed-upon percentage of business sales to be returned to the lender each day (or week). Payments should be made against the revenue. In theory, the income line should be negative once a MCA is exhausted because the business owner has forfeited a portion of their future receivables to the lender.
What are the implications?
Beacon Client Solutions has clients who have been audited by the IRS and have been penalized for not counting Merchant Cash Advances as revenue. Remember, MCAs are not loans, nor should they be coded on a balance sheet as a loan. Loans are not counted as income and business owners need to understand the implications of using MCAs versus loans so they are not liable for misreporting taxable revenue
Dr. Thomas Tramaglini is the Director of Operations and Negotiation for Beacon Client Solutions, a company that supports small businesses on a host of fronts, especially MCA debt. Thomas has been a small business owner for many years, as well as held leadership positions in several organizations and companies. Thomas holds a B.A. in History, as well as Masters and Doctorates in Organizational Leadership from Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey.
Disclaimer: Beacon Client Solutions is not an accountancy, or a law firm. We are business consultants. While Beacon works with outstanding attorneys and accountants, we cannot and do not provide legal or tax advice. All of our work is connected to those who are legally certified to give such advise. Beacon does have a longstanding body of work in MCA resolution and understands what small business owners deal with, specific to MCA. Beacon Client Solutions serves clients in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada.
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