Perspectives on Corporate & Securities

As the White House extends its “social distancing” advisory through April 30, 2020, companies must find a path to conduct shareholder meetings while discouraging gatherings to curb the spread of COVID-19.

In anticipation of the raft of earnings releases and analyst and investor calls that will take place in the next few weeks, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a public statement in which SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and Director of the Division of Corporation Finance William Hinman urge issuers to provide robust, forward-looking disclosures regarding the impact of COVID-19 in their upcoming earnings releases and analyst and investor calls.

The CARES Act authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to make up to $500 billion in loans, loan guarantees, and other investments for eligible businesses, States, and municipalities.

Massachusetts has amended its list of “COVID-19 Essential Services” and provided some additional guidance on its “Frequently Asked Questions” page.  The changes seem intended to clarify more businesses may remain open especially if they are important to the continued operations of an existing COVID-

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to create disruption around the globe, raising obvious questions about our health and wellbeing, and presenting significant business and economic challenges.

On March 25, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted public company regulatory relief and issued Staff guidance regarding disclosure obligations in light of the continued complications associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread reports of price gouging on hand sanitizer, protective masks, gloves, and other essential supplies.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act appropriates $150 billion toward COVID-19 relief for fiscal year 2020. The vast majority of this amount will go to the states, although $3 billion is reserved for distribution to the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, and $8 billion will go to Tribal governments.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides $2 trillion in stimulus in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the CARES Act, a $500 billion pool of money was created to make loans, loan guarantees, and other investments for distressed businesses that do not qualify for the small business relief, including airlines, large nonprofit companies, states, and municipalities.

Earlier this week, the IRS released updates on the status of its operations as the COVID-19 outbreak continues and also on the IRS’s new People First Initiative. In addition, Illinois extended its tax filing and payment deadline (but not the deadline to make estimated tax payments) to match the IRS July 15 deadline.

Since last week when we wrote about the “shelter in place” and “stay at home” orders issued in California, New York, and Illinois, many more states have issued similar orders. The general discussion from our prior alert still applies, but below is an up-to-date list of the states that have adopted the stay-at-home approach to fighting the spread of COVID-19.

The SEC extended its previously granted public company regulatory relief and issued staff guidance yesterday regarding disclosure obligations in light of the continued complications associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 13, 2020, the Division of Corporate Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission published guidance (Staff Guidance for Conducting Annual Meetings in Light of COVID-19 Concerns) to assist issuers of securities in navigating their legal requirements to hold annual meetings.

On Monday, March 23, 2020, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker issued an emergency order (the “Order”) that as of noon, Tuesday, March 24, 2020, “all businesses and organizations that do not provide ‘COVID-19 Essential Services’ [must] close their physical workplaces and facilities to workers, customer

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer today issued Executive Order 2020-21, imposing a mandatory stay-at-home regime throughout Michigan, taking effect at midnight on Monday, March 23, and lasting through April 13 at 11:59 p.m.

As of this alert, governors from California, New York, and Illinois have issued “shelter in place” or “stay at home” orders requiring all residents to stay at home, subject to certain exceptions, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Late on Friday, the IRS formalized U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s announcement earlier in the day regarding the extension of the tax filing deadline to July 15 by issuing Notice 2020-18, which contains several important clarifications.

In a tweet this morning, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that the IRS is extending the tax filing deadline from April 15 to July 15.

On March 19, 2020, as part of the State of Illinois’ efforts to combat disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Illinois Department of Revenue announced that it is waiving for two months all penalties and interest that would be imposed on late payments by registered Illinois retailers operating small eating and drinking establishments for sales tax liabilities that are due for the February, March, and April 2020 reporting periods.

The IRS released Notice 2020-17 on March 18, 2020, formalizing the relief announced the previous day by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, which extended the time to pay certain taxes by 90 days.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced today that individual taxpayers can defer federal tax payments of up to $1 million for 90 days.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff announced guidance to assist public companies with facilitating their upcoming annual shareholder meetings during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order that grants conditional regulatory relief for certain publicly traded company filing obligations in light of the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic.

Arent Fox LLP is pleased to announce that it represented José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup in negotiations to operate two signature restaurants – and other dining services – in The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad, a $500-million skyscraper in Manhattan slated to open in 2021.