The Oregon Department of Revenue relaxed the Corporate Activities Tax requirements. There has been a change in the threshold  for making estimated tax payments from $5,000 of annual tax liability to $10,000 of annual tax liability for the first year of the tax. This means that businesses that will owe less than $10,000 are not required to make a quarterly estimated tax payments during 2020. https://www.oregon.gov/newsroom/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?newsid=36514

The Oregon Health Department hosts a weekly COVID call. You can sign up here to listen in to the call: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8718693306682448141.

The Yamhill County Health and Human Services Department is providing updated COVID information on their website. They provide the number of cases by zip code: https://hhs.co.yamhill.or.us/heatlh/page/covid-19-information.

The Governor released reopening guidelines for counties. You can see the news report here: https://www.kgw.com/video/news/local/gov-kate-brown-wants-counties-to-meet-certain-prerequisites-before-reopening-can-begin/283-a8a0e46c-c6a0-4f48-891e-e3cacef01f9c.

Governor Kate Brown Announces COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing Plans for Reopening Oregon: Governor Kate Brown today introduced new plans for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, two foundational elements of her framework for reopening Oregon safely. Ensuring adequate testing capacity and contact tracing will allow Oregon’s health care system to effectively identify and treat new cases of COVID-19, trace contacts with new cases to identify those at risk for infection, and contain new outbreaks before community spread can occur. Read the news release.

Temporary Oregon rule addresses COVID-19 in employer-provided housing, farm operations: Oregon OSHA has adopted a temporary rule to increase protections for workers against the spread of coronavirus in employer-provided housing and in labor-intensive farm operations. The rule, which takes effect May 11, 2020, addresses the COVID-19 emergency in such housing and operations by strengthening requirements in three areas: field sanitation, labor housing, and transportation. Read more in English. Read more in Spanish.

The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis looks at the unemployment claims and breaks down the data by sector and job type. Read the blog post from May 1.

COVID-19: No Known Transmission Through Food or Food Packaging: Given the recent plant closures across the U.S. and some in Oregon, the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Department of Agriculture want to assure Oregonians there is no evidence that human or animal food or food packaging is associated with the transmission of COVID-19. Read the news release.

Revenue alerts taxpayers with a filing requirement that they must file a tax return to get an Economic Impact Payment: The Oregon Department of Revenue is alerting taxpayers that while most eligible taxpayers don’t need to take any action to receive an Economic Impact Payment, some people will. This includes those who are required to file and haven’t filed a tax return for either 2018 or 2019. Read the news release.

Revenue eases CAT requirements: At the direction of Governor Kate Brown, the Oregon Department of Revenue is adjusting requirements of businesses making estimated payments of the Corporate Activity Tax. Beginning immediately, Revenue has changed the threshold for making estimated tax payments from $5,000 of annual tax liability to $10,000 of annual tax liability for the first year of the tax. This means businesses that will owe less than $10,000 are not required to make quarterly estimated tax payments during 2020. Read the news release.

The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis looks at how the concept of forced savings brought upon by the stay-at-home order could impact economic recovery in Oregon. Read the blog post.

The FDA approved the use of Remdesivir (an anti-viral) in the treatment of hospitalized COVID patients: https://www.fda.gov/media/137564/download.