The Small Business Association has rolled out a paycheck protection program that helps businesses keep their employees employed during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The program is designed to give incentives to smaller businesses to continue to pay their employees on payroll through this crisis. “SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities” (sba.gov). The program will be available to these small businesses through June 30th, 2020.
Who Can Apply?
The Paycheck Protection Program is available for:
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Any small businesses with less than 500 employees, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and self-employed persons, private non-profit organizations or 501(c)(19) or veterans organizations affected by COVID-19.
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Some industries may have 500 or more employees if they meet the standards the SBA has established for those industries
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Small Businesses within the hospitality and food industry with more than one location could also be eligible.
How to Apply?
The lending process may begin processing loans as soon as April 3rd, 2020. You should reach out to your local lender to find out if they are participating in the program.
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Businesses can apply through any existing SBA 7(a) lender
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Through any federally insured depository institution, federally insured credit union, and Farm Credit System institution
Loan Details and Forgiveness
The loan will be fully forgiven if the funds are used for payroll costs(75% of the loan must be used for payroll costs), interests on mortgages, rent, and utilities.
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The loan has a maturity of 2 years and an interest rate of 1%.
Forgiveness is based upon:
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The employer maintaining or quickly rehiring employees
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The employer maintaining salary levels
Forgiveness will be reduced if the employee level decreases or if employees salaries and wages decrease. To being the application process, you can click here to download the sample application
PEO Language Update in Program:
The Small Business Administration has provided an update based on the support that small businesses can receive if they contract through a third-party provider or PEO for their payroll needs. The US treasury website states:
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“SBA recognizes that eligible borrowers that use PEOs or similar payroll providers are required under some state registration laws to report wages and other data on the Employer Identification Number (EIN) of the PEO or other payroll providers. In these cases, payroll documentation provided by the payroll provider that indicates the amount of wages and payroll taxes reported to the IRS by the payroll provider for the borrower’s employees will be considered acceptable PPP loan payroll documentation. Relevant information from a Schedule R (Form 941), Allocation Schedule for Aggregate Form 941 Filers, attached to the PEO’s or other payroll provider’s Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, should be used if it is available; otherwise, the eligible borrower should obtain a statement from the payroll provider documenting the amount of wages and payroll taxes. In addition, employees of the eligible borrower will not be considered employees of the eligible borrower’s payroll provider or PEO” (https://home.treasury.gov/).
Other Assistance Programs
The SBA has also provided other programs to help support small businesses during this pandemic. You can read more about these recourse programs available here.