Day: May 18, 2020

Loan Details and Forgiveness

The loan will be fully forgiven if the funds are used for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities (due to likely high subscription, at least 75% of the forgiven amount must have been used for payroll). Loan payments will also be deferred for six months. No collateral or personal guarantees are required. Neither the government nor lenders will charge small businesses any fees.

Loan Forgiveness

Forgiveness is based on the employer maintaining or quickly rehiring employees and maintaining salary levels. Forgiveness will be reduced if full-time headcount declines, or if salaries and wages decrease. The loan forgiveness form and instructions include several measures to reduce compliance burdens and simplify the process for borrowers, including:
*    Options for borrowers to calculate payroll costs using an “alternative payroll covered period” that aligns with borrowers’ regular payroll cycles
*    Flexibility to include eligible payroll and non-payroll expenses paid or incurred during the eight-week period after receiving their PPP loan
*    Step-by-step instructions on how to perform the calculations required by the CARES Act to confirm eligibility for loan forgiveness
*    Borrower-friendly implementation of statutory exemptions from loan forgiveness reduction based on rehiring by June 30
*    Addition of a new exemption from the loan forgiveness reduction for borrowers who have made a good-faith, written offer to rehire workers that was declined
In addition, I have already seen much online criticism about the form and forgiveness process. (This is a partial list – I am sure many other discussions of the form and process can be found online.):

Click here to download the Paycheck Protection Forgiveness Loan Forgiveness Instructions and Application (https://www.sba.gov/document/sba-form–paycheck-protection-program-loan-forgiveness-application; https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/3245-0407%20SBA%20Form%203508%20PPP%20Forgiveness%20Application.pdf).

Moreover, no one should be surprised if changes to the form and rules are announced before the end of the period to apply for forgiveness, given the many changes announced already. For example, the notes to the FAQ’s on the program show how often it has already been changed. https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Paycheck-Protection-Program-Frequently-Asked-Questions.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery. You should check the links in this message regularly for further updates – the rules have literally been created at the same time as the program has been rolled out. In particular, additional relief bills have been discussed in Congress which could affect PPP forgiveness, for example, by addressing the limits on rehiring employees in areas subject to a Stay at Home Order which makes such hiring difficult, if not impossible.
Nonetheless, I thought it worth sending you the link to the form, so that you and your accountant can begin to prepare what your bank lender will need to process your forgiveness application. You can also see where the implementation of the PPP program may not have matched its presentation – and discuss that concern directly with your lender. If you have questions on the PPP forgiveness (and recognizing that no one may yet have the answers, including the SBA), please contact Stanley Jaskiewicz at 215-241-8866 or sjaskiewicz@sgrvlaw.com, or Milton Cross at 215-241-8844 or mcross@sgrvlaw.com
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