In this 3-minute read:
- NEW UPDATE 8/2021! SBA PPP Direct Forgiveness Portal announced
- 60% payroll requirement for loan forgiveness no longer a “cliff” (all or nothing)
- Revisions and clarifications to the Paycheck Protection Program
- Revisions to the Treasury’s Interim Final Rule under the PPP
URGENT PPP FORGIVENESS UPDATE: On July 28, 2021, the SBA announced big news (for most PPP borrowers). The SBA has established an online PPP forgiveness platform called the SBA PPP Direct Forgiveness Portal. If your PPP loan was for $150,000 or less, AND if your lender has opted-in to the use of the platform, you will be able to submit your PPP loan forgiveness application online directly to the SBA, using the electronic equivalent of SBA Form 3508S. For full details, read our post about the new SBA PPP Direct Forgiveness Portal and other recent rule changes.
The Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act was signed into law by President Trump on June 5, 2020. The PPPFA contains several important clarifications and modifications to previous Paycheck Protection Program loan rules under the CARES act.
Another very important change is the reduction in the minimum amount borrowers must spend on payroll in order to achieve 100% loan forgiveness. Previously, the rules stated that borrowers must devote at least 75% of their PPP funds to approved payroll costs, or they would have to repay a portion of their loan.
Womply has made email marketing truly automatic for busy small business owners and all types of independent contractors. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!
The new law changes that threshold to 60%; in other words, borrowers must spend at least 60% of their PPP funding on approved payroll, or they cannot receive full loan forgiveness.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Initial reports on the PPPFA stated that the new 60% threshold was a “cliff” or an “all or nothing” minimum, where if you didn’t spend at least 60% of your funds on payroll, NO portion of your loan could be forgiven, and the language of the bill certainly seems to suggest that. However this has been clarified in a new revision to the Treasury’s PPP Interim Final Rule, where we find this example and interpretation:
“… to receive full loan forgiveness, a borrower must use at least 60 percent of the PPP loan for payroll costs, and not more than 40 percent of the loan forgiveness amount may be attributable to nonpayroll costs. For example, if a borrower uses 59 percent of its PPP loan for payroll costs, it will not receive the full amount of loan forgiveness it might otherwise be eligible to receive. Instead, the borrower will receive partial loan forgiveness, based on the requirement that 60 percent of the forgiveness amount must be attributable to payroll costs. For example, if a borrower receives a $100,000 PPP loan, and during the covered period the borrower spends $54,000 (or 54 percent) of its loan on payroll costs, then because the borrower used less than 60 percent of its loan on payroll costs, the maximum amount of loan forgiveness the borrower may receive is $90,000 (with $54,000 in payroll costs constituting 60 percent of the forgiveness amount and $36,000 in nonpayroll costs constituting 40 percent of the forgiveness amount).”
This interpretation is in line with the “safe harbor” intent of the new law, which was intended to increase flexibility for PPP borrowers in these uncertain financial times.
- Click here for the full PPP loan forgiveness application
- Click here for the new Form 3508EZ application
Here’s how borrowers decide which forgiveness application to use. You may use Form 3508EZ if:
- You are self-employed and have no employees; OR
- You did not reduce the salaries or wages of employees by more than 25%, and did not reduce the number or hours of employees; OR
- You experienced reductions in business activity as a result of health directives related to COVID-19, and did not reduce the salaries or wages of employees by more than 25%.
If you don’t fit into any of the above conditions, you will need to complete and submit the full PPP loan forgiveness application.
Updates and clarifications to the Paycheck Protection Program
Other relevant changes/updates to the PPP loan program are as follows:
- IMPORTANT UPDATE: as of August 4, 2021, If your PPP loan was for $150,000 or less, AND if your lender has opted-in to the use of the platform, you will be able to submit your PPP loan forgiveness application online directly to the SBA, using the electronic equivalent of SBA Form 3508S, via the SBA’s new online PPP forgiveness platform called the SBA PPP Direct Forgiveness Portal. For full details, read our post about the new SBA PPP Direct Forgiveness Portal and other recent rule changes.
- Borrowers who secure PPP loans after June 5, 2020 have 5 years to repay any unforgiven portions of their PPP loan (previously it was 2 years). Borrowers who secured PPP loans prior to June 5 will by default have 2 years to repay but may choose to arrange with their lender to extend the loan repayment deadline to 5 years
- The interest rate remains 1%
- Small businesses must still apply for PPP loans by June 30, 2020. (Deadline for application remains the same)
- The “covered period” is extended up to 24 weeks; businesses now have up to 24 weeks to spend their PPP funding (extended from 8 weeks)
- PPP borrowers who have previously been approved can opt to extend the eight-week period to 24 weeks, or they can adhere to the original eight-week period
- NEW PPP borrowers (approved after June 5, 2020) will be able to elect anything from an 8 to 24-week covered period
- As discussed above, borrowers are now required to spend at least 60% of the funding on payroll costs to receive full loan forgiveness. Borrowers may still receive partial forgiveness if they use less than 60% of their PPP loan for payroll costs. Previously, borrowers were required to spend at least 75% of their PPP loan on payroll costs to receive full loan forgiveness
- The new legislation includes two new “safe harbor” exceptions allowing borrowers to achieve full PPP loan forgiveness even if they are unable to fully restore their workforce. The new bill allows borrowers to claim safe harbor if they can, in good faith, provide documentation that they could not find qualified employees or were unable to restore business operations to February 15, 2020, levels due to COVID-19 related operating restrictions. (Previously, borrowers were still able to exclude from their forgiveness calculations any employees who turned down good faith offers to be restored at the same hours and wages as before.)
- Businesses that get a PPP loan may now also delay payment of the employer portion of their payroll taxes. This was previously prohibited under the CARES Act
Win new customers and build loyalty with your existing customers with Womply Email Marketing
Womply has made Email Marketing truly automatic for busy small business owners, independent contractors, and sole proprietors. Womply helps you turn customers into regulars and get more repeat business with targeted emails that send automatically when customers transact with you. Build customer loyalty and revenue, and get more repeat business with just a few clicks!
Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!