SBA Announces Opening of Paycheck Protection Program Direct Forgiveness Portal

Aug 23, 2021

The SBA has published new guidance on PPP loan forgiveness on loans of $150,000 or less. A new portal has been established in which borrowers can request forgiveness directly w the agency instead of going through their lenders. The portal, launched in early August, is the latest attempt by the SBA to make the PPP loan forgiveness process easy and streamlined.

“The SBA’s new streamlined application portal will simplify forgiveness for millions of our smallest businesses — including many sole proprietors — who used funds from our Paycheck Protection Program loans to survive the pandemic,” said Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman.  “The vast majority of businesses waiting for forgiveness have loans under $150,000. These entrepreneurs are busy running their businesses and are challenged by an overly complicated forgiveness process.

The SBA has also created a PPP customer service team that will answer questions and directly assist businesses with their loan forgiveness applications. This team can be reached at 877-552-2692, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

Click here to access the Paycheck Protection Program Direct Forgiveness Portal.

Categories: COVID-19


PPP Forgiveness Simplified

Dec 15, 2020

The plethora of reporting requirements created by the PPP loan forgiveness process has left many pulling their hair out trying to assemble the necessary documentation. For some, this is an unfortunate reality. However, for those with smaller PPP loans or relatively straight-forward qualifying expenses, the extra stress may be avoidable. Before spending hours tearing apart your company records, review the considerations below to identify if you are eligible for a more streamlined application process.

#1. If you obtained a loan of $50,000 or less, you are eligible to use forgiveness application Form 3508S which requires fewer calculations and less documentation for borrowers. Borrowers using this form are exempt from reductions in loan forgiveness due to Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) employee reductions and/or salaries and wages. There is also no requirement to show calculations used to determine loan forgiveness amounts. Please use the following links to access the form and instructions.

*There are currently discussions in Congress to implement a similarly streamlined application process for loans up to $150,000. Until a decision on this is made, we generally advise holding off on submitting forgiveness applications if your loan amount falls between $50,000 and $150,000

#2. See if you qualify for the 3508EZ loan forgiveness application – A brief, high-level summary of qualifications is as follows:

  • the borrower is self-employed with no wages at the time of PPP application, OR
  • the borrow did not reduce wages more than 25% during the covered period AND did not reduce the number of employees or average paid hours between January 1, 2020, and end of the covered period, OR
  • the borrow did not reduce wages more than 25% during the covered period AND was unable to operate during the covered period at pre-COVID levels of business activity due to compliance with established governmental requirements.

Please see the following links for more in-depth detail on these qualifications as well as exceptions.

#3. When gathering supporting documentation for your loan forgiveness application, it may not be necessary to gather ALL of the applicable expense information. For example, for a loan amount of $200,000, compile enough expenses to cover that $200,000 with some cushion to account for any unforeseen disallowance, i.e., submit and document around $220,000-$240,000 of expenses although you may have actually spent $500,000 of eligible expenses during your covered period. Additionally, if loan forgiveness will be covered with entirely payroll expenses, something as simple as a report for the covered period from your third-party payroll provider should be sufficient from a documentation standpoint

#4. Lastly, please keep in mind that if your business qualifies for the §199A qualified business income (QBI) deduction and/or the tax credit for research and development (R&D) expenses, there are certain caveats to consider when using payroll expenses for qualified loan forgiveness. Absent relevant guidance, use of these types of expenses could result in a reduction of said expenses available to be allocated toward QBI and R&D.

Please consult your WVC adviser to further evaluate the most beneficial allocation and use of qualified expenses for PPP loan forgiveness. We also encourage you to check-out our PPP Roadmap here.

By: Jon Floering, CPA

 

Categories: COVID-19


Update on the State of the PPP

Oct 01, 2020

As the pace of changes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has relaxed, many are wondering about the current status and potential changes yet to come. We wanted to share with you some of the discussions occurring at the federal level about possible next steps. While there appears to be strong bipartisan support for these additional actions in concept, the specific details will likely change throughout the process.

What is the status of PPP and forgiveness?

  • $525 billion was lent to 5.2 million businesses.
  • Most lenders are now accepting forgiveness applications.
  • As of 9/24, the SBA had received 96k forgiveness applications but had not completed the processing of any of them.

What is the latest guidance related to PPP forgiveness?

On 8/24, additional guidance was released regarding the following:

  •  C or S Corporation owners with less than 5% ownership are not subject to the compensation caps
  • Expenses attributable to a tenant are not eligible for forgiveness.
  • Rent payments to a related party are capped at the amount of mortgage interest owed on the property.
  • Related party mortgage interest is not eligible for forgiveness.

What changes might still be coming to the PPP?

  • There continues to be bipartisan support in Congress for blanket forgiveness of “small” loans – typically discussed as $150,000. The exact terms and dollar amount still need to be negotiated.
  • There continues to be some bipartisan support for tax-deductibility of expenses related to forgiveness.
  • Congress has been slow to act, and it is likely we will not see movement on these items until after the election.

Will there be a second PPP?

Maybe. Again, this is a topic that Congress continues to discuss. Eligible businesses would likely be much more targeted in this round. We are likely to see a lower cap on the size of business (as measured by the number of employees) and it is likely that businesses will need to demonstrate they have been significantly negatively impacted.

What should I be doing now?

  • Continue to monitor our WVC COVID-19 Resource Center.
  • Calculate your loan forgiveness amount using a tool such as our forgiveness calculator.
  • Understand your lender’s process and timeline for forgiveness applications.
  • In most cases, it makes sense to sit tight and wait for the final changes to work their way through Congress. Your forgiveness application is due 10 months after the end of your Covered Period, so you have time.
  • Reach out to your WVC Advisor or our WVC PPP Loan Task Force leader, Kate Matz to discuss the above and plan for your specific situation.

Connect with the author:

Kate Matz, CPA, CEPA, CVGA, CGMA
Value Growth Practice Leader, William Vaughan Company
kate.matz@wvco.com | 419.891.1040

Categories: COVID-19, Other Resources