Tag Archives: PPP loan

How the Stimulus Bill Benefits Small Employers

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act has expired as of December 31, meaning that employers are no longer obligated to provide two weeks of emergency paid sick leave to employees who miss work because they are sick with COVID-19 or were exposed and quarantined.

However, employers may still voluntarily provide this paid sick leave through March 31, 2021, and claim the federal payroll tax credit if they do so.

The same holds true for paid family leave if schools are completely closed (which rarely has been happening in the Panhandle of Texas). If an employer voluntarily pays up to 10 weeks in paid family leave while still following the FFCRA rules about who is eligible for this leave, the employer can get the federal government to absorb the cost of that leave through the tax credit mechanism.

This tax credit extension during the first quarter of 2021 is just one part of the new stimulus bill signed into law on December 27 that affects employers. To be clear, if an employee has already used up the 80 hours of emergency paid sick leave or 10 weeks of paid family leave during 2020, this tax credit extension does not mean that you as an employer can take a tax credit for any additional COVID-related leave given to that employee in 2021.

The helpful Paycheck Protection Program has been funded again in the new stimulus bill, but there is a new twist to it that may be very beneficial to small businesses who continue to be adversely affected by the pandemic. A business can apply for a second PPP loan, even if you received one in 2020, as long as you can show that you had at least one bad revenue quarter in 2020.

These “Second Draw” PPP loans are available if you can demonstrate:

  1. You employ no more than 300 employees; and
  2. You have used all of your earlier PPP loan; and
  3. You had gross receipts in one quarter of 2020 that were at least 25 percent less than the same quarter in 2019.

Another piece of good news coming out of the stimulus bill is that Congress corrected a ridiculous IRS opinion that said while your PPP loan(s) were going to be taxed as income to your business, you couldn’t deduct the business expenses that you paid with the loan proceeds. That has now been clarified to reflect Congress’ original intention—the loan proceeds will not be taxed as income and the expenses that you paid with them (payroll, rent, utilities, etc.) will be deductible as normal business expenses.

Congress also simplified that forgiveness process even more for PPP loans under $150,000. You’ll now have to just self-certify that you spent the PPP loans as required by law.

Congress also addressed unemployment insurance for the 20 million Americans who are still out of work. Under the CARES Act passed in the spring of 2020, in addition to state unemployment benefits (which are very skimpy in Texas), the federal government provided an additional $600 per week through July 31, 2020. After that expired, the unemployed were left with just their state benefits. Under the new stimulus bill, the feds are adding $300 per week to state unemployment payments for 11 weeks, through March 14, 2021. The new bill includes a return to work reporting requirement, meaning that the states must allow employers to report when a worker refuses an offer to return to his/her job without good cause.

If you were one of the few employers who deferred their employees’ payroll taxes from September – December 2020 under President Trump’s vague Executive Order issued in August, you will now have to increase their withholding to pay back those deferred amounts. Your employees have until the end of 2021 to get those amounts repaid. The December stimulus bill extended that deadline from April 30, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Some employees were hoping for complete forgiveness of these deferred taxes, but alas, an extended time to repay was all they received.

Finally, employers may be happy to learn that business meal deductions have returned to their previous 100% level for 2021 and 2022. So once this pandemic has subsided, you can fully deduct your celebratory meals with your clients.

What did the new stimulus bill not do?

  • There will be no $2000 per person stimulus checks. The $600 check is it, and it phases out at higher incomes.
  • Liability protections for businesses from lawsuits for COVID-related injuries did not make it into the final bill.
  • Help for states and municipalities whose tax revenue has declined but who have had enormous COVID-related expenses was not approved.

PPPFA Reboots Forgiveness Rules

On Friday, June 5, the PPP Flexibility Act (“PPPFA”) was signed, which amends the CARES Act and helps small businesses with additional options for spending and seeking forgiveness of their Paycheck Protection Program loans. Rather than write a whole new post on the changes under the PPPFA, including my rants about how late this legislation arrived to help my clients who borrowed PPP money in early April,  I’ve just edited my May 27 post to incorporate the changes.

Two weeks ago, the Small Business Administration posted interim rules and the application for employers to complete when seeking forgiveness of their Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan. This guidance provided employers with many of the answers we have been waiting for since the CARES Act was passed in March. But then the PPPFA was passed and much of that guidance is already obsolete.

But here are the current forgiveness tips based on blending what the PPPFA states and the guidance issued by the SBA two weeks ago. I summarize these for you with the disclaimer that these could change as the SBA issues new interim rules and a new application for PPPFA forgiveness.

Continue reading PPPFA Reboots Forgiveness Rules

SBA Finally Provides PPP Forgiveness Guidance

Late last week, the Small Business Administration posted interim rules and the application for employers to complete when seeking forgiveness of their Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan. This guidance, which for many businesses comes almost at the end of the 8-week covered period for spending PPP funds, provides employers with many of the answers we have been waiting for since the CARES Act was passed in March.

Of course, that means that this guidance may be too late for some of us to correct actions we already took when we first received the PPP funds. But there are some strategic decisions that you can still make if you act quickly.

The basics of the loan forgiveness have been explained in more detail and in layman’s language in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Guide to PPP Loan Forgiveness, which I highly recommend that you download. But here are some basic forgiveness criteria that we have been waiting on:

Continue reading SBA Finally Provides PPP Forgiveness Guidance

Whew! Your PPP Loan Was “Necessary”

The Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department finally have eased the minds of many Paycheck Protection Program borrowers who borrowed less than $2 million about whether the funds had to be returned because they might not have been borrowed in good faith. Nothing like having the government wait until the last minute, since borrowers who were considering returning their funds had a deadline of today (May 14) to return them (now extended to Monday, May 18).

This all started because publicly-traded chain restaurants like Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steak House were excoriated when it became known by the American public that they borrowed PPP money that was promoted as helping small businesses. Facing scorn and public outcry, Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza promulgated a scary and overly-broad FAQ #31, which said in part:

Although the CARES Act suspends the ordinary requirement that borrowers must be unable to obtain credit elsewhere (as defined in section 3(h) of the Small Business Act), borrowers still must certify in good faith that their PPP loan request is necessary. Specifically, before submitting a PPP application, all borrowers should review carefully the required certification that “[c]urrent economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.” Borrowers must make this certification in good faith, taking into account their current business activity and their ability to access other sources of liquidity sufficient to support their ongoing operations in a manner that is not significantly detrimental to the business. For example, it is unlikely that a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets will be able to make the required certification in good faith, and such a company should be prepared to demonstrate to SBA, upon request, the basis for its certification.

Mnuchin promised that every business that borrowed more than $2 million would be audited, but he didn’t say that smaller borrowers would not be audited. On top of that, he also threatened criminal action against borrowers whose loans weren’t “necessary”.

He also established a safe harbor date by which companies who now believed their loans might not be absolutely “necessary” could return the money and avoid jail. That date was May 7. Then it was extended to May 14 (today). And then extended again to Monday, May 18.

These pronouncements terrified many small business owners who were now second-guessing whether they should have borrowed PPP funds at all.

Continue reading Whew! Your PPP Loan Was “Necessary”