New Legislation Would Grant Automatic Forgiveness of PPP Loans Under $150,000

From my article on Entrepreneur.com

A bipartisan bill called The Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act has been introduced into the Senate that would allow  who received a  () loan of $150,000 or less to obtain automatic forgiveness after submitting a one-page attestation form. The attestation form would be limited to one-page, and the small business would simply attest that the loan is eligible for forgiveness and that the business complied with the requirements of the Paycheck Protection Program found in the CARES Act.

SBA Releases PPP Forgiveness Application and Makes Critical Clarifications and Documentation Requirements

From my article on Entrepreneur.com

The SBA released its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Forgiveness Application and clarified a few critical definitions and documentation requirements in their instructions. The forgiveness application is completed by the small-business borrower and is submitted to their bank or lender whom they received their PPP loan from. The application consists of 11 lines that when calculated results in the amount of forgiveness a small-business owner will be eligible for. The forgiveness component of PPP is what attracted small-business owners to take out PPP loans in droves, as the program promised forgiveness of amounts loaned so long as the small business used the funds for payroll, business mortgage interest, rent and utilities. For a summary on forgiveness rules please refer to my prior article here.

PPP Loan Developments: Only $120 Billion Left, Favorable Forgiveness Guidance from SBA and IRS Tax Pitfall

From my article on Entrepreneur.com 

The SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is the most significant small- relief effort in modern history. A key component of the $600 billion-plus (and counting) stimulus rollout is that beneficiaries can have their loans forgiven so long as they use the funds for qualifying expenses, which can include , rent, mortgage interest and utility payments.

The program was extremely popular in round one, and the initial $350 billion in  was claimed in only 13 days. The SBA began approving an additional $310 billion from the second round on April 27, but as of May 10, only $120 billion in funding remained. (A good chunk of which is owed to dozens of publicly traded companies having returned multi-million-dollar loans.)

PPP Forgivable Loans Will be Unforgiving for Many

From my article on Entrepreneur.com

Many small business owners who have been approved for Paycheck Protection Program loans (“PPP”) are realizing that the loan isn’t as forgivable as they’d hoped.

The amount a small business can qualify to have forgiven must primarily be payroll costs. The SBA’s rulemaking has stated that at least 75% of the forgiveness request must be payroll costs but can also contain up to 25% of other approved expenses under the law such as rent, mortgage interest and utilities. That rule seems to be widely understood and so long as small business owners are spending 75% of their PPP funds on payroll this rule won’t frustrate small business owners when it comes time to forgiveness.

For details on the PPP loan program in general, please refer to my prior article here.