The Coronavirus pandemic has devastated America’s small businesses. The US Government is responding with a new SBA Loan Program, the Paycheck Protection Program, which includes powerful benefits for franchisees and other small businesses. The program will feature loans up to $10,000,000 at historically low interest rates along with the potential to have the portion of the loan attributable to payroll costs from March 1 – June 30, 2020 forgiven.
All businesses – including nonprofits, veterans’ organizations, Tribal business concerns, sole proprietorships, self-employed individuals, and independent contractors – with 500 or fewer employees can apply. Businesses in certain industries can have more than 500 employees if they meet applicable SBA employee-based size standards for those industries.
For this program, the SBA’s affiliation standards are waived for small businesses (1) in the hotel and food services industries; or (2) that are franchises in the SBA’s Franchise Directory; or (3) that receive financial assistance from small business investment companies licensed by the SBA. Additional guidance may be released as appropriate.
Your business must be operational as of February 15, 2020, and had employees for whom you paid salaries and payroll taxes, or that your business made payments to an independent contractor.
Average monthly payroll costs, excluding compensation above $100,000 in wages (based on prior 12 months) X 2.5. That amount is subject to a $10 million cap.
Loans are available for the lesser of $10 million or the average monthly payroll costs for the past trailing 12 months x 2.5. Average monthly payroll costs are calculated based on the one-year period prior to the loan disbursal date except for seasonal employers and employers not in business between February 15, 2019 and July 30, 2019.
In the case of seasonal employers, the employer may choose to calculate the average monthly payroll costs based on the 12-week period starting February 15, 2019 or the period starting March 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019.
In the case of new employers not in business between February 15, 2019 and July 30, 2019, the average monthly payroll costs is calculated based on the period beginning January 1, 2020 through February 29, 2020.
Yes. You should use the proceeds from these loans on your:
If you have already applied, you will receive notification when information is needed to complete the process. If you haven't yet applied, fill out your form today. You don't need to apply multiple times - one application will get you into the queue.
If applied through our partner link and have received an approval notice, your lender will contact you directly to handle the next steps in coordinating disbursement of funds. Please be on the lookout for an email directly from the bank with closing documents and directions on signing.
Lenders have 10 business days to finalize the disbursement of loans under the program. Please do not contact the lender or BoeFly directly as they are working as quickly as possible to finalize your loans.
You will owe money when your loan is due if you use the loan amount for anything other than payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent, and utilities payments over the 8 weeks after getting the loan. Due to likely high subscription, it is anticipated that not more than 25% of the forgiven amount may be for non-payroll costs.
You will also owe money if you do not maintain your staff and payroll.
As of April 3, 2020: 1% fixed rate for a 2-year term. Principal or interest payments on the loan will be deferred for 6-months and up to 12-months.
You will need to submit an application for forgiveness to your lender, and provide documentation that verifies the number of full-time equivalent employees and pay rates for the 8-week period commencing from when the loan was made. Documentation will include:
The forgiveness amount is subject to reduction if there is a workforce reduction or a reduction in the salary or wages of an employee.
Reductions in workforce, salaries and wages that occur from February 15, 2020 to April 26, 2020 will be disregarded for purposes of reducing the forgiveness amount so long as the reductions are eliminated by June 30, 2020.
Borrowers must apply for forgiveness with the lender servicing the loan. Lenders have 60 days to review and make a determination. Any portion of the loan that is forgiven will be excluded from gross income.
This provision expanded eligibility for access to SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs). The SBA shall waive any personal guarantee on advances and loans below $200,000 on these loans made in response to COVID-19 before December 31, 2020.
Businesses, sole proprietorships, independent contractors, non-profits, cooperatives or ESOPs with fewer than 500 employees are eligible to apply. It covers providing paid sick leave to employees, maintaining payroll, meeting increased costs to obtain materials, making, rent or mortgage payments, and repaying obligations that cannot be met due to revenue losses.
For EIDL loans, you must apply directly through the SBA: Visit disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.
April 27, 2020: The SBA has discontinued acceptance of new applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loan-related assistance. Prior submissions are being processed in the order of receipt.
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