Today, April 27, 2020, the Small Business Administration ("SBA") will resume accepting Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") applications from participating lenders.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is the PPP? The PPP is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.
Will the SBA forgive PPP loans? The SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.
How can I apply for the PPP? You can apply for the PPP through any existing SBA 7(a) lender or through any federally insured depository institution, federally insured credit union, and Farm Credit System institution that is participating. Other regulated lenders will be available to make these loans once they are approved and enrolled in the program. You should consult with your local lender as to whether it is participating in the program. Here is al ist of lenders participating in the PPP by state as of April 23, 2020.
Are small businesses required to have 500 or fewer employees to be eligible borrowers under the PPP? No. Small businesses can be eligible borrowers even if they have more than 500 employees, as long as they satisfy the existing statutory and regulatory definition of a "small business concern" under section 3 of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 632. A business can qualify if it meets the SBA employee-based or revenue-based size standard corresponding to its primary industry. Go here for the industry size standards.
Additionally, a business can qualify for the PPP as a small business concern if it met both tests in SBA's "alternative size standard" as of March 27, 2020: (1) maximum tangible net worth in the business is not more than $15 million, and (2) the average net income after federal income taxes (excluding any carry-over losses) of the business for the two full fiscal years before the date of the application is not more than $5 million.
A business that qualifies as a small business concern under section 3 of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 632, may truthfully attest to its eligibility for PPP loans on the Borrower Application Form, unless otherwise ineligible.
Does my business have to qualify as a small business concern as defined in the Small Business Act in order to participate in the PPP? No. In addition to small business concerns, a business is eligible for a PPP loan if the business has 500 or fewer employees whose principal place of residence is in the United States, or the business meets the SBA employee-based size standards for the industry in which it operates (if applicable). Similarly, PPP loans are also available for qualify tax-exempt non-profit organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code ("IRC"), tax-exempt veterans organizations described in section 501(c)(19) of the IRC, and Tribal business concerns described in section 31(b)(2)(C) of the Small Business Act that have 500 or fewer employees whose principal place of business is in the United States, or meet the SBA employee-based size standards for the industry in which they operate.
The CARES Act excludes from the definition of payroll costs any employee compensation in excess of an annual salary of $100,000. Does that exclusion apply to all employee benefits of monetary value? No. The exclusion of compensation in excess of $100,000 annually applies only to cash compensation, not to non-cash benefits, including:
employer contributions to defined-benefit or defined-contribution retirement plans;
payment for the provision of employee benefits consisting of group health care coverage, including insurance premiums; and
payment of state and local taxes assessed on compensation of employees.
Do PPP loans cover paid sick leave? Yes. PPP loans cover payroll costs, including costs for employee vacation, parental, family, medical, and sick leave. However, the CARES Act excludes qualified sick and family leave wages for which a credit is allowed under sections 7001 and 7003 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Learn more about the Paid Sick Leave Refundable Credit here.
My small business is a seasonal business whose activity increases from April to June. Considering activity from that period would be a more accurate reflection of my business's operations. However, my small business was not fully ramped up on February 15, 2020. Am I still eligible? In evaluating a borrower's eligibility, a lender may consider whether a seasonal borrower was in operation on February 15, 2020 or for an 8-week period between February 15, 2019 and June 30, 2019.
What if an eligible borrower contracts with a third-party payer such as a payroll provider or a Professional Employer Organization ("PEO") to process payroll and report payroll taxes? Some eligible borrowers that use PEOs or other similar payroll providers are required under some state registration laws to report wage and other data on the Employer Identification Number ("EIN") of the PEO or other payroll provider. In these cases, payroll documentation provided by the payroll provider that indicates the amount of wages and payroll taxes reported to the IRS by the payroll provider for the borrower's employees will be considered acceptable PPP loan payroll documentation. Relevant information from a Schedule R (Form 941), Allocation Schedule for Aggregate Form 941 Filers, attached to the PEO's or other payroll provider's Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return, should be used if it is available; otherwise, the eligible borrwer should obtain a statement from the payroll provider documenting the amount of wages and paryoll taxes. In addition, employees of the eligible borrower will not be considered employees of the eligible borrower's payroll provider or PEO.
May lenders accept signatures from a single individual who is authorized to sign on behalf of the borrower? Yes, but the borrower should bear in mind that, as the Borrower Application Form indicates, only an authorized representative of the business seeking a loan may sign on behalf of the business. An individual's signature as an "Authorized Representative of Applicant" is a representation to the lender and to the U.S. government that the signer is authorized to make such certifications, including with respect to the applicant and each owner of 20% or more of the applicant's equity, contained in the Borrower Application Form. Lenders may rely on that representation and accept a single individual's signature on that basis.
I need to request a loan to support my small business operations in light of current economic uncertainty. However, I pleaded guilty to a felony crime a very long time ago. Am I still eligible for the PPP? Yes. Business are only ineligible if an owner of 20 percent or more of the equity of the applicant is presently incarcerated, on probation, on parole, subject to an indictment, criminal information, arraignment or other means by which formal felony charges are brought up in any jurisdiction; or, within the last five years, for any felony to which the applicant has been convicted, pleaded guilty, pleaded nolo contendere, been placed on pretrial diversion, or been placed on any form of parole or probation (including probation before judgment).
Are lenders permitted to use their own online portals and an electronic form that they create to collect the same information and certifications as in the Borrower Application Form, in order to complete implementation of their online portals? Yes. Lenders may use their own online systems and a form they establish that asks for the same information (using the same language) as the Borrower Application Form. Lenders are still required to send the data to SBA using SBA's interface.
What time period should borrowers use to determine their number of employees and payroll costs to calculate their maximum loan amounts? In general, borrowers can calculate their aggregate payroll costs using data either from the previous 12 months or from calendar year 2019. For seasonal businesses, the applicant may use average monthly payroll for the period between February 15, 2019, or March 1, 2019, and June 30, 2019. An applicant that was not in business from February 15, 2019 through June 30, 2019 may use the average monthly payroll costs for the period January 1, 2020 through February 29, 2020.
Borrowers may use their average employment over the same time periods to determine their number of employees, for the purpose of applying an employee-based size standard. Alternatively, borrowers may elect to use SBA's usual calculation: the average number of employees per pay period in the 12 completed calendar months prior to the date of the loan application (or the average number of employees for each of the pay periods that the business has been operational, if it has not been operational for 12 months).
Should payments that an eligible borrower made to an independent contractor or sole proprietor be included in calculations of the eligible borrower's payroll costs? No. Any amounts that an eligible borrower has paid to an independent contractor or sole proprietor should be excluded from the eligible business's payroll costs. However, an independent contractor or sole proprietor will itself be eligible for a loan under the PPP, if it satisfies the applicable requirements.
How should a borrower account for federal taxes when determining its payroll costs for purposes of the maximum loan amount, allowable uses of a PPP loan, and the amount of a loan that may be forgiven? Under the Act, payroll costs are calculated on a gross basis without regard to (i.e., not including subtractions or additions based on) federal taxes imposed or withheld, such as the employee's and employer's share of Federal Insurance Contributions Act ("FICA") and income taxes required to be withheld from employees. As a result, payroll costs are not reduced by taxes imposed on an employee and required to be withheld by the employer, but payroll costs do not include the employer's share of payroll tax. For example, an employee who earned $4,000 per month in gross wages, from which $500 in federal taxes was withheld, would count as $4,000 in payroll costs. The employee would receive $3,500 and $500 would be paid to the federal government. However, the employer-side federal payroll taxes imposed on the $4,000 in wages are excluded from payroll costs under the statute.
I filed or approved a loan application based on the version of the PPP Interim Final Rule published on April 2, 2020. Do I need to take any action now that the PPP guidance has been amended? No. Borrowers and lenders may rely on the laws, rules, and guidance available at the time of the relevant application. However, borrowers whose previously submitted loan applications have not yet been processed may revise their applications based on the new interim guidance from the SBA.
Do lenders have to use a promissory note provided by the SBA or may they use their own? Lenders may use their own promissory note or an SBA form of promissory note.
The amount of forgiveness of a PPP loan depends on the borrower's payroll costs over an eight-week period; when does that eight-week period begin? The eight-week period begins on the date the lender makes the first disbursement of the PPP loan to the borrower. The lender must make the first disbursement of the loan no later than ten calendar days from the date of loan approval.
How do the $10 million cap and affiliation rules work for franchises? If a franchise brand is listed on the SBA Franchise Directory, each of its franchisees that meets the applicable size standard can apply for a PPP loan. (The franchisor does not apply on behalf of its franchisees.) The $10 million cap on PPP loans is a limit per franchisee entity, and each franchisee is limited to one PPP loan.
Franchise brands that have been denied listing on the Directory because of affiliation between franchisor and franchisee may request listing to receive PPP loans. SBA will not apply affiliation rules to a franchise brand requesting listing on the Directory to participate in the PPP, but SBA will confirm that the brand is otherwise eligible for listing on the Directory.
How do the $10 million cap and affiliation rules work for hotels and restaurants? Under the CARES Act, any single business entity that is assigned a North American Industry Classification System ("NAICS") code beginning with 72 (including hotels and restaurants) and that employs not more than 500 employees per physical location is eligible to receive a PPP loan.
SBA's affiliation rules do not apply to any business entity that is assigned a NAICS code beginning with 72 and that employs not more than a total of 500 employees. As a result, if each hotel or restaurant location owned by a parent business is a separate legal business entity, each hotel or restaurant location that employs not more than 500 employees is permitted to apply for a separate PPP loan provided it uses its unique EIN.
The $10 million maximum loan amount limitation applies to each eligible business entity, because individual business entities cannot apply for more than one loan. The following examples illustrate how these principles apply:
Example 1: Company X directly owns multiple restaurants and has no affiliates. Company X may apply for a PPP loan if it employs 500 or fewer employees per location (including at its headquarters), even if the total number of employees employed across all locations is over 500.
Example 2: Company X wholly owns Company Y and Company Z (as a result, Companies X, Y, and Z are all affiliates of one another). Company Y and Company Z each own a single restaurant with 500 or fewer employees. Company Y and Company Z can each apply for a separate PPP loan, because each has 500 or fewer employees. The affiliation rules do not apply, because Company Y and Company Z each has 500 or fewer employees and is in the food services business (with a NAICS code beginning with 72).
Example 3: Company X wholly owns Company Y and Company Z (as a result, Companies X, Y, and Z are all affiliates of one another). Company Y owns a restaurant with 400 employees. Company Z is a construction company with 400 employees. Company Y is eligible for a PPP loan because it has 500 or fewer employees. The affiliation rules do not apply to Company Y, because it has 500 or fewer employees and is in the food services business (with a NAICS code beginning with 72). The waiver of the affiliation rules does not apply to Company Z, because Company Z is in the construction industry. Under SBA's affiliation rules, Company Y and Company Z are affiliates of one another because they are under the common control of Company X, which wholly owns both companies. This means that the size of Company Z is determined by adding its employees to those of Companies X and Y. Therefore, Company Z is deemed to have more than 500 employees, together with its affiliates. However, Company Z may be eligible to receive a PPP loan as a small business concern if it, together with Companies X and Y, meets SBA's other applicable size standards.
Do businesses owned by large companies with adequate sources of liquidity to support the business's ongoing operations qualify for a PPP loan? In addition to reviewing applicable affiliation rules to determine eligibility, all borrowers must assess their economic need for a PPP loan under the standard established by the CARES Act and the PPP regulations at the time of the loan application. Although the CARES Act suspends the ordinary requirement that borrowers must be unable to obtain credit elsewhere, 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.
Does the cost of a housing stipend or allowance provided to an employee as part of compensation count toward payroll costs? Yes. Payroll costs includes all cash compensation paid to employees, subject to the $100,000 annual compensation per employee limitation.
Are agricultural producers, farmers, and ranchers eligible for a PPP loan? Yes. Agricultural producers, farmers, and ranchers are eligible for PPP loans if: (i) the business has 500 or fewer employees, or (ii) the business fits within the revenue-based size standard, which is average annual receipts of $1 million.
Additionally, agricultural producers, farmers, and ranchers can qualify for a PPP loan as a small business concern if their business meets SBA's alternative size standard. the alternative size standard is currently: (1) maximum net worth of the business is not more than $15 million, and (2) the average net income after federal income taxes (excluding any carry-over losses) of the business for the two full fiscal years before the date of the application is not more than $5 million.
For all of these criteria, the applicant must include affiliates in its calculations. Link to Applicable Affiliation Rules for the PPP.
Are agricultural and other forms of cooperatives eligible to receive PPP loans? As long as other PPP eligibility requirements are met, small agricultural cooperatives and other cooperatives may receive PPP loans.
To determine borrower eligibility under the 500-employee or other applicable threshold established by the CARES Act, must a borrower count all employees or only full-time equivalent employees? For the purpose of loan eligibility, the CARES Act defines the term employee to include "individuals employed on a full-time, part-time, or other basis." A borrower must therefore calculate the total number of employees, including part-time employees, when determining their employee headcount for purposes of the eligibility threshold. For example, if a borrower has 200 full-time employees and 50 part-time employees each working 10 hours per week, the borrower has a total of 250 employees. By contrast, for purposes of loan forgiveness, the CARES Act uses the standard of "full-time equivalent employees" to determine the extent to which the loan forgiveness amount will be reduced in the event of workforce reductions.
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This Wandro & Associates Update is intended to inform firm clients and friends about legal developments, including recent decisions of various courts and administrative bodies. Nothing in this Practice Update should be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion, and readers should not act upon the information contained in this Update without seeking the advice of legal counsel.
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