One of the key aspects of the stimulus passed by Congress is a new SBA loan program that allows businesses and non-profits with under 500 employees to borrow an amount equal to 2.5 times their average monthly payroll (up to $10 million). To the extent that businesses use these loans to keep people employed and paid, those loans will be forgiven. Other qualified expenses include rent, interest on existing mortgage loans, and utilities.
This will be a tremendous help to businesses and non-profit organizations and our local economy.
Businesses interested in participating in the program may find it helpful to begin to compile payroll information for the past year. For businesses not in operation for the past year, they may find it helpful to begin to compile the above information for January and February 2020.
There will undoubtedly be criminals who will use this new program to lure small businesses into divulging information that will then be used to perpetrate scams. Please talk to your banker for details on the program. Click here for a list of participating banks.