Daniel Edward Haas

With yesterday's approval by the House to replenish PPP funding with $310B, small businesses have another window to get access to loans to help pay their employees. There are certain funds allocated specifically for small banks, medium-sized banks, and community lenders. The President is expected to sign the bill this afternoon. These funds will go FAST, but we expect that those 800K+ applications already in the queue will be funded.

The House is set to vote on the next round of COVID-19 relief aid this afternoon, and are expected to approve another $310B in new funds for the PPP and $60B for SBA disaster relief loans. We'll update again tomorrow when the vote is official and all the details have shaken out. In the meantime, if your small business received funding from the PPP, remember: >> Disbursement compliance is essential. Don't go crazy spending this money.... The wolves will be howling to ensure that there isn't any fraud within this slapped-together program. Which means that you need to have your ducks in a row about HOW you spend this money. Here are a few things you need to know ASAP for these funds to be forgivable: 1) The funds MUST be spent in the 8 weeks following the disbursement date. 2) They cannot be spent on anything BESIDES: - Payroll (capped at $100,000 on an annualized basis for each employee) - Group healthcare premiums (employer portion only) - Rent/Mortgage (for the business only) - Utilities 3) You must keep 75%+ of your payroll figure intact (remember, this is called the "Payroll Protection Plan" for a reason). Excellent bookkeeping is obviously important here. This is NOT the time to cut corners on that front. We're here to help with that.

If you still have not received your Economic Stimulus Payment, you can check on the status of your payment here, including whether or not they need more info from you or not.

You may have already heard that the allocated funds for the PPP loans to help small businesses meet payroll expenses have been depleted. But Congress is looking at taking steps to make more funds available. There was $349B in the first wave, and the deal on the table (NOT YET APPROVED, but close) is for $310B. 1.6M loans were approved in that first round, and according to what we have heard, there are 800K "in the queue".... That means that if you did NOT receive funding yet, and already submitted an application -- you should be fine (if this deal is approved). It also means that if you have not applied (and you are eligible), you should begin that process ASAP.

Beware of COVID-19-related scams now coming your way. Have you personally fielded any of these? If so, comment here so we can all know what specific things to watch for. This article helps identify some specifics.