June 18, 2020 - On June 2, 2020, the Missouri Bankers Association penned a letter that was signed by Associated Industries of Missouri and twelve other business and agriculture related associations from Missouri, asking Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and Administrator of the Small Business Administration Jovita Carranza to streamline the forgiveness process for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) program, especially for smaller loans. The form and process was extremely burdensome, taking an average of three hours to complete.
In addition to the letter we sent, Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt joined 43 of his Senate colleagues in a letter dated June 12, 2020, similarly asking for a simplified form.
Yesterday, the SBA responded with two new PPP loan forgiveness forms: one for small businesses and another for all other businesses. The shorter form is 3 pages and the longer one is only 5 pages.
The revised, borrower-friendly Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness application implements the PPP Flexibility Act of 2020, signed into law by President Trump on June 5, 2020. In addition to revising the full forgiveness application, SBA also published a new EZ version of the forgiveness application that applies to borrowers that:
Are self-employed and have no employees; OR
Did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%, and did not reduce the number or hours of their employees; OR
Experienced reductions in business activity as a result of health directives related to COVID-19, and did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%.
The EZ application requires fewer calculations and less documentation for eligible borrowers. Details regarding the applicability of these provisions are available in the instructions to the new EZ application form.
“The Paycheck Protection Program has been a lifeline for workers and small businesses in our state, said Senator Blunt. "We need to be sure the program is workable and accessible for the small businesses that need it, and streamlining the loan forgiveness application is a critical part of that. I hope the increased flexibility Congress and the Administration have worked together to provide to small business owners helps them stay afloat and keep people on the payroll as our economic recovery continues,” he said.
Both applications give borrowers the option of using the original 8-week covered period (if their loan was made before June 5, 2020) or an extended 24-week covered period. These changes will result in a more efficient process and make it easier for businesses to realize full forgiveness of their PPP loan.
Click here to view the EZ Forgiveness Application.
Click here to view the Full Forgiveness Application.