Certain PPP Loan Recipients Are Now Eligible to Streamline Their Forgiveness Application

The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) has been one of the most important components of the CARES Act enacted by Congress to provide relief to Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the most beneficial components of PPP loans to business owners is loan forgiveness. To help business owners with the process, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has created a new “EZ Application” for loan forgiveness for certain PPP recipients. If you have received a PPP loan, you may be eligible for EZ Application to help streamline the process and ensure your PPP loan is forgiven to the fullest extent.

To qualify for the EZ Application, you must fit into one of the following three categories:

The first group of eligible borrowers are self-employed individuals, independent contractors, or sole proprietors who had no employees at the time of their PPP loan application.

The second group of eligible borrowers are business owners who did not reduce the salary or hourly wages of any employee by more than 25% during the covered period, and who did not reduce the number of employees or average paid hours of employees between January 1, 2020 and the end of the covered period. A borrower can ignore reduced hours that were offered to an employee where the employee refused to work.

The final group of eligible borrowers are individuals that didn’t reduce the salary or wages of any employee by more than 25% during the covered period, and experience a reduction in business activity as a result of COVID-19 health directives provided by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC, or OSHA.

If you do not fit into one of the above categories but received a PPP loan, you are still eligible to apply for loan forgiveness but must use the standard application. Both the EZ Application and the standard application require the borrower to provide documentation of business operations during the loan period, such as payroll reports and documents verifying business expenses.

You should apply for your loan forgiveness with your lender at the end of your loan’s covered period.

For more information on whether your business is eligible for the EZ Application, or for information on the PPP in general contact the experienced attorneys at Rock Fusco & Connelly, LLC. We can be reached via email at info@rfclaw.com, or by telephone at (312) 494-1000.