Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans

For second draw loans, the expenses were expanded to include:

Covered operations expenditures – which include business software or cloud computing service, the processing, payment, or tracking of payroll expenses, human resources, sales and billing functions, or accounting or tracking of supplies, inventory, records and expenses.
Covered supplier costs – payments made to a supplier under a contract or purchase order for goods that are “essential to the operations of the entity” (leaving the definition of “essential” to the borrower). Note that the contract or purchase order must have been in place prior to the covered period of the existing PPP loan unless it was for perishable goods, which could be in place at any time.
Covered worker protection expenditures – any operating or capital cost incurred to comply with safety or sanitation requirements put in place between March 1, 2020 and the end of the national emergency (once declared). Such costs can include establishment of a drive-through window facility, new ventilation or filtration systems, physical barriers, expanded space or other assets relating to compliance with government requirements.
Covered property damage costs – for costs related to civil disturbances during 2020 that were not covered by insurance.
Payroll expenses – now expanded to include employer payments for group life, disability, vision or dental insurance, which were previously excluded.

In short, there are many more business expenses that may be used for forgiveness support with these new, expanded eligible expenses.

PPP Loan Requirements & Eligibility

Who is eligible for PPP loans? In general terms, most small businesses or nonprofit organizations are potentially eligible to receive a PPP loan if the organization employs 500 employees or fewer. The PPP loan rules are outlined below:

Business is one of the following:
- For profit business
- Sole proprietorship
- Nonprofit
- Veterans organization
- Tribal business concern
Business has less than 500 employees (count full-time, part-time, or other basis employees - there are certain industries for which the SBA may allow more than 500 employees)

Expanded Eligibility Under New Biden Administration

President Biden announced a series of changes meant to help smaller businesses including allowing independent contractors and those who base their loan amount requests on their Schedule C or F net income to use gross revenue as the basis for their calculation instead, opening loan access to unprofitable businesses. Also, eligibility is expanded for those with federal student loan defaults, felonies unrelated to fraud and business owners who are not U.S. citizens but are lawful residents.

Extended Eligibility for Nonprofits

The American Rescue Plan Act extends eligibility for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to include additional nonprofits, referred to in the act as additional covered nonprofit entities. This new category of eligible organizations includes nonprofits listed under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code but excludes 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), and 501(c)(19) organizations. Further criteria for eligibility require:

The additional covered nonprofit entity doesn’t receive more than 15% of its receipts from lobbying activities.
Lobbying activities don’t comprise more than 15% of the organization’s total activities.
The additional covered nonprofit entity’s lobbying activity costs didn’t exceed $1,000,000 during the tax year ending prior to February 15, 2020.
The additional covered nonprofit entity employs no more than 300 employees.

In addition, 501(c)(3), 501(c)(6), and 501(c)(19) nonprofit organizations are eligible to receive a PPP loan if they employ no more than 500 employees per physical location. This will allow some 501(c)(3) organizations that didn’t meet the original 500-employee requirement to apply for PPP funding under this newly updated eligibility criteria. For other nonprofits, the eligibility limit is 300 employees.

President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law, which will provide much anticipated relief for many lenders and borrowers concerned about meeting the original application deadline. We still recommend to any nonprofit organization that may now be eligible and would like to pursue PPP funds that they reach out to their lender as soon as possible.

Ineligible Businesses

There were some concerns with businesses taking loans that didn’t truly need the loan. Due to this, the Treasury Department updated its FAQs to add item 31, which addresses businesses owned by large companies with adequate sources of liquidity to support the business’ ongoing operations should not qualify for a PPP loan. For example, it is unlikely that a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets will be able to make the required certification in good faith, and such a company should be prepared to demonstrate to SBA, upon request, the basis for its certification.

The Treasury Department’s response to address this question was to indicate that 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. The Treasury Department response also indicated that any borrower that applied for a PPP loan prior to the issuance of this guidance and repays the loan in full by May 7, 2020 will be deemed by SBA to have made the required certification in good faith.

PPP Loan Calculator

How to calculate ppp loan amounts vary depending on the type of business. Generally, the maximum amount for a first draw loan is the lesser of average monthly payroll costs (see PAYROLL COSTS section below) during the 1-year period before the date on which the loan is made * 2.5, or $10,000,000.

PAYROLL COSTS

Includes:

Salaries, wages, commissions and other similar compensation,
Cash tips (or equivalent);
Pay for vacation, parental leave, family/medical/sick leave;
Allowance for dismissal or separation;
Payments for group health care benefits;
Payment of retirement benefit; and
Payment of state or local tax assessed on the compensation of the employees

Excludes:

Compensation in excess of $100K for individual employee, prorated for covered period;
Compensation for employee whose principal place of residence is outside of the US;
Qualified sick leave wages for which a credit is allowed under section 7001 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116-127); and
Qualified family leave wages for which a credit is allowed under section 7003 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116-127)

The most common calculation steps and formula is outlined below (covering S and C corporations). Refer to the sba.gov site for specific steps and calculations for your specific business type.

Step 1

Compute 2019 payroll costs by adding the following:

2019 gross wages and tips paid to your employees whose principal place of residence is in the United States, up to $100,000 per employee, which can be computed using:
- 2019 IRS Form 941 Taxable Medicare wages & tips (line 5c-column 1) from each quarter,
- Plus any pre-tax employee contributions for health insurance or other fringe benefits excluded from Taxable Medicare wages & tips,
- Minus (i) any amounts paid to any individual employee in excess of $100,000, and (ii) any amounts paid to any employee whose principal place of residence is outside the United States;
2019 employer group health, life, disability, vision, and dental insurance contributions (portion of IRS Form 1120 line 24 or IRS Form 1120-S line 18 attributable to those contributions);¹
2019 employer retirement contributions (IRS Form 1120 line 23 or IRS Form 1120-S line 17); and
2019 employer state and local taxes assessed on employee compensation, primarily state unemployment insurance tax (from state quarterly wage reporting forms).

Step 2

Calculate the average monthly payroll costs (divide the amount from Step 1 by 12).

Step 3

Multiply the average monthly payroll costs from Step 2 by 2.5

Step 4

Add the outstanding amount of any EIDL made between January 31, 2020 and April 3, 2020 that you seek to refinance. Do not include the amount of any advance under an EIDL COVID-19 loan (because it does not have to be repaid).

Alternately, you can try using this calculator to estimate your loan amount eligibility:

Eligibility Costs

Payroll

Borrowers are generally eligible for forgiveness for payroll costs incurred during the eight-week Covered Period (or an Alternative Payroll Covered Period). Payroll costs are considered paid on the day that paychecks are distributed, or the borrower originates an ACH credit transaction. Payroll costs are considered incurred on the day that the employee’s pay is earned. Payroll costs incurred but not paid during the borrower’s last pay period of the Covered Period (or Alternative Payroll Covered Period) are eligible for forgiveness if paid on or before the next regular payroll date. Otherwise, payroll costs must be paid during the Covered Period (or Alternative Payroll Covered Period). Count payroll costs that were both paid and incurred only once.

For each individual employee, the total amount of cash compensation eligible for forgiveness may not exceed an annual salary of $100,000, as prorated for the Covered Period. For owner-employees or self-employed individuals/general partners, the amount is capped at $15,385 per individual.

The language in the CARES Act and subsequent Interim Final Guidance referenced amounts paid and incurred and there was significant uncertainty as to whether borrowers should use cash or accrual methods to determine payroll costs. Ultimately, the SBA and Treasury settled on a modified cash method that allows borrowers to account for the payroll amounts that would accrue between the final paycheck within the eight-week Covered Period and paychecks that occurred after the eight-week Covered Period.

However, it also appears to open a loophole for borrowers with semi-monthly or monthly payrolls that are not eligible to opt for an Alternative Payroll Covered Period. By including both costs paid during the Covered Period and costs incurred but not paid at the end of the Covered Period, the calculation opens the door for a borrower to get more than eight weeks of payroll forgiven.

As an example, a borrower that received funds on April 28 has their standard Covered Period expire on June 22. During this period, as a semi-monthly payroll company, they will actually pay their employees four times: April 30, May 15 and 31, and June 15. But they will also have incurred payroll costs for the period from June 16-22. As the calculation instructions are written, all those costs are eligible for forgiveness. This may change with subsequent guidance.

Borrowers with a bi-weekly (or more frequent) payroll schedule may elect to calculate eligible costs using the eight-week period that begins on the first day of their first pay period following their PPP loan disbursement date. Borrowers that elect to use this method must apply the Alternative Payroll Covered Period only where the application specifically allows it but must use the regular Covered Period elsewhere.

Certain borrowers have the option to start the eight-week period for payroll costs on first payroll date after receiving their loan disbursement. This will allow borrowers to more easily track payroll as it will give bi-weekly payors exactly four payroll runs and weekly payors exactly eight.

Nonpayroll Costs

Eligible nonpayroll costs include payments of interest on covered mortgage obligations incurred before February 15, 2020; covered rent obligations in force before February 15, 2020 (both real and personal property); and covered utility payments for electricity, gas, water, transportation, telephone, or internet access for which service began before February 15, 2020.

An eligible nonpayroll cost must be paid during the Covered Period or incurred during the Covered Period and paid on or before the next regular billing date, even if that date is after the Covered Period. These nonpayroll costs cannot exceed 25% of the total forgiveness amount.

The 75% payroll cost requirement is based on the loan forgiveness amount and not the total amount of the borrower’s loan. This alleviates both the math problem behind converting from a 2.5-month application period to an eight-week forgiveness period and the concerns of borrowers whose businesses may be unable to maintain pre-COVID-19 payroll levels due to the shelter-in-place restrictions or other economic impacts.

Is a PPP loan right for you? Proceed to PPP Loan Application & Deadline to get started. If you already have a PPP loan, check out PPP Loan Forgiveness to get your loans forgiven by the U.S. Treasury.

Overwhelmed by intricasies of the Paycheck Protection Program? Check out our PPP Loan Forgiveness Guidance services for help.

¹ Note that employer contributions for group health, life, disability, vision, and dental insurance for S-Corporation employees who own more than a 2 percent stake in the business (or employees who are family members of such owners) are not included in this figure as such contributions are already included in gross wages