Florida Businesses Note The Following – The Payroll Protection Flexibility Act Is Signed Into Effect On June 5, 2020.
This series has devoted quite a bit of ‘ink’ over the past months to the federal and state legislation designed to support small businesses and employees, and particularly to the Payroll Protection Act. 1 One of the principal benefits of the “PPP” is that the payroll replacement loans made by the U.S. Small Business Administration can be forgiven upon the fulfillment of conditions. One of the corresponding critiques is that the fulfillment of those substantive and reporting conditions can be onerous to the borrowers.
As a result the House and the Senate passed the Payroll Protection Flexibility Act, which was signed into effect by the President on June 5, 2020. 2 The ‘net effect’ of the PPP Flexibility Act is to give borrowing employers greater flexibility (thus, the Act’s title) in their use and repayment of loan funds. The PPP Flexibility Act can apply to existing loans.
As explained by Investopedia.com: 3
- The PPP Flexibility Act amends the Paycheck Protection Program to give borrowers more time to spend loan funds and still obtain forgiveness.
- Borrowers now have 24 weeks to spend loan proceeds, up from 8 weeks.
- The Act also reduces mandatory payroll spending from 75% to 60%.
- Two new exceptions let borrowers obtain full forgiveness even without fully restoring their workforce.
- Time to pay off the loan has been extended to five years from the original two.
- The Act now lets businesses delay paying payroll taxes even if they took a PPP loan.
Please note the following three caveats: 4
- Under the new Act, failure to spend at least 60% of the total loan amount on payroll, will result in no loan forgiveness. Previous requirements required spending 75% of the forgiven amount on payroll.
- The June 30, 2020 application deadline for a PPP loan remains in effect and was not changed under the new law.
- Failure to apply for loan forgiveness within 10 months of the end of the covered period will result in payments being due.
As noted in previous articles in this series it is important for businesses to consult with their attorneys, accountants, lenders, and the SBA at all stages of the PPP loan and other pandemic resources lifecycles.
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Note: Citations are given to the sources to respect the original authors’ copyrights.
1 See https://www.boginmunns.com/three-things-to-know-june-5-2020,
https://www.boginmunns.com/horse-owners-and-coronavirus-impact,
https://www.boginmunns.com/BOA-possible-ppp-data-breach,
https://www.boginmunns.com/federal-reserves-ppp-lending, https://www.boginmunns.com/application-deadline/,
https://www.boginmunns.com/another-timely-coronavirus-covid-19-update-plus-one-more/, https://www.boginmunns.com/additional-resources-for-florida-businesses/, https://www.boginmunns.com/a-brief-note-for-floridas-individuals-families-and-businesses-about-extensions/, https://www.boginmunns.com/coronavirus-state-and-federal-resources-to-florida-laid-off-and-furloughed-workers/, https://www.boginmunns.com/another-important-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-resource-the-paycheck-protection-program/, https://www.boginmunns.com/the-coronavirus_pandemic-resources-for-floridas-businesses-families-and-individuals/.
2 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7010.
3 https://www.investopedia.com/paycheck-protection-program-flexibility-act-of-2020-an-overview-4846944. See also https://fiskeco.com/ppp-forgiveness-changes-what-borrowers-need-to-know/.
4 Ibid.
– For more information, call Philip N. Kabler of the Gainesville, FL office of Bogin, Munns & Munns at 352.332.7688, where he practices in the areas of business, banking, real estate, and equine law. He has taught business and real estate law courses at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business Administration and Levin College of Law and is the President-Elect of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Association.
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