On, June 5th, 2020, President Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA) into law, which gives small businesses more flexibility in how they spend federal loans provided by the Paycheck Protection Program.

Under the act, the following changes were made:

• The covered period to spend the loan proceeds was extended from 8 weeks to 24 weeks. Note: the loan amount will remain the same, borrowers just have more time to spend it and receive forgiveness. Businesses who received a loan prior to June 5, can still elect to use an 8 week period.
• Only 60% of the loan amount must be allocated to payroll costs, instead of the previous 75%. The current language indicates that the 60% is now ‘all or nothing’. In other words, if 60% of payroll costs is not reached within the allowed 24 weeks, there will be zero forgiveness. There are legislators who have asked the SBA to not include this in the regulation.
• The safe harbor to rehire employees in order to maintain FTE numbers was moved from June 30 to December 31. In addition, the amount of loan forgiveness will not be reduced due to loss of employees if the borrower can document the inability to hire or rehire new employees, due to the business’s inability to return to its pre-February 15 operating levels due to compliance of various regulations.
• Employers who obtain forgiveness of a PPP loan may now defer all Employer Social Security tax deposits that would otherwise be required to be deposited before January 1, 2021.
• The amount which is not forgiven can also be extended from a 2-year loan to up to 5 years.

There are many questions which remain unanswered with the passage of this new law. We are awaiting guidance from the SBA and will continue to keep you updated as information becomes available.

This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, nor should it be relied upon for, legal or tax advice. If you have any specific legal or tax questions regarding this content or related issues, please consult with your professional legal or tax advisor.