Paycheck Protection Program Loan – Updates about new loan forgiveness guidance and application form - ERB

Paycheck Protection Program Loan – Updates about new loan forgiveness guidance and application form

A revised PPP loan forgiveness application and guidelines including a new “EZ” loan forgiveness application have been released on June 16, 2020 to incorporate the changes made by the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (hereafter “PPPFA”) passed on June 5, 2020.

The application and revised interim rules clarify that, for borrowers using the new 24-week loan forgiveness covered period, the maximum compensation eligible for loan forgiveness:

Per employee is increased to $46,154 (24 ÷ 52 × $100,000) plus covered benefits such as health care, retirement contributions, and state payroll taxes; and
For owners, is capped at 2.5 months of 2019 compensation, with a maximum of $20,833 (2.5 ÷ 12 × $100,000). Note: The application specifically lists self-employed individuals, general partners, and owner-employees, so it appears corporation owner-employees are included in this cap.

The new application instructions also clarify that:

Eligible payroll costs do not include any employer health insurance contributions made on behalf of self-employed individuals, general partners, or S corporation owner-employees;
Employer retirement contributions made on behalf of a self-employed individual or general partner are also excluded from payroll costs; and
Employer retirement contributions on behalf of owner-employees are capped at 2.5 months’ worth of the 2019 contribution amount. This limit is included on the EZ application but is not included on the full forgiveness application or in the updated interim final rule, but it is possible it will be added in the future.

The new simplified EZ application is available to be used by borrowers who:

Are self-employed and did not list any employees on their original loan application; or
Have employees, but are not subject to any loan forgiveness reduction due to salary or full-time equivalent employee reductions.

The revised interim rules, loan applications, and instructions are available at:

Paycheck Protection Program Loan – Updates about new loan forgiveness guidance and application form

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