COVID-19 Update April 30, 2020

We finally are at the end of the month of April! In my conversations, people either can’t believe that it went so fast or they feel like April was over a year long.

Below is a link to the latest SBA FAQ updated on April 29th. The SBA makes an interesting point in number 31. The question revolves around if your company is owned by a larger company with sufficient cash flow to support your business, do you still qualify for the PPP loan. Their response, in a nutshell, is that all borrowers must certify that current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of your business. If you can testify to that, then essentially you qualify.

If you did receive your PPP Loan, we highly recommend you prepare a document now detailing where you were around February 15th and then where you were after this downturn started. This way you won’t have to go back 6 to 9 months from now and track all that information down to defend your position. If you find you really didn’t need the money, you can give it back with no questions asked up until May 7th, 2020.

If you have not received a PPP loan and are still waiting, you’ll find this interesting:

We have a client that has their accounts with a large bank. They were told by their banker to look for a smaller institution for help in getting this loan. Our client used our connection with the partnership that Goldman Sachs and Hope Credit Union created for the Gulf South Area. Our client turned in their documents late yesterday afternoon, and the SBA approved their loan by the end of the day. We can’t promise this type of turnaround, but we are more than happy to share this connection with anyone still looking for the PPP loan.

We have access to new documentation that we have put together for our clients for a formalized reopening/return to work policy guideline. Anyone that would like to have this customized policy please email dassafety@deltapeo.com. If you want your logo attached to it, please make sure you include this as an attachment to your email.

We have also attached a page from the IRS for Retention Credits. If you are not familiar with Retention Credits, it’s for companies that did not receive the PPP loan but still had substantial loss of income due to the Pandemic. Not many people are talking about this due to the fact that all the focus has been on the PPP loan program.

Please know that if you don’t receive any SBA loans but have a substantial variance of income, you may be able to obtain some tax relief if you keep your same employees and continue to pay them. Let me know if you need any more data on this tax credit program.

Today’s downloads:

• Agencies extend Employee Benefit Plan Deadlines – Article from SHRM about the ongoing changes in the requirements for benefit plans.
• IRS: Covid-19 Related Employee Retention Credits – this a fully refundable tax credit for employers equal to 50 percent of qualified wages (including allocable qualified health plan expenses).
• H-1B Filers Rethinking Their Petitions After Pandemic – interesting article from SHRM. If you employ H-1B workers, you might be like many other employers who will be reconsidering whether to move forward with filing H-1B cases.
• SBA PPP FAQ – this is the latest FAQ released yesterday from the SBA.
• Workspaces Evolve to Allow Physical Distancing – HR professionals, landlords, space planners, and others are contemplating how workplaces will look and feel in the near term and long term as employers adjust to new rules about maintaining physical distances, reducing workspace density and combating the spread of germs.
• Alert Mississippi Enacts Safer-At-Home Order While Loosening Business Restrictions – this is the latest update from MS about the changes toward reopening.