Payroll Protection Program

**NEW** On February 23, President Biden announced several administrative changes to the PPP loan Program. Key highlights:

Interim Final Rules, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and forms will be updated as necessary. The first changes should be released Wednesday, February 24.
New PPP applications based on some of the changes announced today will be released next week.
Starting on Wednesday (Feb. 24), and lasting for 14 days, only companies with 20 or fewer employees will have their PPP loan applications processed. Any company with more than 20 employees will have their application rejected during this time period.
White House fact sheet

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was established by the CARES Act in late March. The program, which is administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), allows for businesses with fewer than 500 employees to obtain loans that could be 100% forgivable. Several important details of the program were modified by the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act in early June.

On June 17, the Treasury Department released a new "EZ" form for PPP loan forgiveness that is available to borrowers who (i) are self-employed, or (ii) did not reduce wages by more than 25 percent and did not reduce the number or hours of their employees, or (iii) experienced reductions in business activities as a result of health directives related to COVID-19 and did not reduce wages by more than 25 percent. You can read Treasury's announcement on the new form here.

On July 1, Congress passed S. 4116 to extend the PPP application deadline from June 30, 2020, to August 8, 2020. The President signed the bill on July 4, 2020.

On October 8, the Small Business Administration announced a simplified Payroll Protection Program (PPP) application for all loans of $50,000 or less. SBA also eased the burden on PPP lenders, allowing lenders to process forgiveness applications more swiftly. The new application is here, along with instructions. The Interim Final Rule is here.

On November 18, the IRS announced new guidance on the tax treatment of PPP loan expenses. You can read the announcement here, the revenue ruling here, and the revenue procedure here.

On December 28, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 into law. The law contains provisions authorizing another round of PPP funding. The law also allows deductions for the payments of eligible expenses when such payments would result (or be expected to result) in the forgiveness of a loan (covered loan) under the PPP. The IRS guidance is available here. More information on the changes made to the PPP program can be found here.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has released this PPP loan forgiveness calculator that is free and available for use to any PPP loan borrower. You can find more information about the tool in this press release and watch this demo video.

Applying for a PPP Loan
Program overview
SBA's PPP website
Treasury Department's FAQs
Application form, first draw
Application form, second draw
Summary of application form and instructions

PPP Loan Forgiveness
PPP loan forgiveness application for loans $50K or less and instructions
PPP loan forgiveness application (revised 6/16/20) and instructions
PPP loan forgiveness EZ application and instructions
Regulatory guidance
FAQs from August 4, 2020
Summary of regulatory guidance
Regulatory guidance for lenders
Paychex PPP loan forgiveness estimator
AICPA PPP loan forgiveness calculator