Just this week, the Small Business Association launched its online portal to simplify the PPP loan forgiveness process for many borrowers. The second round of the beloved payroll protection program came to an end when its funds were depleted on May 28, 2021. It’s now time to sort out who owes the feds and who will be fortunate enough to watch their loan turn into a grant.
Keep reading and don’t pop the champagne quite yet, not every borrower is permitted to use this portal. True to US Federal style, there are specifications that create different forgiveness rules for different loan terms.
In this article I’ll go over the most pertinent and current news that will help you turn an atrocious economic situation into a slightly less atrocious economic situation.
If you’re having a hard time remembering what the conditions were to have your loan forgiven, no problem, check out the article on the second draw PPP loans from some months back. A very dry but extremely useful article on all the nitty-gritty details can be found in a good article from JDSupra.
Let’s see what’s happening in DC that’ll be sure to affect business owners in New Jersey and nationwide.
The Opening of the Forgiveness Portal: Who’s Allowed to Log On?
Anyone can go check the portal out, but only business owners who borrowed $150,000 or less, will be able to use it as a means to close the process out. Additionally, your lending institution must be opted-in to the direct forgiveness program. If you’re not sure if your lender is a participant, you can check here to see.
If you’re not sure where you stand, it’s time to review your loan documents or the portal provided by your lender. The majority of borrowers are going to fall into the category of those who are permitted to use this portal
How Do I Apply For Forgiveness if I Can’t Use the Portal?
If you are amongst those who borrowed in excess of $150,000 don’t worry, you can also hop on the forgiveness process by accessing the official form.
Granted, it’s always a little more stressful to file documents with paper and ink, as there’s inherently less ability to prove you did it, but it’s a better option than simply throwing up your hands and eventually owing tens of thousands of dollars.
I’m speaking from experience on this one. As a former business owner in Monmouth County, I’ve been on the phone with government employees in Trenton who simply told me “yeah, we didn’t receive your application,” despite my possession of a return receipt from the USPS that said they did.
It’s a tough spot to be in, and I simply decided to repeat the process, resubmit all my documents, and hope the second attempt went better than the first. The second attempt did go better, but it absolutely framed my thinking and decision-making process to always use a digital process whenever possible to avoid this situation in the future. In case you’re curious, my system has worked since then and I’ve never had to resubmit a document again.
What Do I Do If I Can’t Access the Portal?
Don’t stress or be surprised if you can’t access the portal. If you’re trying at 9 am, try at lunch time. If that doesn’t work, try after business hours. There’s likely to be a traffic jam in the coming days as the site’s server is overloaded by access requests; be patient, it’ll clear up.
As I was trying to check the portal out to research this article, I was unable to access it due to excess traffic, so I feel your pain. That said, this is why I do this, to find alternatives for you, and I have one.
You can get the official form and fill it out the old-fashioned way. Even if you’re not going to use it as your submission method, it is a nice resource that allows you to see the sum total of all the information you’ll need to have on hand for the portal.
Is The EIDL Money I Received Going to Be Deducted From My Forgiven PPP Loan?
No, you’re not required to deduct any EIDL funds received from the amount of your PPP loan forgiveness. This was the case in the past but has since been changed so that PPP loans are 100% forgivable, regardless of money received from other programs.
Loan Forgiveness is the Kind of Thing That’s Worth Your Time and Attention
I strongly advise handling this situation as soon as possible. Just as I suggested when the second draw of the PPP was announced, at least in terms of American government, good things happen for people that get forms filed early.
I’m not a fortune teller, but I am someone who studied politics (at a university, not on twitter and facebook), have followed them ever since, and can tell you this: you never know what’s going to happen. Funding dries up, money is diverted to different programs, websites crash, public and congressional opinion can change with the weather.
The most current example of this is the failure surrounding evictions. I’m not going to get into my personal beliefs (whatever you’re assuming is almost certainly incorrect), but what I will point out is the failure to distribute funds that had already been earmarked to pay back-rent is a prime example of poor execution on Washington’s part that ends up affecting everyday people
This is not, “we’re not sure this will pass the Senate,” “we don’t believe this is fair to landlords,” or even a situation where there’s just callous disregard for the problem. There’s $47 billion dollars that’s been set aside to solve this problem but no infrastructure to distribute it.
With this example happening…now, literally as I’m writing this, I would hate for anyone that is entitled to have their grant turn back into the metaphorical pumpkin at midnight because they dawdled on getting this filed.
It’s a pain in the neck, I know, I get it, I’ve been and am in business myself, but it’s something that you can submit and take off your plate so you can get back to growing your business.
In the end, that’s what all of this is about, isn’t it?