Expanded PPP Loan Forgiveness/
Miami Continues to Reopen
UPDATE: It's now the law! President Trump has signed the Payroll Protection Program Flexibility Act.
There is quite a bit of positive news today in the area of business recovery!
Yesterday, the Senate passed, and today the President signed, the Payroll Protection Program Loan Flexibility Act ("Act"), which will allow even more businesses to have their Payroll Protection Program Loan ("PPP") forgiven. In addition, Miami-Dade County Mayor Gimenez amended Emergency Orders 23-20 and 21-20 allowing the reopening of more businesses, including gyms and summer camps.
The Act
The Act makes a number of changes to the PPP, which expands the criteria for forgiveness. As such, the Act will allow more businesses to take advantage of the forgiveness aspect of the PPP.
Here is a recap of the changes the Act makes to the PPP.
* Increases the period in which the business must use the loan proceeds to the earlier of 24 weeks or December 31, 2020, rather than just 8 weeks.
* Lowers the percentage of the loan proceeds that must be used for payroll to 60%, rather than 75%.
* Extends the deadline to hire back employees laid off or furloughed after February 15th in order to meet eligibility requirements from June 30, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Further, the Act provides that forgiveness will not be affected as long as you can document any of the following: (i) you could not rehire the employee or a similarly qualified employee by December 31; or (ii) you were unable to return to the same level of business activity due to compliance with the guidelines of Health and Human Services, the CDC or OSHA.
* Increases the repayment period to 5 years. It is currently 2 years. Please note this is not automatic, you must coordinate with your lender.
* Permits for the deferment of payroll tax deposits, which was previously prohibited.
Miami-Dade County
Mayor Gimenez amended two Emergency Orders to allow for more businesses to reopen. These businesses must operate in accordance with Miami-Dade's New Normal Handbook. The New Normal Handbook provides safety guidelines related to occupancy, cleaning and other measures that businesses must implement (See our update on the New Normal). If your business has or is going to reopen, you should review the New Normal Handbook to ensure you are compliant with the safety guidelines.
The changes that will take effect in Miami-Dade on Monday June 8th are:
*gyms, fitness centers, tattoo parlors, massage studios, and summer camps will be allowed to reopen.
*movie theaters, concert houses, auditoriums, playhouses, bowling alleys, arcades, indoor amusement facilities and casinos may submit a reopening and operation plan for COVID-19 mitigation to the County, and if approved such venue will be allowed to reopen.
*bars, pubs, night clubs, cocktail lounges, cabarets and breweries that are licensed as public food establishments under chapter 509 of the Florida Statues, may also reopen for on-site service. If such venues have live performances, the performers must be at least ten feet from all patrons.
*summer camps and youth sports will be allowed to operate in Miami-Dade parks and recreational facilities.
As the business community continues to take steps towards full recovery, Ser & Associates is here to help you. If you have any questions on the PPP, Miami-Dade's New Normal or if we may assist you with other legal matters, please contact us at 305-222-7282 or info@ser-associates.com.
You can view our previous Small Business Resources & Updates here:
The information above is not legal advice, represents only a summary and by no means encompasses all the aspects of PPP loan forgiveness and the Miami-Dade New Normal Guidelines. Please make sure to confer with your attorney, accountant, insurance agent and/or banker in connection with your situation and circumstances. And, please contact us, if we may be of assistance to you and/or your business.
At Ser & Associates we provide a business approach to legal services. It’s our mission to work with small businesses and their owners with a one-stop shop approach that includes business and contract law, residential & commercial real estate (buy/sell, leasing), land use & zoning, government contracting, minority certification, litigation, estate planning, intellectual property (trademarks/copyrights) and wealth protection. We also offer the MyGC/My General Counsel® Program to those business owners requiring on-going legal services at an affordable monthly rate. Contact us at Info@Ser-Associates.com or 305-222-7282 for a free consultation.