SBA Releases Form Designed to Streamline Forgiveness of Smaller PPP Loans

The U.S. Small Business Administration, in consultation with the Treasury Department, released a simpler loan forgiveness application for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $50,000 or less.

This action streamlines the PPP forgiveness process to provide financial and administrative relief to America’s smallest businesses while also ensuring sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

“The PPP has provided 5.2 million loans worth $525 billion to American small businesses, providing critical economic relief and supporting more than 51 million jobs,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.  “Today’s action streamlines the forgiveness process for PPP borrowers with loans of $50,000 or less and thousands of PPP lenders who worked around the clock to process loans quickly.

“We are committed to making the PPP forgiveness process as simple as possible while also protecting against fraud and misuse of funds,” Mnuchin added. “We continue to favor additional legislation to further simplify the forgiveness process.”

Borrowers who use the form are exempt from reductions in loan forgiveness amounts based on reductions in FTEs or in salaries/wages, pointed out Jean Stenger, a CPA and the senior manager at Troy, Mich.-based DKSS CPAs and Advisors. This form also does not require the borrowers to show calculations; however,j Stenger said, the SBA may “still request information and documents to review those calculations as part of their loan review process.”

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Stenger pointed out it’s not an automatic forgiveness, just a streamlined application for smaller loans. The SBA states … the effect of this change is going to be de minimis, she said. The streamlined application is not available for borrowers who, together with their affiliates, receive loans totaling $2 million or greater.

SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza called the Paycheck Protection Program “an overwhelming success,” saying it “served as a historic lifeline” to America’s small businesses and tens of millions of workers.

“The new form … demonstrates our relentless commitment to using every tool in our toolbelt to help small businesses and the banks that have participated in this program,” Carranza said. “We are continuing to ensure that small businesses are supported as they recover.” SBA and Treasury have also eased the burden on PPP lenders, allowing lenders to process forgiveness applications more swiftly.

Click here to view the simpler loan forgiveness application.

Click here to view the instructions for completing the simpler loan forgiveness application.

Click here to view the Interim Final Rule on the simpler forgiveness process for loans of $50,000 or less.