The SBA and Treasury Department has extended the deadline to repay PPP loans from May 7 to May 14. Borrowers now have until May 14, 2020 to decide whether to return PPP funds within a safe harbor period provided by the SBA.

 

Here’s what you need to know:

• In the recently added Question #43 in the Treasury Department’s PPP FAQs, the SBA is extending the repayment date for safe harbor to May 14, and reminds borrowers to carefully review the required certification on the Borrower Application Form that“[c]urrent economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.”
• Borrowers who applied for a PPP loan prior to April 24, 2020 and repay the loan in full by May 14, 2020 will be deemed by SBA to have made the required certification in good faith.
• Borrowers do not need to apply for this extension. This extension will be promptly implemented through a revision to the SBA’s interim final rule providing the safe harbor. SBA intends to provide additional guidance on how it will review the certification prior to May 14, 2020.
• The SBA and Treasury Department also noted that the SBA will review, on a case by case basis, all PPP loans over $2 million as well as others “as appropriate.”

We recommend that our clients who have received PPP funding clearly document the reasons supporting this certification. This could include an analysis of the following:

1. The current and projected impact of COVID-19 to the business, and the uncertainties surrounding those projections, including any communications from customers or clients regarding their level of business with the borrower and their respective economic conditions;
2. Recent history of the business and its performance in the wake of other economic downturns;
3. Existing levels of cash reserves or cash equivalents, and the borrower’s ability to access other sources of capital and what the terms and conditions of such sources of capital might be;
4. Current or projected plans for retention or reduction of workforce or payroll costs of such workforce, and the ability of borrower to reinstate such workforce to pre-COVID-19 levels;
5. Reaction and measures taken by competitors to COVID-19;
6. Actions or measures that borrower is considering, or has already taken, to address the economic uncertainty outside of workforce or payroll reduction.

 

Please reach out to us with any questions you may have regarding certification.