Paycheck Protection Program Update

If you took advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) through the Small Business Administration (SBA), you’re probably wondering at this point about the forgiveness process. There have already been two versions released of the original loan forgiveness application, and recently they introduced a separate EZ application form which requires less calculation and documentation for borrowers who meet the following requirements:

• Are self-employed and have no employees, or
• Did not reduce their employees' salaries or wages by more than 25 percent and did not reduce their employees' number of hours, or
• Experienced reductions in business activity due to health directives related to COVID-19 and did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25 percent.

Citizens National Bank has partnered with Fiserv, our core software provider, to offer an online portal that will allow our borrowers to complete their required application and provide the necessary calculations to determine their correct amount of forgiveness. To streamline the process, each borrower’s loan information will be pre-filled based on the original PPP application. We are hopeful this will be available within the next couple of weeks and will email all our borrowers to notify them when they’re able to login and begin the loan forgiveness application process. Once the application is verified complete by your business banking officer, it will be uploaded to the SBA. Citizens National Bank has up to 60 days to submit each application and the SBA has up to 90 days from that date to process the forgiveness. Since the passage of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, borrowers have up to 24 weeks now to use the PPP funds and remain eligible for forgiveness. The Act also lowered the required amount to be spent on payroll from 75% to 60% of the borrowed amount. Your Business Banking Officer will provide additional guidance for any portions of PPP loans that do not meet the SBA forgiveness requirements.

 

View More Articles