As businesses across Michigan look to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) as the largest and most widely accessible lifeline during the economic emergency caused by the COVID-19 public health crises, the Michigan Chamber and our member partners want to ensure you are up-to-date on program developments.
Guidance is continually provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Treasury. Some of this guidance is positive and helpful to businesses experiencing economic hardship. For example, laid off workers who are called back to work that refuse to do so will not affect a business’s ability to get that employee’s payroll forgiven. We see this in the SBA and U.S. Treasury’s FAQ document in recently added question number 40 (Further explained by Michigan Chamber).
While some of the guidance we see coming from the Federal government is positive, some should be taken with grave and serious warning. As Michigan Chamber member and partner, The Bodman Law Firm points out, the SBA and U.S. Treasury are now reviewing PPP loans with increased scrutiny to determine whether or not a business was truly eligible for a loan in the first place. In fact, the federal government pushed the date to repay the loan if a business determined they should not have taken the loan in the first place to May 14, 2020.
With May 14th quickly approaching, please read this article, Borrower Alert: Necessity Certification Audits and SBA Paycheck Protection Loans written by Wayne Roberts and Darren Burmania of the Bodman Law Firm to learn more about the federal government’s review of PPP loan eligibility and the consequences of taking a loan when certain subjective requirements are deemed not to have been met.