SBA Updates Paycheck Protection Program FAQs

Updated guidance weighs in on payment of fees to third parties as well as health care benefits.

The Small Business Administration has released updated guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program related to payment of fees to third parties as well as health care benefits.

The recently updated FAQ includes two new questions and answers — No. 50 and 51.

The first question asks: What effect does the payment or nonpayment of fees of an agent or other third party have on SBA’s guarantee of a PPP loan or SBA’s payment of fees to lenders/?

Answer: Such payment or nonpayment is not material to the loan guarantee or fee payments.

More information about such fees can be found in paragraph III.4.c of the initial Paycheck Protection Program interim final rule, the FAQ explains.

As to whether payments required to provide group health care benefits, including insurance premiums, include vision and dental benefits, the SBA said yes. (These payments are not counted under the program’s per-employee salary expense cap of $100,000 a year.)

The deadline to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program loan expired Aug. 8. The original deadline was June 30.

PPP loans cannot resume until another stimulus deal is struck. As of mid-July, the PPP contained $130 billion in available funds.

The GOP’s HEALS Act includes a Paycheck Protection Program Second Draw Loans option via the Continuing Small Business Recovery and Paycheck Protection Program Act.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in mid-July that any new stimulus bill should include extending the PPP, and that new loans should go to businesses facing “significant revenue declines.”

— Check out Postal Service Crisis Could Lead to Next Stimulus Bill: Valliere on ThinkAdvisor.