Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration released a three-page “EZ” Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness application. This new application will require less documentation and fewer calculations than what was previously required. 

Borrowers who meet any of the following, three criteria are eligible to use this application:

• Applied for the PPP loan as self-employed, an independent contractor or a sole proprietor with no employees.
• Did not reduce salary or wages for any employee by more than 25% and did not reduce the number or hours of their employees (excepting laid-off employees who refused an offer to return).
• Did not reduce salary or wages for any employee by more than 25% during the covered period and experienced reductions in business activity as a result of health directives related to COVID-19.

The streamlined forgiveness form is expected to smooth the forgiveness application process for a substantial portion of PPP borrowers. At the same time as this was rolled out, the SBA also updated the regular Form 3508 to reflect recent changes made by Congress.

For more information on all the changes to the PPP as it relates to loan forgiveness, please refer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s four-page Guide to PPP Loan Forgiveness. This guide provides information, all in one place, regarding the recent substantive changes Congress and the Trump Administration have made to the program.

The PPP continues to provide much-needed funding to Ohio businesses. As of the end of last week, there had been over 132,000 applications approved, totaling over $18 billion of assistance to small businesses. With these additional changes allowing for more flexibility with these loans and forgiveness of them, it is our hope that Ohio’s economy will rebound and be strong again.