To ease employer costs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CARES Act provided a refundable tax credit in 2020 against withholding taxes on employees’ wages. The credit was available to employers that had not taken a PPP loan and was set to expire at the end of 2020.
The Federal Reserve established the Main Street Lending Program (“Program”) to support lending to small and medium-sized businesses in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The availability of additional credit is intended to help businesses that were in sound financial condition prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic maintain their operations and payroll until economic activity normalizes. Further, the Federal Reserve designed the Program to support small and medium-sized businesses that were either unable to access the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) or that require additional financial support after receiving a PPP loan. (Burns & Levinson’s most recent PPP Advisory can be found here.)
The U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) has released an updated PPP Loan Forgiveness Application (and related instructions) and a shorter EZ Form application for certain qualified borrowers and related instructions with respect to the Paycheck Protection Program (“”). These releases followed the enactment of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (“PPPFA”) which amended the previously enacted CARES Act. The SBA has also released Interim Final Rule as to PPP loan forgiveness, which has been revised by Revisions-to-First-Interim-Final-Rule (as revised, “IFR”) and the PPPFA will guide PPP borrowers as to use of loan funds and applications for forgiveness. Below we discuss some key considerations to keep in mind as you review the application, IFR, and PPPFA in relation to the PPP loan forgiveness process.
On May 26, 2020, the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued a second updated order outlining the Court’s plan for operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Order goes into place on June 1, 2020 and it replaces the Court’s prior orders. While the Order extends deadlines further, it explicitly indicates that no further extensions will occur but for a surge in new COVID-19 cases.
On May 18th, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced the Commonwealth’s four-phase roadmap (the “Plan”) to reopening business operations in the Commonwealth. Order Implementing a Phased Reopening of Workplaces and Imposing Workplace Safety Measures to Address COVID-19, a.k.a. Covid-19 Order No. 33 (the “Reopening Order”).
For many public companies and non-profit organizations (for ease, we’ll refer to them as ‘organizations’), we’re in the season for meetings, whether it’s a quarterly board meeting or an annual meeting of stockholders or members. With the current inability to gather in groups due to the unprecedented world pandemic, the typical in-person meeting must quickly morph into a virtual or remote-only format.
As states begin to their introduce plans to reopen their economies, employers are understandably anxious about bringing employees back to the physical workplace. While returning to work will look different for each employer, there are several global considerations that all employers should keep in mind.
Like so many business sectors and industries, the real estate sector is experiencing a revenue decrease. COVID-19-related shelter-in-place orders are impacting families and family businesses drastically. Privately-held trusts and family-owned companies, lenders, borrowers, landlords, and tenants face unprecedented issues in the collection of revenue and payment of debt. This article examines some of the legal and business considerations in navigating these challenges.
