WASHINGTON—The U.S. Small Business Administration, in consultation with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, issued new and revised guidance for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  This guidance implements the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA), signed into law by President Trump on June 5, 2020, and expands eligibility for businesses with owners who have past felony convictions.
To implement the PPPFA, SBA revised its first PPP interim final rule, which was posted on April 2, 2020.  As described in detail in our announcement on June 8, 2020, the new rule updates provisions relating to loan maturity, deferral of loan payments, and forgiveness provisions.
In addition, as an exercise of SBA’s policy discretion in furtherance of President Trump’s leadership and bipartisan support on criminal justice reform, the eligibility threshold for those with felony criminal histories has been changed.  The look-back period has been reduced from 5 years to 1 year to determine eligibility for applicants, or owners of applicants, who, for non-financial felonies, have (1) been convicted, (2) pleaded guilty, (3) pleaded nolo contendere, or (4) been placed on any form of parole or probation (including probation before judgment).  The period remains 5 years for felonies involving fraud, bribery, embezzlement, or a false statement in a loan application or an application for federal financial assistance.  The application also eliminates pretrial diversion status as a criterion affecting eligibility.
SBA issued revised PPP application forms to conform to these changes.  The guidance and revised application forms are available on SBA’s and Treasury’s websites.  SBA will issue additional guidance regarding loan forgiveness and a revised forgiveness application to implement the PPPFA in the near future.
Click here to view the new Interim Final Rules.
Click here to view the new Borrower Application.
Click here to view the new Lender Application.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today reminded taxpayers to guard against tax fraud and other related financial scams related to COVID-19.

In the last few months, the IRS Criminal Investigation division (CI) has seen a variety of Economic Impact Payment (EIP) scams and other financial schemes looking to take advantage of unsuspecting taxpayers. CI continues to work with law enforcement agencies domestically and abroad to educate taxpayers about these scams and investigate the criminals perpetrating them during this challenging time.

"Criminals seize on every opportunity to exploit bad situations, and this pandemic is no exception," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "The IRS is fully focused on protecting Americans while delivering Economic Impact Payments in record time. The pursuit of those who participate in COVID-19 related scams, intentionally abusing the programs intended to help millions of Americans during these uncertain times, will long remain a significant priority of both the IRS and IRS-CI."

Criminals are continuing to use the COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments as cover for schemes to steal personal information and money. Scams related to COVID-19 are not limited to stealing EIPs from taxpayers, however. CI has already seen scams related to the organized selling of fake at-home test kits, offers to sell fake cures, vaccines, pills and advice on unproven treatments for COVID-19. Other scams purport to sell large quantities of medical supplies through the creation of fake shops, websites, social media accounts and email addresses where the criminal fails to deliver promised supplies after receiving funds.

"Criminals try to take advantage of our most vulnerable times and our most vulnerable populations. But because we have seen many of these criminals and schemes before, we know how to find them and we know how to expose them," said Don Fort, Chief of IRS Criminal Investigation. "And because COVID-19 is a global problem, it requires a global solution. Not only are we leveraging our financial investigative expertise domestically, we are working hand-in-hand with our J5 partners on those COVID-19 cases that cross borders. There truly is no place for criminals to hide."
Other COVID-19 related scams involve setting up fake charities soliciting donations for individuals, groups and areas affected by the disease. Some criminals are offering opportunities to invest early in companies working on a vaccine for the disease promising that the "company" will dramatically increase in value as a result. These promotions are often styled as "research reports," make predictions of a specific "target price," and relate to microcap stocks, or low-priced stocks issued by the smallest of companies with limited publicly available information.

Finally, CI has also seen a tremendous increase in phishing schemes utilizing emails, letters, texts and links. These phishing schemes are using keywords such as "Corona Virus," "COVID-19," and "Stimulus" in varying ways. These schemes are blasted to large numbers of people known by the bad actors in an effort to get personally identifying information or financial account information to include account numbers and passwords. Most of these new schemes are actively playing on the fear and unknown of the virus and the stimulus payments.

Coronavirus-related (COVID-19) scams should be reported to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or submitted through the NCDF web Complaint Form. The NCDF is a national coordinating agency within the Department of Justice's Criminal Division dedicated to improving the detection, prevention, investigation and prosecution of criminal conduct related to natural and man-made disasters and other emergencies, such as the coronavirus (COVID-19). Hotline staff will obtain information regarding your complaint, which will then be reviewed by law enforcement officials.

Taxpayers can also report fraud or theft of their Economic Impact Payments to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). Reports can be made online. TIGTA investigates external attempts to corruptly interfere with federal tax administration, including IRS-related coronavirus scams.

Also, taxpayers can always report phishing attempts to the IRS. Those who receive unsolicited emails or social media attempts to gather information that appear to be from either the IRS or an organization closely linked to the IRS, such as the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), should forward it to phishing@irs.gov. Taxpayers are encouraged not to engage potential scammers online or on the phone.

Learn more by going to the Report Phishing and Online Scams page on IRS.gov. Official IRS information about the COVID-19 pandemic and economic impact payments can be found on the Coronavirus Tax Relief page on IRS.gov, which is updated frequently.

​Upcoming Procedures
SBA, in consultation with Treasury, will promptly issue rules and guidance, a modified borrower application form, and a modified loan forgiveness application implementing these legislative amendments to the PPP.  These modifications will implement the following important changes:

• Extend the covered period for loan forgiveness from eight weeks after the date of loan disbursement to 24 weeks after the date of loan disbursement, providing substantially greater flexibility for borrowers to qualify for loan forgiveness.  Borrowers who have already received PPP loans retain the option to use an eight-week covered period.
• Lower the requirements that 75 percent of a borrower’s loan proceeds must be used for payroll costs and that 75 percent of the loan forgiveness amount must have been spent on payroll costs during the 24-week loan forgiveness covered period to 60 percent for each of these requirements. If a borrower uses less than 60 percent of the loan amount for payroll costs during the forgiveness covered period, the borrower will continue to be eligible for partial loan forgiveness, subject to at least 60 percent of the loan forgiveness amount having been used for payroll costs.
• Provide a safe harbor from reductions in loan forgiveness based on reductions in full-time equivalent employees for borrowers that are unable to return to the same level of business activity the business was operating at before February 15, 2020, due to compliance with requirements or guidance issued between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, related to worker or customer safety requirements related to COVID–19.
• Provide a safe harbor from reductions in loan forgiveness based on reductions in full-time equivalent employees, to provide protections for borrowers that are both unable to rehire individuals who were employees of the borrower on February 15, 2020, and unable to hire similarly qualified employees for unfilled positions by December 31, 2020.
• Increase to five years the maturity of PPP loans that are approved by SBA (based on the date SBA assigns a loan number) on or after June 5, 2020.
• Extend the deferral period for borrower payments of principal, interest, and fees on PPP loans to the date that SBA remits the borrower’s loan forgiveness amount to the lender (or, if the borrower does not apply for loan forgiveness, 10 months after the end of the borrower’s loan forgiveness covered period).
• In addition, the new rules will confirm that June 30, 2020, remains the last date on which a PPP loan application can be approved.

WASHINGTON — With 159 million Economic Impact Payments processed, the Internal Revenue Service reminds many low-income Americans who don't usually file tax returns to register for a payment by October 15.

Millions of low-income people and others who aren't required to file a tax return may be eligible for an Economic Impact Payment and can easily register for a payment by using the free Non-Filers tool, available only on IRS.gov.

"IRS employees worked around the clock to deliver the Economic Impact Payments and new tools to help taxpayers in record time," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "Even with these unprecedented steps, there remain people eligible for these payments who need to take action. Registering to receive the payments is easy, and millions of non-filers have already taken this step. We urge everyone to share this information widely to help more people receive these payments."

In the past two months, more than 159 million Americans have received Economic Impact Payments totaling almost $267 billion. Of the payments, 120 million were sent to Americans by direct deposit, 35 million by check and 4 million payments were made in the form of a pre-paid debit card. This includes payments sent to those who usually do not have to file a tax return but receive retirement, survivor or disability benefits under various programs administered by the Social Security Administration as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Railroad Retirement Board who qualify. These individuals can use Get My Payment to check on their payment status.

Non-Filers tool on IRS.gov helps millions; special feature remains available through October 15To help people who aren't normally required to file a tax return, the IRS created the Non-Filers tool, available in English and Spanish, in partnership with the Free File Alliance. The Non-Filers tool is designed for people with incomes typically below $24,400 for married couples, and $12,200 for singles. This includes couples and individuals who are homeless. People can qualify, even if they do not have earned income or work. Usually, married couples qualify to receive a $2,400 payment while others normally qualify to get $1,200. People with qualifying children under 17 can get up to an additional $500 for each child. Anyone who already filed either a 2018 or 2019 return does not qualify to use this tool.

The Non-Filers tool will remain available through the summer and fall, though many eligible people without a filing obligation have already received an Economic Impact Payment. The IRS urges every other eligible non-filer to register soon to quickly receive their payment. Anyone who registers by October 15 will receive their payment by the end of the year.

To help reach these non-filers, over the next few months the IRS will be conducting an extensive outreach and education effort to partner groups who serve homeless individuals, underserved communities, limited English households and others. As part of this effort, the agency has created an Economic Impact Payment partner page, and materials are available in multiple languages.

The IRS cautions that some people who need to file a tax return have been mistakenly using the Non-Filers tool to try to get an Economic Impact Payment.
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For more Information on the Economic Impact Payment, including answers to frequently-asked questions and other resources, visit IRS.gov/coronavirus.