On January 25, 2022, Gusto sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship and the House Committee on Small Business to request that Congress provide relief to small businesses by making timely and commonsense changes to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) .
As the omicron surge continues to exacerbate COVID-related economic crises, our nation’s small businesses desperately need relief to survive. Gusto urges Congress to provide additional relief to the smallest borrowers by addressing the issue of “tail” loans that is frustrating thousands of small business owners.
According to SBA data, for PPP loans that were less than $50,000, 2.5% of the loan amounts were not fully forgiven, while less than 1% of loan amounts of $50,000 or more were not fully forgiven. Since almost 80% of all PPP loans were for less than $50,000, this difference in forgiveness for loans submitted is impacting over 170,000 businesses. The SBA does not have the statutory authority to grant additional relief, so Gusto is requesting that Congress take action to ensure that small businesses that were significantly impacted by COVID-19 are not faced with additional unexpected payments.
Specifically, the letter calls on Congress to enable the SBA to forgive outstanding loans of up to $5,000 and to allow for the option to delay repayment for tail loans over $5,000.
Read the full letter here:
