Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020:
Second COVID relief package passed by Congress to reopen PPP loans
Both chambers of Congress Monday afternoon passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that, in part, reopens the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses.
For companies that received PPP funding in the first round, they can apply for a second loan of up to $2 million, as long as they have fewer than 300 employees, have used or will use the full amount of their first loan, and can show at least a 25% drop in revenue in any 2020 quarter compared to the same quarter in 2019, according to the Journal of Accountancy. The bill also specifies that business expenses paid with forgiven PPP loans are tax-deductible.
The loans will also still be available for first-time applicants with fewer than 500 employees.
For loans of $150,000 or less, the bill simplifies the forgiveness process by allowing forgiveness if a borrower provides a description of the number of employees the company retained because of the loan, the estimated amount of the loan spent on payroll costs and the total loan amount to the lender.
The bill also includes a second round of direct payments to working Americans – $600 for every adult and child making less than $75,000 a year. It also adds $300 a week to unemployment benefits on top of state benefits from Dec. 26 through March 14, 2021.
Related specifically to highway transportation, the bill grants $10 billion for state highways.
