SBA to reopen Paycheck Protection Program on Jan. 15

The Small Business Administration (SBA) on Friday will begin accepting applications for the second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, the agency announced Wednesday.

PPP-eligible lenders with less than $1 billion in assets can begin sending loans to the SBA for approval Friday, and the program will reopen to lenders of all sizes Tuesday, the agency said. The head start for smaller lenders is intended to ensure that smaller businesses can obtain PPP loans after many were unable to do so during the first round of disbursement in 2020.

President Trump in December signed a bipartisan coronavirus relief bill allocating another $284 billion for the PPP, which offers loans to small businesses that can be entirely forgiven if used to retain workers and cover basic operating expenses. The SBA has issued 4.9 million PPP loans since the program opened in April and has already forgiven $100 billion in loans.

The second round of PPP is open to both businesses that received loans in the first round and those who did not. 

To be eligible for a second PPP loan — which cannot exceed $2 million — a business must have 300 employees or fewer, have used or will soon use all of the money from its previous PPP loan for authorized uses, and can show at least a 25 percent decline in gross receipts between comparable quarters in 2019 and 2020, the agency said.