The U.S. Small Business Administration, in consultation with the Treasury Department, released a simpler loan forgiveness application for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $50,000 or less. This action streamlines the PPP forgiveness process to provide financial and administrative relief to America’s smallest businesses while also ensuring sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars. They also announced a new exemption for the same group of borrowers so they wouldn’t have to reduce their forgiven loan amount because of layoffs or wage cuts.

According to new application instructions by Treasury and SBA, the new form requires fewer calculations and less documentation for eligible borrowers. The changes are not available to businesses that took out multiple loans totaling $2 million or greater.

SBA and Treasury have also eased the burden on PPP lenders, allowing lenders to process forgiveness applications more swiftly. 
SBA began approving PPP forgiveness applications and remitting forgiveness payments to PPP lenders for PPP borrowers on October 2, 2020. SBA will continue to process all PPP forgiveness applications in an expeditious manner.