NADA Guidance on the CARES Act

Dear WANADA Members,

As we mentioned earlier today, the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program went live earlier this morning. This forgivable loan program is the largest, and also the most complex, component of the CARES Act rescue bill that provides a number of resources to small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our friends at the National Automobile Dealers Association have produced a thorough CARES Act Frequently Asked Questions guide. While this FAQ guide is targeted specifically at dealers, the information contained within does an effective job of simplifying what this $2 trillion law means specifically for small businesses and their employees.

The guide helpfully outlines what steps PPP loan applicants need to take in order to have the low-interest loans converted into grants. One of the most notable components is that, based on the Treasury Department's interim guidance, 75 percent of any forgivable loan amount must be used exclusively on payroll costs. 

Also, please note that auto dealer franchisees with more than 500 employees spread across multiple dealerships will be able to qualify for these SBA loans once their OEMs have secured a Franchise Identification Number.  View NADA's latest list of OEM franchise identifier codes here.

NADA's publication also details other credits and loans available through the CARES Act, including Economic Injury Disaster Loans and advances, the Federal Reserve's soon-to-be-released  Main Street Business Lending Program, and the Employee Retention Tax Credit. It also features information on the expansion of unemployment benefits for affected employees and the suspension of the early-withdrawal penalty for certain employee retirement plans.

Thank you to NADA for their hard work on this document, and for their help making sense of this crisis and the legislative response to it. You can view these documents on WANADA's COVID-19 Information Page, where we also feature a library of all our communications to our members thus far during this pandemic.

Please let me or Joe Koch ( jk@wanada.org) know if you have any questions about this guide, or need any assistance from us in taking advantage of these provisions. 

Sincerely,
  
John O'Donnell
WANADA President and CEO