Important Updates for Dealers and Business Owners
Dear WANADA Members,
As we close out the fourth week of wide-scale social distancing measures in the Washington region, I wanted to share a few important updates relevant to our member dealers and suppliers.
WANADA has created a new television announcement,
which you can view here. Our new commercial reinforces what we have been saying throughout this pandemic: transportation services are essential operations, and our member dealers are continuing to operate during this crisis, while placing paramount importance on safety, compliance, and social distancing.
The ad buy will begin on Monday and run on local broadcast and cable outlets for the following two weeks, and includes a link to our
member dealer directory. As always, it is incumbent on all of our member dealers to uphold these virtues and rigidly comply with all federal, state, and local guidances and regulations related to workplace safety and social distancing. Please continue keeping thorough records of your compliance efforts.
Updates on Financial Support for Businesses
Question 7 clarifies that the
CARES Act's language stating that a borrower can only request income replacement up to $100,000 per employee; the guidance explicitly notes that the cap only refers to cash compensation, and not associated health care benefits, payroll taxes, or employer retirement contributions. Those benefits can be calculated on top of an employee's $100,000 salary, potentially making filers eligible for a larger forgivable loan.
On that same note, question 16 clarifies that the PPP calculates payroll costs to include gross wages only. As the guidance puts it, "an employee who earned $4,000 per month in gross wages, from which $500 in federal taxes was withheld, would count as $4,000 in payroll costs."
Question 14 also reinforces that applicants may use either payroll costs from all of 2019, or the past 12 months, in an effort to secure the largest loan amount possible.
For additional guidance, please visit
WANADA's COVID-19 Information Library, which contains links to detailed information resources from the several executive branch agencies who are involved with administering the CARES Act's financial assistance programs. It also features
a full archive of our communications to our members, where we have provided detailed information about many of the financial support resources available to businesses.
Additional Support on the Horizon
In recent days, Congress has begun discussing adding an additional $250 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program's fund, which has clearly and understandably been very popular. The current measure
has hit a snag in the U.S. Senate, but we are hopeful that, much like the initial CARES Act itself, the two parties will reach a solution soon and inject more funding into the program.
Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve also announced a new
Main Street Business Lending Program, as part of a
$2.3 trillion plan to inject more liquidity into the financial market. The Main Street Lending Program will provide
low-interest loans of $1 million or more to medium-sized businesses with up to 10,000 employees and $2.5 billion in revenue. When the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department provide additional details on the program, which we anticipate to come next week, we will be sure to update you.
As we have mentioned previously, multi-franchise auto dealers with more than 500 employees are eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program if they have qualifying OEM franchise identification codes.
You may view the latest OEM FICs at this link.
Summary
We appreciate all the important work that you are doing during this time of severe health concerns and economic upheaval. As always, you can contact me or Joe Koch (
[email protected]) if we at WANADA can be of service in any way. Whether you are observing a major religious holiday this weekend or not, I hope you and your families are safe and restful during this most unusual time.
It is a privilege to be able to serve you all, and we will keep doing everything we can to advocate for our members and suppliers.
