A group of House Republicans—led by Reps. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) and French Hill (R-Ark.)—wrote to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Small Business Administration Administrator Jovita Carranza yesterday urging them to simplify the process Paycheck Protection Program borrowers must go through to have their loans forgiven.
With many small borrowers indicating that they would likely need to hire outside counsel to ensure compliance with the PPP forgiveness terms, the lawmakers called for SBA and Treasury to tailor the forgiveness application based on the size and complexity of the loan. For PPP loans under $350,000, the lawmakers recommended a streamlined forgiveness application that “could consist of basic reporting by small businesses on how much they received and a good faith certification that they spent the funds in compliance with the requirements for forgiveness.”
“A streamlined forgiveness application would ease the burden on both borrowers and lenders of smaller PPP loans, consistent with congressional intent, while at the same time allowing Treasury and the SBA to focus its scarce and valuable resources on the program’s higher risk and larger dollar-value loans,” the lawmakers said.
