Small Business Financial Resources during COVID-19
Small business owners are being hit hard right now. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs, small businesses accounted for 99.7 percent of companies in the United States.
Which is why our government is working hard to give as many resources to small businesses during this time.
SBA Disaster Loans
THE U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (SBA) issued a disaster declaration for Iowa as of Jan. 31, 2020 and continuing. The declaration allows pandemic-impacted small businesses to apply for low-interest support loans.
SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans are working capital loans to help small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes meet their ordinary and necessary financial obligations that cannot be met as a direct result of the disaster. These loans are intended to assist through the disaster recovery period.
The deadline for applying is December 20, 2020.
You can find details on the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and information on how to apply for it at sba.gov/page/coronavirus-covid-19-small-business-guidance-loan-resources.
IOWA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS OFFERING MORE SUPPORT
For Iowa small business owners facing economic pain from the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of new relief grants, tax deferrals and low-interest loans.
A new Small Business Relief Program will provide financial assistance to Iowa-based small businesses with two to 25 employees experiencing business disruption. Eligible companies can receive grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000, in addition to the potential deferral of sales and use or withholding taxes due and a waiver of penalties and interest.
The deadline to apply is March 31 at noon.
Visit iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/ and click on COVID-19 Response and Resources.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR TARGETED SMALL BUSINESSES IMPACTED BY COVID-19
A fund has been created to support Targeted Small Businesses (TSB) with zero employees that have been economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program offers eligible small businesses grants ranging from $5,000-$10,000 to businesses that are single owners with no employees that are also TSB certified, or have an application submitted to the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) by April 10, 2020 to become TSB certified.
This program will continue to process applications on an ongoing basis until all funds are exhausted. Applications are processed in both order of receipt of application and submission of all required documents and Targeted Small Business certification approval. Visit iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/ and click on COVID-19 Response and Resources.
Iowa Center for Economic Success will review grant applications for eligibility and determine the grant amount by the level of impact including loss in sales revenue and employees. The Iowa Center for Economic Success will also provide recommendations of award decisions to IEDA. IEDA will verify and/or finalize the applicant’s TSB certification and notify the applicant of the award decision.
You will be asked to provide:
Date of business establishment
Description of Economic Impact Loss (loss of sales or revenue)
Estimated loss of revenues March 15, 2020 - April 15, 2020
Description of how funds will be utilized to maintain operations or reopen after the disaster
Eligibility
To be eligible for a TSB Sole Operator Fund grant, eligible businesses must:
Be experiencing business disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and
Be a Targeted Small Business or have an application in process by April 10, 2020 to become certified as a Targeted Small business in accordance with Chapter 52 of Iowa Code.; and
Be a single owner business with no employees, or a corporation with only one owner and no employees; and
Verify that Targeted Small Business income is the primary source of income for the business owner
To be eligible for TSB Certification, businesses must be:
Located in the state of Iowa; and
Operating for a profit; and
Make less than $4 million in gross income, computed as an average of the preceding three fiscal years; and
Majority owned (51% or more), operated and managed by a female, individual with minority status, service disabled veteran or individual with a disability
The funds may not be used to pay debts incurred prior to March 17, 2020.
REMOTE NOTARIZATION NOW IN EFFECT
The in-person requirement for notarizing documents is temporarily waived, subject to requirements from last year’s legislation, for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency. You can find the temporary guidelines that apply during the emergency waiver of the in-person requirement on the Secretary of State’s website https://sos.iowa.gov/news/2020_03_25-2.html.
Questions may be emailed to the Secretary of State at notary@sos.iow.gov
Q1-Q3 TAX ESTIMATES
The due dates for Q1, Q2, and Q3 federal tax estimates have been extended until October 15, 2020. All estimates due for each quarter will need to paid at that time.
Note: This currently only pertains to federal amounts due. Please check your local accountant for action taken in Iowa.
SELF EMPLOYED “FAMILY FIRST” TAX CREDIT
You are eligible for a tax credit at the end of the year if you are unable to run your business because one of the following:
a) you or a family member you are caring for have COVID-19
b) you no longer have access to childcare because of the virus
For more information, refer to link above. Or speak with your accountant.
STAFF UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE
If you are unable to keep your staff employed, have them check out the State of Iowa unemployment website and apply for unemployment insurance benefits. In addition, if you provide health insurance for them, you can place them on furlough, which will allow them to keep those benefits (which you still have to pay for); however, this will ensure they don’t lose coverage while still being able to file for unemployment.