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 in News Release 20-81. This action streamlines the PPP forgiveness process to provide financial and administrative relief to America’s smallest businesses, but still requires the submission of supporting documents, such as cancelled checks, bank statements, third party prepared payroll records, and Form 941s. 

“The PPP has provided 5.2 million loans worth $525 billion to American small businesses, providing critical economic relief and supporting more than 51 million jobs,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.  “Today’s action streamlines the forgiveness process for PPP borrowers with loans of $50,000 or less and thousands of PPP lenders who worked around the clock to process loans quickly,” he continued.  “We are committed to making the PPP forgiveness process as simple as possible while also protecting against fraud and misuse of funds.  We continue to favor additional legislation to further simplify the forgiveness process.”

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.

There is no defined deadline for borrowers to submit the forgiveness application. But borrowers will be required to begin repaying the loans 10 months after the end of the covered period as explained in FAQ No. 3 of the PPP Loan Forgiveness FAQs.

Forgiveness Application: Click here to view the simpler loan forgiveness application.

Application Instructions: Click here to view the instructions for completing the simpler loan forgiveness application.

Interim Final Rule: Click here to view the Interim Final Rule on the simpler forgiveness process for loans of $50,000 or less.