On Monday, March 30, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a Small Business Owner’s Guide to the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which summarizes what businesses qualify for the $349 billion allocated to the Paycheck Protection Program and the terms of those loans.
It is important to note that sole proprietors, independent contractors and self-employed individuals can apply for coverage under this program, provided the net earnings are less than $100,000 annually.
Contact a regional or local lender to begin the registration and application process.
A historic addition to the CARES Act is unemployment relief for the self-employed. The aim of that coverage is at the growing so-called gig economy, which consists of workers stringing together a series of temporary and/or short-term gigs instead of traditional salaried or hourly jobs. Think of Uber drivers, Instacart shoppers, and of course, commercial fishermen.
However, this federal unemployment relief of $600 a week for up to 16 weeks will be managed through your state’s unemployment agency, and that agency’s response time depends on getting the programs and support in place to manage what is sure to be another significant influx of applications on top of a flood of existing applications.
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