Watch Now: PPP and EIDL Q&A for Music with Business Oregon

Thanks to everyone who attended our Q&A with Business Oregon asking about the Paycheck Protection Program and the EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance). You can watch now to hear Colin Sears from Business Oregon (also a professional musician himself) answer questions and more. Really useful info here.

Key Takeaways

  • All Sole proprietors and self employed people should apply for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) ASAP (as soon as banks reopen applications)  See list of participating Oregon banks.  By early next week all banks should have reopened their applications.  First come-first served.

  • Many music people applied for the EIDL first because it promised a fast “3-day $10K grant”  I have yet to hear from anyone who has received anything yet as much as a month since applying. The grant is now reduced to $1000 per employee and the loan is $15,000 max and repayable in 24 months.  Do not waste your time on the EIDL— The PPP has already paid out more than $4 billion to Oregon companies and will get more money within the coming week. Apply for the PPP Now.

  • Despite its name, the PPP is designed to support self employed people (including musicians, independent contractors, and sole proprietors).  The money must be used in specific ways to be fully forgivable (making it a grant for those that comply).  75% of the funds provided must be used for “payroll”. As a self-employed person that "payroll" is your personal NET annual profit from your business, after business expenses.  The remaining 25% can be used ONLY for mortgage, rent or utilities.  This restriction was incorrectly stated in the webinar.

  • To calculate your PPP loan amount as a self-employed person, take your NET profit up to $100K then divide by 12 and multiply by 2.5.  For example, if your NET income as a sole proprietor was $63,000 it would be $5250/month multipled by 2.5 for a loan of $13,125.

  • DOCUMENT EVERYTHING - as you go through the process with the banks to apply, keep records of every phone call, and email.  Once you receive your PPP Loan keep perfect records on what you spent the money on. It has not yet been confirmed how the program will validate your compliance to forgive your loan, so be super compliant and document everything at every stage of the process.

  • PPP and Unemployment Benefits? - The Oregon Employment Department is again confirming that self employed folks SHOULD NOT APPLY YET (despite what OPB said wrote this week) because it will be up to TWO Months before they expect to even begin to accept self-employed applications.  Since the PPP pays benefits through July 31 only, it seems reasonable to go for the PPP now and apply for PUA after that.  You will miss out on the $600/week PUC if you apply after July 25, but the PPP may have given you more.  The specific math will be yours alone.

Philip Graham