As long as the business has fewer than 100 employees.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. It’s reassuring that I am eligible. The trouble lies with Bank of America.

My S Corp applied on April 4. After the first round of SBA funds ran out, their system began sending me daily messages that I haven’t uploaded all my documents, and recently, to supply a 941. Now that the SBA is taking applications for the 2nd round of PPP funds, the messages have stopped.

Meanwhile I have been trying to call almost every day, but BofA has built a PPP system that’s structured to keep anyone at the bank from speaking with individual business owners about their applications.

Sorry. This is been a pretty poorly managed program. I’m not sure that this is any consolation, but it seems relevant to note that in the end most small businesses won’t be able to actually get a loan.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. It’s reassuring that I am eligible. The trouble lies with Bank of America.

I applied on April 4. After the first round of SBA funds ran out, their system began sending me daily messages that I haven’t uploaded all my documents and to supply a 941. Now that the SBA is taking applications for the 2nd round of PPP funds, the messages have stopped.

Meanwhile I have been trying to call almost every day, but BofA has built a PPP support system that’s structured to prevent small business owners from speaking with anyone at the bank who can comment on individual applications.

I think you should be able to get a PPP loan based solely on your Schedule C from 2019. That’ll create the “PPP” payroll cost you need. You don’t therefore need actual employees on your payroll or a 941 for 2019.

E.g., if your 2019 Schedule C shows exactly $52,000, even if you employ no actual employees, your average monthly payroll costs equal $52,000/12 or $4333.

In this situation, you qualify for a PPP loan equal to $10,833 because 2.5 times $4333 equals $10,833.

Regarding forgiveness, in the eight week covered period, you would need to pay employees payroll equal to at least 75% of the $10,833. This amount equals $8125.

Your situation is a bit murky because in 2020 you don’t have a proprietor for whom you’ll have owner compensation replacement (which could have been up to $8,000 because the SBA says you can pay out 8/52nds of your 2019 Schedule C’s $52,000). Rather, you’ll need actual W-2 wages paid to Ian (now a shareholder-employee) and some other employee.

You’ll also get forgiveness for rent, utilities, etc.

I think just the partnership applies and that you deal with the partner’s owners compensation there, at that level.

If your S corporation shows zero wages, you won’t be able to get a PPP loan. You don’t have any payroll.

I recently transitioned from over a decade of being a sole proprietor to a single member LLC taxed as an S Corp late 2019. To date I have not paid myself a salary yet, but I intend to do so for 2020.

My S Corp applied for the PPP Loan with a simple online application from Bank of America on April 4. Per their instructions following a week later, I supplied a Schedule C. I also included a “Read Me” file explaining the change to S Corp.

I have been getting daily emails saying my documents are incomplete, but with no explanation why. The people in BofA’s CARES Team I have spoken with on the phone say what I did sounds right, but refuse to look at my documents.

Recently I received a request for Form 941. I don’t have one, so my bookkepper advised I create a file called “Form 941 2020 Q1” and put text in it stating the form does not exist because no payroll was run, only owners draws.

Yesterday, I was notified my application is ready to be turned into the SBA. This morning, I got another request to supply Form 941. I think I qualify for PPP Loan under SBA rules, but BofA’s system won’t accommodate me. This process is maddening. In hindsight, applying as a sole proprietor would have been simpler for BofA’s process.

Does anything jump out at you as a mistake on my part? Should I do something to supply a Form 941? Wondering when I should just give up…