New Treasury Department Guidance Provides Clarity on Good-Faith Certifications by Paycheck Protection Program Loan Recipients

The chief executive officer of AGC of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement recently in reaction to new guidance from the Treasury Department regarding Paycheck Protection Program loans: “The Treasury Department’s new Paycheck Protection Program directive offers the kind of guidance we have been seeking. It provides many employers with additional clarity on how to proceed with their loans. Importantly, the Department has opted to provide a safe harbor provision for firms that self-certified their need for loans that totaled less than $2 million.

"In addition, the new guidance provides a mechanism to allow firms that received loans of $2 million or more, and are later found to have not met the Department’s need-standard, to repay those loans, seemingly without penalty. While the new guidance is helpful, it does leave several important questions unanswered, including about the timing and condition of those possible loan repayments, as well as what criteria the SBA will use to determine if a loan should be repaid. AGC will continue to push Treasury officials to answer those questions as quickly as possible. Regardless, today’s new guidance will clearly help save many jobs.”