SBA leaves businesses still hoping for more leeway on loans

NEW YORK (AP) — Small businesses hoping for more leeway in using coronavirus loan money were disappointed as the government released instructions for seeking forgiveness for the loans.

Forms the Small Business Administration released late Friday didn’t address two concerns shared by many owners about the $659 billion Paycheck Protection Program. According to the instructions, loans can still be forgiven in full only if the money is spent within eight weeks of receiving it. And businesses must use at least 75% of it for workers’ pay, with the remaining amount limited to rent, mortgage interest and utility expenses.

Many small businesses say the eight-week period is too restrictive. Those who laid off workers are afraid they’ll have to let them go again if business hasn’t returned to pre-virus outbreak levels at the end of the eight weeks, a situation likely for many restaurants whose revenue is down due to social distancing requirements.

“Small businesses need flexibility on when the eight-week period should start or need to have the covered period extended to more than eight weeks,” the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, a trade group, said in a statement.

One option owners have asked for is to have the eight-week period start when laid-off staffers are rehired.

Other owners are worried about having to cut staffers’ pay when the money runs out.

“We brought people back to full pay, but I warned them that I can’t guarantee that we will be able to keep everyone at full hours,” says Leslie Saul, owner of an architecture and design firm that bears her name in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Many owners are also unhappy about the restrictions on how they can use the money. Restaurant owners, for example, say they need to use some of the...