SAAGNY News

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Although The SAAGNY Foundation Day of Service at Happiness is Camping was canceled for 2020 – the Foundation Board found a creative way to bring some joy to the children of Happiness is Camping. 

Since in-person camp had been canceled for 2020 – campers were being treated to virtual options throughout the summer. The SAAGNY Foundation arranged for the campers to be treated to a magic show from Michael Kirschner, nephew of The SAAGNY Foundation Trustee Neil Kirschner.  Check him out -  https://thekirschproject.com/

Michael’s show was an interactive experience using mentalism and magic to promote respect and kindness. Michael was gracious enough to donate his time to the children.  The children and their parents and siblings were delighted with the program and the opportunity that the SAAGNY Foundation was able to provide.  Ryan Campbell, Camp Director, commented, “I just wanted to thank all of you for the FANTASTIC magic show! The kids were still talking about it yesterday during activities. Thank you for making our night!!! We can't wait to have you all back at camp in person soon!”

PPAI has named SAAGNY Past President Paula Shulman, CAS, president of Stamford, Connecticut-based PMS Consulting, as recipient of the Association’s 2020 Woman of Achievement award. 

The PPAI Woman of Achievement award recognizes an individual who has led the way in the advancement of women in the industry, exhibited outstanding leadership and made significant contributions to the industry and her community. The PPAI Woman of Achievement constantly strives to go above and beyond. She leads the way by setting the standard of excellence in the industry. She’s an inspiration to others, a role model and mentor. She simply stands out in a crowd.

With a career spanning more than 40 years in the promotional products industry, Shulman was one of the first women to climb the corporate ladder to become the vice president of sales at supplier Prime Line. Shulman is now involved with PMS Consulting and primarily focuses on strategic guidance for trade shows, sales transition, industry events and new product development. She also holds positions on several industry boards.

Not sure who your supplier rep is - SAAGNY is maintaining an updated list - click here.  This will be updated as needed.

The recipient of the 2020 SAAGNY Foundation Scholarship has been selected and is:         

Corey Taft Stern, son of Margot Taft Stern, MTS Promotions

The competition was extremely strong this year, as it is every year, and the judges had a difficult time reaching their decisions. This scholarship is awarded annually.

The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act Was signed into law.  Below are some of the highlights:

1. Extends PPP coverage period through December 31, 2020.
2. Gives 24 weeks rather than 8 weeks to spend
   1. If business received PPP prior to June 4, 2020 they can retain the 8 week covered period, can elect to do 24 weeks but may need to demonstrate compliance with requirements to maintain employee levels for 24 weeks.
3. No new loans after June 30, 2020.
4. Reduced percentage that must be spent on payroll from 75% to 60% - can spend more on overhead and fixed expenses such as rent and utilities.
5. Extends the Safe Harbor restoration deadline from June 30, 2020 to December 31, 2020.
6. Will not reduce forgiveness based on inability to rehire employees if employer can document:
   1. Written offer to rehire individuals who were employees of the organization on February 15, 2020.
   2. Inability to hire similar qualified employees for unfilled positions by December 31, 2020.
7. Forgiveness will not be reduced for failure to maintain employment levels if organization is able to document an inability to return to same level of business activity that existed prior to February 15 due to compliance with COVID legislation.
8. Loan repayments: extends the deferral period from six months to the time when the SBA compensates the lender for forgiven amounts, except that repayments can be required if the borrower has not applied for forgiveness within ten months of the expiration of the borrower's covered period.
9. Terms of PPP loan extended from two years to five years
10. Can defer social employer Social Security taxes even if you receive PPP loan .

The U.S. Senate passed the House version of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) legislation Wednesday night, tripling the time allotted for small businesses and other PPP loan recipients to spend the funds and still qualify for forgiveness of the loans.

The bill passed in a unanimous voice vote hours after Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson raised concerns that initially blocked the package.  Among the key provisions is a change in the threshold for the amount of PPP funds required to be spent on payroll costs to qualify for forgiveness to 60% of the loan amount. 

The Senate approval sends the House bill to the White House for signature.

The vote had to be unanimous because the Senate is not officially in session. That meant that any senator could force the matter to be delayed until the Senate returned to Washington with enough members for a quorum and a vote.  Leaders from both parties in the Senate pushed to pass the legislation on Wednesday as the clock on the initial eight-week window recently expired for the first recipients of PPP loans. Johnson dropped his objections after Senate leader Mitch McConnell agreed to add a letter to the Congressional Record clarifying that June 30 remains the deadline for applying to receive a PPP loan. The bill moves the June 30 deadline for spending the PPP funds to Dec. 31 to accommodate the new 24-week window.

Following is a summary of the legislation’s main points compiled by the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (thank you to AICPA for this update):

·    Current PPP borrowers can choose to extend the eight-week period to 24 weeks, or they can keep the original eight-week period. New PPP borrowers will have a 24-week covered period, but the covered period can’t extend beyond Dec. 31, 2020. This flexibility is designed to make it easier for more borrowers to reach full, or almost full, forgiveness.

·    Under the language in the House bill, the payroll expenditure requirement drops to 60% from 75% but is now a cliff, meaning that borrowers must spend at least 60% on payroll or none of the loan will be forgiven. Currently, a borrower is required to reduce the amount eligible for forgiveness if less than 75% of eligible funds are used for payroll costs, but forgiveness isn’t eliminated if the 75% threshold isn’t met. Rep. Chip Roy (Texas), who co-sponsored the bill in the House, said in a House speech that the bill intended the sliding scale to remain in effect at 60%. Senators Marco Rubio and Susan Collins indicated that technical tweaks could be made to the bill to restore the sliding scale.

·    Borrowers can use the 24-week period to restore their workforce levels and wages to the pre-pandemic levels required for full forgiveness. This must be done by Dec. 31, a change from the previous deadline of June 30.

·    The legislation includes two new exceptions allowing borrowers to achieve full PPP loan forgiveness even if they don’t fully restore their workforce. Previous guidance already allowed borrowers to exclude from those calculations employees who turned down good faith offers to be rehired at the same hours and wages as before the pandemic. The new bill allows borrowers to adjust because they could not find qualified employees or were unable to restore business operations to Feb. 15, 2020, levels due to COVID-19 related operating restrictions.

·    New borrowers now have five years to repay the loan instead of two. Existing PPP loans can be extended up to 5 years if the lender and borrower agree. The interest rate remains at 1%.

·    The bill allows businesses that took a PPP loan to also delay payment of their payroll taxes, which was prohibited under the CARES Act.

The small business forgiveness guide can be found at:

https://www.uschamber.com/report/guide-ppp-loan-forgiveness 

A "Forgiveness in 15 Min" tutorial is available on YouTube at:  https://youtu.be/qUxFUvVjU0s.

For additional resources from the Association of Certified Public Accountants click here.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic Federal agencies are providing some guidance regarding Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):

FDA Enforcement Policy For Facemasks And Respirators During The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency

FDA Product Classification Database

CDC Strategies for optimizing the Supply of N95 Respirators: Crisis/Alternate Strategies

OSHA Guidance On Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19

CDC Recommendations regarding the use of cloth face coverings

CDC Guidance For DIY Cloth Face Coverings