Posted March 27, 2020
Small businesses are being affected heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are many steps that can be taken and resources that can be utilized to minimize the economic impacts.
Small Business Steps and Precautions During COVID-19:
- Contact your insurance agent to review your coverage under your business interruption policy
- Apply for SBA Disaster Loan
- Contact existing lenders used by your business to see if they have any special offers
- Be aware of health care plan requirements for coverage of employees in the event that employees’ hours are being cut or employees are being furloughed and notify the employees of any changes in benefits that could result due to a reduction in hours
- Be aware of new federal and state laws (see links below) providing for paid sick leave, paid family leave and in the case of New York, disability benefits and job protection
- Keep documentation of all atypical business expenses incurred in connection with COVID-19 (i.e., face masks, gloves, hand sanitizers etc.) for potential future FEMA relief
Federal Actions & Resources:
Families First Coronavirus Response Act– provides paid leave for employees absent from work for reasons related to COVID-19 https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/treasury-irs-and-labor-announce-plan-to-implement-coronavirus-related-paid-leave-for-workers-and-tax-credits-for-small-and-midsize-businesses-to-swiftly-recover-the-cost-of-providing-coronavirus
The act provides for tax credits and tax exemption for businesses as follows:
- Payroll tax credit for required paid sick leave
- Income tax sick leave credit for the self-employed
- Payroll tax credit for required paid family leave (Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act)- this leave is available when an employee must take off to care for their children under age 18 because of a COVID-19 emergency declared by a government authority that either closes a school or place of childcare or makes a childcare provider unavailable
- Income tax family leave credit for the self-employed
IRS Resources– https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus The IRS has extended the deadline to file and pay 2019 federal income taxes; returns or payments due by April 15, 2020 are now due by July 15, 2020 (no forms need to be filed to obtain the extension and no interest or penalties will accrue until July 16, 2020) https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-day-now-july-15-treasury-irs-extend-filing-deadline-and-federal-tax-payments-regardless-of-amount-owed
U.S. Small Business Administration https://www.sba.gov/
Small business owners in all 50 states are eligible to apply for disaster loans due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19)https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19
U.S. Chamber of Commerce https://www.uschamber.com/coronavirus
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html
Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilties Act https://www.eeoc.gov/facts/pandemic_flu.html
New York State Actions & Resources:
New York State on PAUSE https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home
Essential Businesses https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-issues-guidance-essential-services-under-new-york-state-pause-executive-order
An act providing requirements for sick leave and the provision of certain employee benefits when such employee is subject to a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19
https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A10153&term=2019&Summary=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y
https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/covid-19-paid-leave-guidance-employers
Abatement of penalties and interest for sales and use tax due to COVID-19 https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/notices/n20-1.pdf
New York State Economic Development Council http://www.nysedc.org/event/covid-19-updates-and-resources/
Empire State Development https://esd.ny.gov/esd-covid-19-related-resources
Local Resources:
Long Island Association (LIA) http://www.longislandassociation.org/
Suffolk County Business Recovery Unit https://suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/Economic-Development-and-Planning/Business-Recovery-Unit
-Survey https://suffolkcountyny.force.com/public/request/DOLBUSIMP/details
Suffolk County Chambers of Commerce https://www.suffolkchambers.org/events/detail/covid-19-suffolk-county-disaster-relief-information-11079