DECISYS Releases Software to Support SBA PPP Loan Forgiveness
NATICK, Mass., June 7, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- DECYSIS is a leading software developer in the field of Workforce Analytics and Compliance. Its PPPfast application helps Borrowers compile all the data and perform all the required calculations to support PPP Loan Forgiveness applications to their Lender and the Small Business Administration [SBA]. The software also generates and archives the documentation Borrowers must make available for SBA audits.
Release of PPPfast follows the SBA guidance issued on May 15, 2020, containing both detailed instructions for the PPP Loan Forgiveness phase and the PPP Loan Forgiveness Application form itself. It is anticipated that Borrowers will need to submit this multi-part form to their Lender to request conversion of their loans to a tax-free grant.
COMPLEX & EVOLVING SBA GUIDANCE
The SBA's PPP Loan Forgiveness guidance contains extensive instructions but leaves important areas requiring additional clarification. In addition, the rules determining which expenditures qualify for PPP Loan Forgiveness continue to evolve.
DECISYS monitors any changes in guidance and automatically reflects these in the PPPfast software. For example, Congress on June 3, 2020 modified the covered period for spending from 8 to 24 weeks and decreased the minimum amount of the loan to be spent on payroll to qualify for forgiveness from 75% to 60%, allowing more room for other forgivable spending such as rent or utilities. PPPfast enables the user to make clear and accurately informed business decisions on how best to use their PPP Loan - always based on the latest intelligence.
One thing is very clear from the SBA guidance. The information and calculations needed to support a Borrower's loan forgiveness application are challenging. DECYSIS recognized that these challenges are well-suited to a cloud-based software that can handle the complexities of a constantly changing workforce in these challenging times.
"The speed at which the PPP Loan Program was initiated and continues to be modified leaves many employers with a number of unanswered questions and difficult decisions. Loan Forgiveness and compliance is fact intensive. Our role at DECISYS is to help our clients manage the complex calculations and decisions that support maximum loan forgiveness, while remaining in compliance" noted Kenneth B Phillips, DECISYS General Counsel. "And it's not just the Borrowers that need to be concerned; Lenders are implementing procedures that focus on completeness of documentation and performance of necessary reviews in order to maintain any hold harmless status they enjoy." Phillips added: "PPPfast insures accurate, clear and auditable documentation necessary to assist our clients and their Lenders with compliance during the complicated times."
WORKFORCE ANALYSIS & COMPLIANCE
The primary goal of the Paycheck Protection Program is to protect jobs and wages. The SBA'S forgiveness guidance seeks to ensure that at least 60% of loan expenditure goes to payroll and that Borrowers maintain their workforce and compensation at the same level as the beginning of 2020 or at an alternative time frame in 2019. To do this accurately and correctly the analysis must be done at the individual employee level, utilizing up to 100 individual data elements and performing dozens of calculations.
The measurement of a dynamic workforce in these pandemic times, with furloughs and indefinite restart schedules, is clearly complex. Further complicating the measurement are factors such as "safe harbors" in the SBA guidance for Borrowers. For example, PPP Loan Forgiveness will not be reduced for Borrowers who have made a good faith offers to rehire workers even if those offers have been declined; but to take advantage of this exemption an employer must have made written offers.
DECYSIS has been developing micro service software to monitor the details of employee work history and compensation for many years. The software is used to support HR and Finance activities such as ACA Compliance and IRS e-filing, dependent audit and leave management. It is the perfect environment to support PPP Loan Forgiveness, elements of which require workforce analytics at the individual employee level on a week by week basis.
PPPfast powered by DECYSIS provides the backbone required to support accurate calculations and management of the SBA rules concerning the amount of loan proceeds that may be converted to a tax-free grant. Once a loan is in the Borrowers account the Borrower must adhere to strict payment criteria regarding payroll, and other expenses such as rent and utilities, in order to support forgiveness.
The PPPfast software helps Borrowers organize this data while providing guidance and decision support on workforce and expenditure management to maximize eligibility for forgiveness within the guidelines established by the SBA. Upon completion of the 8 week (56 day) covered period or a longer period specified by Congress, such as 24 weeks, the software provides a completed PPP Loan Forgiveness Application that can be presented to the Lender.
SBA AUDIT FUNCTION
A critical feature of PPPfast is the audit function. A PPP Loan Forgiveness Application is based on the thousands of measurements and calculations that are traceable and maintained in the software; in the event of any potential audit by the SBA, all this data can be presented for audit.
The latest SBA guidance provides a "safe harbor" that loans under $2 million will be presumed to contain the requisite good faith certification that the loan was necessary; but documentation is essential, and the SBA Office of Inspector General can request access to such files at any time within six years. The PPPfast audit function not only stores all this relevant data but can help the Borrower rectify any anomalies before an SBA audit potentially morphs into a costly and time-consuming investigation.
"Checking in with clients, we know that restarting their businesses is consuming all of their time," says Kim Phillips, Founder and CEO of BenefitScape, a leading workforce analytics and compliance provider "The outsourcing option, where a DECISYS analyst, using the PPPfast software, prepares all the required schedules and provides guidance support is a very attractive offering for our clients." Kim noted "We look to these partnerships to help our clients obtain as much tax-free loan forgiveness as possible, with the least disruption to their already stretched staff. With a cloud-based application we can share the work, results and decision making with what has become an expanding virtual workforce."
SOURCE DECISYS
