Extension is expanding its online education and resources to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions.
New COVID-19 relief includes PPP, EIDL and CFAP changes
After months and months of negotiations, Congress passed a new COVID-19 relief bill as part of a larger end-of-year federal appropriations bill. The bill, H.R. 133, known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, was passed in a late-night legislative session on December 21, 2020. The president then signed the bill into law on December 28, 2020.
The law notably changes the tax treatment of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) with just a few days left in the calendar year.
Other parameters of the law of importance to farmers and other small business owners include
- a second round of PPP loans, new funding for targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advances,
- an infusion of new dollars to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),
- and continuation of several COVID-19 related employee tax credits.
Not connected directly to business finances, but likely relevant to many reading this post, the law also includes a second round of Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) and funding for rural broadband and telehealth upgrades.
An article on the Agriculture Business Management blog highlights major COVID-19 financial related provisions but does not provide a full comprehensive summary of the 5,593 page law. Rob Holcomb outlines additional tax changes in another blog post here.