[MWEA]

Another PPP question. Client opened business in Q3 of 2019. Received a PPP loan based on 2019 payroll. My questions is in regards to the reference period choice:

a.) If measured by Jan. 1, 2020 to Feb 29,2020, the employer will have a 70% forgiveness reduction based on fewer FTE's. Assuming no other safe harbor exceptions.

b.) If measured from Feb. 15, 2019 to June 30, 2019, there were no employees since the business wasn't started yet.

My question: Can the employer that wasn't in business use the 2019 reference period (B). If so, the client would be dividing by 0 (mathematically impossible?) to determine Line 13 of the PPP Schedule A forgiveness application. The client would obviously prefer 2019 reference as it wouldn't show a reduction in FTE's.

[sjrcpa]

Why did FTE go down? Maybe they have an "allowable" reason and won't get dinged.

[MWEA]

Chiropractic office and revenue dropped. May be able to qualify for a safe harbor or exception, but I’m trying to figure out if that’s necessary.