As the cases of coronavirus continue to grow in Arkansas and as the economic disruption expands, small businesses around the state have been tossed a lifeline.
The Small Business Administration and the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center announced that Economic Injury Disaster Loans are now being made available to those small businesses that have been impacted.
The loans can be used by eligible businesses to make payroll, paying vendors and fixed debts. They are not to be used to cover lost sales.
Applications can be done online and at disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.
Disaster Declaration No. 16372 was approved statewide on Friday. It previously only covered a portion of southern Arkansas that was contiguous to Louisiana.
In the SBA release, it said operations with under 500 employees would be eligible and typical businesses include, among others:
- Retailers
- Restaurants
- Recreational facilities
- Tourism-based businesses
- Manufacturers
- Hotels
Private non-profits, along with agriculture cooperatives and small aquaculture businesses would also be eligible, while agricultural enterprises are not.
Businesses also don’t set how much the loan is for.
“The SBA uses the information you provide to determine the loan amount,” the release said. “Small businesses can receive a secured loan up to $2 million, and an unsecured loan up to $25,000.
The SBA said the documentation that will be used to verify the loan include:
- Contact information and social security numbers for all applicants
- Employer Identification Number for business applicants
- Insurance information
- Financial information
The SBA added that it would be helpful if the businesses knew, “the total amounts and payments due for debts that will be paid over the next 10 months or longer.”
Specific documents required will be the SBA Form 413 for each principal owner, IRS Form 4506-T, copies of your most recent federal income tax returns for the business, SBA Form 2202 and that covers the schedule of liabilities listing all fixed debts; and SBA Form 5, which is the business loan application.
Businesses that apply for the loans will be contacted by someone from SBA for the next steps.
The SBA has also created an online resource page at SBA.gov/Coronavirus while organizations like ASBTDC can assist small businesses with the application process by going to https://asbtdc.ecenterdirect.
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