Covid-19

On behalf of our members and businesses throughout the state, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to providing information, resources and updates from federal and state policy stakeholders to help Illinois businesses during the Coronavirus crisis.

Main Points

Restore Illinois

• Phase 4 Guidelines for reopening business and returning people to work safely. 

• Phase 3 Guidelines for reopening business and returning people to work safely. 

    COVID-19 small business loans

• Small businesses can apply for federal COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration.
• Applicants will apply directly to the SBA, which is estimating it will take about 21 days to process the applications. Once approved, they are expecting about another five to seven days to disperse the funds directly from the U.S. Treasury to the applicant.
• You can find out more information in the SBA's Three-Step Disaster Loan Process Sheet, one pager. presentation and the governor's press release

    Payroll Tax Credits

• The U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (Labor) announced that small and midsize employers can begin taking advantage of two new refundable payroll tax credits, designed to immediately and fully reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave to their employees. You can find out more in the press release.

Paycheck Protection Program

To date we have approximately $140 billion in PPP appropriation remaining. We continue to push the program out and educate small businesses and entrepreneurs. In the district office, we continue to push the programs broadly to include focus on sole proprietors, self-employed, and independent contractors to ensure they understand the program and are able to access it. We provided PPP training for sole proprietors last week and it is recorded at this site.

Treasury released an updated FAQ (#40-42) which cover forgiveness when employees decline to return, seasonal employers, and non-profit hospitals. This document can be found here.

The “How to calculate loan amounts” document on the Treasury website is a great tool, especially for sole proprietors. It offers guidance for those that capture their business income in different forms (Schedule C, Schedule F, K-1, etc.). It can also be used to inform lenders of the various, approved options to document self-employed income.

Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program

Legislation passed 4/23 provided additional funding to the EIDL ($50B) and EIDL advance ($10B) programs. In addition, it relaxed eligibility requirements so agricultural businesses including businesses engaged in the legal production of food and fiber, ranching, and raising of livestock, aquaculture, and all other farming and agricultural related industries (as defined by section 18(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 647(b)) are eligible for the EIDL and EIDL advance. These businesses would still need to meet the criteria of having 500 or fewer employees.

The portal is now open for ag businesses to apply a this site. Any assistance you can provide in getting the word out is greatly appreciated.

Note: Only agricultural businesses are eligible to apply at this time. Non-agricultural businesses who make application at this time will have their applications returned.

More Links

For more information from the U.S. Chamber Save Small Business platform click here.

For more information on COVID-19 in Illinois please see the Illinois Coronavirus Response website.

For more information on COVID-19 business updates please see the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Combating the Coronavirus website.