California Relief Programs for Businesses

If you own a California small business, you are painfully aware of the lockdown orders affecting most of the state. We hope you are also aware of all of the California relief programs available to your business. We’ve compiled a list of these programs with a brief summary below. All of us here at Dark Horse are working hard to guide our Dark Horse small businesses through the remainder of the pandemic. We stand ready to help you navigate these programs (and any others we may have omitted). There are a few other relief programs that are in the works that we’ll highlight in future blog entries.

CALIFORNIA RELIEF PROGRAMS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES:

The California Main Street Small Business Tax Credit

Relief: $1,000 per employee added during 7/1/20 – 11/30/20 (up to $100,000 per employer)

Eligibility:

• Must have less than 100 employees as of 12/31/19
• Must have suffered a revenue decrease of at least 50% in Q2 2020 as compared to Q2 2019

Sales & Use Tax Deferral

Relief: Interest-free deferral of sales/use tax up to $50,000 for 12-months

Eligibility: Must have less than $5 million in gross sales

California Rebuilding Fund

Relief: Loans up to $100,000 at 4.25% interest rate, with interest-only payments for the first year and repayment terms of up to 5 years.

Eligibility:

• Must be a California business with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees prior to March 2020
• Gross revenues of less than $2.5 million in 2019
• Must have direct economic hardship as a result of COVID-19
• Additional requirements listed on https://www.ibank.ca.gov/small-business/california-rebuilding-fund/

COVID Relief Grant (Additional Information to be Announced)

Relief: Grants of up to $25,000 for small businesses and non-profits

Eligibility: Unknown at this time

Small Business Loan Guarantee Program + Disaster Relief Loan Guarantee Program

Relief: Loans at favorable terms for small businesses whom are having difficulty procuring capital through traditional channels

Eligibility: Must have 750 or fewer employees and must be in one of the eligible industries listed in the NAICS codes list.

If you need help navigating these (or other) California COVID relief programs for small businesses, reach out to a Dark Horse CPA today!

About Dark Horse CPAs

Dark Horse CPAs provides integrated tax, accounting, and CFO services to small businesses and individuals across the U.S. The firm was founded to save small businesses (and their owners) from subpar accounting and tax services and subpar client experiences. These small businesses are Dark Horses among their larger and more well-known competition. Being a Dark Horse CPA means advocating for small businesses by bringing them the tax strategies and accounting insights previously reserved for big business. Get a quote today.