BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
COLUMN
Advice for seeking loan forgiveness from the PPP
usinesses that received
Paycheck Protection Pro-
gram funds are no doubt
aware that all or a portion of the
loan is forgivable if funds are used
according to pro-
gram requirements.
The following
information comes
from a webinar
hosted by a Small
Business Adminis-
GREG SMITH
tration lending spe-
UEC BUSINESS
cialist. Borrowers
RESOURCE
should always check CENTER
with their lender or
CPA for specifi c answers pertain-
ing to their individual situation.
Borrowers will submit an
application for forgiveness to
their lender. The Paycheck Pro-
tection Flexibility Act extended
the amount of time for submis-
B
sion from eight weeks after the
date you received the proceeds
to 24 weeks. There are two dif-
ferent applications— form 3508
and form 3508 EZ. The EZ form
is shorter, but not all businesses
qualify to use this.
You are eligible for the EZ
form if you:
• are a self-employed borrower
with no employees and did not
include any salaries in the calcula-
tion of your monthly payroll when
determining your eligible loan
amount.
• didn’t reduce wages by more
than 25% and didn’t reduce the
number of employees or average
paid hours of employees.
• weren’t able to rehire/hire
similarly qualifi ed employees.
• didn’t reduce wages by more
than 25% and were unable to
operate at the same level of activ-
ity due to government restrictions.
The lender will review the
application and confi rm:
• appropriate documentation
has been submitted to validate the
information.
• the borrower’s certifi cations
are true and correct.
• your math is accurate.
The lender has 60 days for the
process to be completed, and then
will issue a decision to SBA along
with the required documents. The
lender’s decision will fall into one
of these categories:
1. Approval
2. Denial
3. Denial with prejudice due to
pending SBA review
Examples of supporting docu-
ments to be included with the for-
giveness application include bank
Doughnut delivery service
dreams of expansion
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
For now, The Spot is more
a state of mind than a physi-
cal location, but its owners
hope that won’t be the case
forever.
Ray and McKenzie Diaz
started a doughnut deliv-
ery business in Hermis-
ton called The Spot about
10 months ago, but once
their business is big enough
they plan to transition into a
gathering place where peo-
ple can come in and enjoy
doughnuts, coffee and
socializing.
“Our
main
purpose
behind it is to make an awe-
some doughnut, but also to
have a cool place for peo-
ple to hang out and feel wel-
come,” Ray said.
He said he and McK-
enzie love doughnuts, and
one day when they were
driving home from Walla
Walla, Washington, with
a box of doughnuts they
decided they wanted to bring
a good doughnut option to
Hermiston.
They started “messing
around” with recipes and
created some staples they
thought would sell, Ray
said, and began selling their
doughnuts at the Union Club
before more recently striking
out on their own as a deliv-
ery service on Wednesday
through Saturday.
They always offer their
maple bacon doughnut, and
Photo contributed by Ray Diaz
Ray Diaz, pictured above, and his wife McKenzie Diaz are
hoping to expand their doughnut deliver service, The Spot, to
a permanent location. Their treats come in a variety of fl avors.
then offer three other fl avors
that are rotated on a weekly
basis. Flavors range from
Nutella sea salt to the Skip-
per, a brioche doughnut with
a Walchli watermelon glaze
named after the late Skip
Walchli. The doughnuts are
all made with coconut oil
and almond milk.
Ray mostly handles the
cooking side and McKenzie
mostly handles the business
end.
“She’s is more business
savvy than me,” he said.
“She’s super smart, so she’s
been holding us down, fi g-
uring out the details about
taxes, rules we have to
follow.”
He said they recently lost
their delivery driver and are
temporarily pick-up only, but
hope to be back to delivering
soon. They’re also starting to
look at possible locations for
a doughnut shop, although
he said it’s a “weird” time
to try and expand a business
during COVID-19.
For more information
about The Spot, visit spotdo-
nuts.com or The Spot Donuts
+ Friends Facebook page.
statements, tax forms, receipts,
and canceled checks.
For allowable non-payroll
costs you must prove the service
or obligation was in place prior to
Feb. 15, 2020, and provide proof
of payment. For example, if you
started new internet service on
Feb. 15 or after, it would not be
an allowable utility expense. For
such things as mortgage interest
payments, rent, or leases you will
likely need to produce an amorti-
zation schedule, lease agreements,
copies of canceled checks, etc.
If using the 3508 form, you
will need to include the loan for-
giveness calculation form, the
PPP schedule A and documenta-
tion showing the average number
of full-time employees on your
payroll during the referenced time
periods.
Should you be required to pay
back any portion of PPP funds,
no payment will be due for 10
months. Ask your lender about
additional terms and conditions or
refer to your loan documents.
SBA emphasizes simply
approaching the forgiveness pro-
cess with honesty and integrity.
With careful record keeping and
aligning the use of funds with
allowable expenses, you should
be able to produce necessary doc-
umentation for forgiveness. Rely
on the expertise of your CPA and
always reach out to your lender
fi rst as they are the ones who will
be recommending to SBA whether
the loan is forgivable.
Greg Smith is the executive
advisor of the Umatilla Electric
Cooperative Business Resource
Center.
New executive director chosen to
lead Oregon Cattlemen’s Association
Harney County rancher
Tom Sharp said Dennee is
“exceptionally qualifi ed”
A new executive direc- for the position, adding that
tor is coming to the Oregon the group’s hiring com-
Cattlemen’s Association.
mittee was impressed with
Tammy Dennee
her years of expe-
was hired Aug. 13
rience working on
to lead the indus-
behalf of agricul-
try lobbying group,
ture at the Oregon
representing 1,800
Capitol.
rancher members
“I have com-
across the state. She
plete confi dence
Dennee
replaces
Jerome
Tammy will do
Rosa, who left in
great work on
July to take over as head of behalf of our mission and
the Arizona Cattle Growers membership,” Sharp said
Association.
in a statement.
While Dennee is offi -
Dennee, 58, is a lifelong
cially joining the OCA, she Oregonian, born in Hood
won’t have to go far. For the River and raised in The
last fi ve years, she has been Dalles. For a while in Hood
the legislative director of River, Dennee said her
the Oregon Dairy Farmers grandparents had a small
Association, which shares farm with cows, horses,
an offi ce in Salem with the chickens and a giant gar-
cattlemen’s association.
den that, in the eyes of a
That means Dennee will child, seemed to stretch for
be moving all of 5 feet — blocks.
just to the other side of the
Dennee’s
paternal
wall — when she begins grandfather was also a
her new job Oct. 1.
herdsman for a dairy farm
OCA President and near Donald. One summer,
By GEORGE PLAVEN
CAPITAL PRESS
she remembers working on
a ranch near Grass Valley
in rural Sherman County,
where she was introduced
to the physical strenuous
job of “bucking,” or stack-
ing, hay bales by hand.
Those experiences, she
said, helped her to develop
a strong connection with
agriculture.
“I just have such an
appreciation for the hard
work these men and
women dedicate them-
selves to every single day,”
Dennee said.
Before going to work for
the Dairy Farmers Associa-
tion, Dennee was a top offi -
cial for the Oregon wheat
industry based in Pendle-
ton. She spent 10 years as
executive director of the
Oregon Wheat Growers
League, stepping down in
2010.
Six years ago, Dennee
moved to the Willamette
Valley with her husband,
Michael. They live in Dal-
las, about 15 miles west of
Salem.
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