New Hampshire’s Main Street Relief Fund will Provide Critical Aid for Small Businesses
On Friday, May 15, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced the creation of the Main Street Relief Fund, authorizing the allocation and expenditure of $400 million to provide critical financial support to small, for-profit businesses located in New Hampshire that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds being made available are from $1.25 billion of financial relief received from the federal government, and are part of a larger package that will provide aid for nonprofit organizations, healthcare, childcare and farms.
Specifications regarding nonprofit entities are still being formulated by the state. It is unclear whether its characteristics will be similar to those below, but the amount of relief is expected to total $60 million. A link describing nonprofit benefits, that will be populated as information is developed, is found here.
For-profit businesses that are based in New Hampshire and earned less than $20 million of gross receipts in the 2019 tax year are eligible to apply for assistance from the Main Street Relief Fund. Agricultural businesses are not eligible for this program.
The application and allocation process for the program will be handled in two phases. First, eligible New Hampshire businesses must submit a prequalification application by Friday, May 29. This is mandatory. Applicants will be required to provide information related to their 2019 financial activity, which may be found on their 2019 tax returns. They must also provide information related to any COVID-19 relief already received, such as proceeds from a Payroll Protection Program loan. Submission of the prequalification application does not guarantee that the business will receive any funds from the program.
The preliminary application must be submitted through the Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery (GOFERR) website. The prequalification online application can be found here.
If a business doesn’t have access to a computer, it can contact the Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) at (603) 230-5000, and make arrangements to use the computer in the lobby of the DRA building.
A business must submit its prequalification application by Friday, May 29, in order to participate in the program.
Once the prequalification period is closed, GOFERR will review the information received to determine the relief criteria and amounts needed to help as many of the applicants as possible.
Specific details about the program will be released on Monday, June 1. The final program application will also be released on June 1, and businesses who submitted the prequalification application will have until Monday, June 8 to submit the final application through a DRA website portal that will be established. It is anticipated that the funds will be released beginning on June 15.
A summary of the program is available on the GOFERR website, and can be found here.
We will issue a follow-up to this Alert after the program’s details are made available on Monday, June 1.
For more information or a discussion on how this may impact you, please contact Merrill Barter or your BNN advisor at 800.244.7444.
Disclaimer of Liability: This publication is intended to provide general information to our clients and friends. It does not constitute accounting, tax, investment, or legal advice; nor is it intended to convey a thorough treatment of the subject matter.