Additional Tips For Small Businesses In Preparation For Disaster Recovery Programs

NYC is still working on the Small Business Services Grants/Low-interest loans, Sign up for updates: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/sbs/businesses/covid19-business-outreach.page

To prepare, businesses will be required to demonstrate a revenue decrease by providing documentation such as:

• point-of-sales reports
• bank statements
• quarterly sales tax filings
• 2019 tax returns
• CPA-certified profit & loss statements

For help applying to this program, contact your local NYC Small Business Services Office by calling 311 if you are in NYC. The SBA is working on the loan program, for more details, see below.

If you need a SBA Disaster Recovery Loan:

• Contact vendors: work with vendors to get better terms than their 30 day accounts payable
• Prioritize payments according to most crucial to those vendors who will work with the business
• Make good faith payments to stay as current as possible, this will make a difference to ensure credit isn’t harmed
•  Collect, scan and save so you have on hand:
• 3 years of past tax return – personal and business
• Identification – license, passport, social security card
• Make sure financial statements are current or available
• Other business documents make sure are in order – corporate paper work etc.
• Most recent bank statements – last 3 months
• Work with accountant to file 2019 tax return
• Prepare income statements / schedules showing monthly sales. 2019 and 2020 to date. Sales can be constructed from receipts, bank statements and POS reports.  Keep backup organized if asked for.

Regards,

Kaaryn M. Nailor Simmons

Director, Columbia-Harlem Small Business Development Center
https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/sbdc/, sbdc@columbia.edu