Mono County Helps Small Business’ with California Dream Fund (NOW OPEN), EIDL, and Employee Retention Tax Credit
California Dream Fund – NOW OPEN! (Email your interest to the Bakersfield Small Business Development Center at [email protected])
The $35 million California Dream Fund Program that will provide micro grants up to $10,000 to seed entrepreneurship and small business creation in California. Areas of focus will be child care, service and cottage food, green technology, retail and manufacturing. If you are interested in this program please email the Small Business Development Center in Bakersfield at [email protected]
California Dream Fund requirements
- Participating entrepreneur must complete a defined business training, one on one consulting, and a workable business plan.
- Participating entrepreneur “must have established a legal entity after July 1, 2019.
- Participating entrepreneurs must meet the definition of a new business start.
Definition of a “new business start”
- Has acquired “ALL” necessary permits to operate legally AND at least one of the following:
- Has made a first sale
- Has hired at least 1 employee
- Has created a business banking relationship
- Has incurred a business expense, may include accounting and legal expenses
California Dream Fund Training Components
- Complete 8 modules of 11 allowable Small Business topics
- Sessions are 60-90 minutes
- Attendees can participate in person or via an online training or on demand portal
- Training can be demographic, industry or language specific
California Dream Fund Training Classes/topics
- Entrepreneurial Mindset / feasibility
- Business Planning
- Business communication, writing and pitch
- Licensing, permitting
- Market analysis and planning
- Financials and projections
- Accessing capital and financial literacy
- Competitive analysis
- Financial management and accounting
- Digital marketing, advertising and public relations
- Establishing online marketplaces and payment systems
Here’s a great video from our Small Business Development Center in Bakersfield on the CA Dream Fund and requirements: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrrDd3zX1iE&t=1090s
Employee Retention Tax Credit – Get up to $10,000 in Tax Credits Per Employee
The employee retention tax credit is a broad based refundable tax credit designed to encourage employers to keep employees on their payroll. The credit is 50% of up to $10,000 in wages paid by an employer whose business is fully or partially suspended because of COVID-19 or whose gross receipts decline by more than 50%.
Availability
- The credit is available to all employers regardless of size including tax exempt organizations. There are only two exceptions: (1) state and local governments and their instrumentalities and (2) small businesses who take Small Business Loans
- To qualify, the employer has to meet one of two alternative tests. The tests are calculated each calendar quarter – Either
- the employer’s business is fully or partially suspended by government order due to COVID-19 during the calendar quarter or
- the employer’s gross receipts are below 50% of the comparable quarter in 2019. Once the employer’s gross receipts go above 80% of a comparable quarter in 2019 they no longer qualify after the end of that quarter.
Calculation of the Credit
The amount of the credit is 50% of the qualifying wages paid up to $10,000 in total. It is effective for wages paid after March 13th and before December 31, 2020. The definition of qualifying wages varies by whether an employer had, on average, more or less than 100 employees in 2019.
Less than 100 Employees
If the employer had 100 or fewer employees on average in 2019, then the credit is based on wages paid to all employees whether they actually worked or not. In other words, even if the employees worked full time and got paid for full time work, the employer still gets the credit.
Greater than 100 Employees
If the employer had more than 100 employees on average in 2019, then the credit is allowed only for wages paid to employees who did not work during the calendar quarter. In both cases, “wages” includes not just cash payments but also a portion of the cost of employer provided health care.
Payment
Employers can be immediately reimbursed for the credit by reducing the amount of payroll taxes they have withheld from employees’ wages that they are required to deposit with the Treasury.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A SBA EIDL LOAN INCREASE?
You may be eligible for an increase in your SBA COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (COVID EIDL) amount (subject to SBA analysis). If you are interested, please apply now because COVID EIDL funds are expected to be exhausted this month. Requests are processed in the order received and are subject to availability of funds. The steps to request an increase are:
- Confirm your loan eligibility and review the FAQs.
- Log onto your Account on the SBA Portal to submit a loan modification request.
- Complete the portal steps and submit relevant documents, including a new version of your IRS Form 4506-T for COVID EIDL.
- Respond to SBA requests for signature, confirmation, and documents.
