FINALLY there is Covid Relief $ for you! 

You’ve probably heard all the adds aimed at employers for “ERC” relief funds.  We at the PBF led the way over a year ago in this regard and have successfully been helping thousands of salon/spa/shop/school employers receive these federal tax credits  … and we’re continuing to do so, so if you are an employer with at least two W-2 employees, go to this link and get your share before it’s too late!

But we have been hearing the cries of our independents wondering “What about us?!”  

That’s why we’re so excited to finally be able to rollout our self-guided, online portal to help you access your own share of federal relief $$.  And it could mean as much as $32,200 — depending on your stated income in Schedule SE of your 2019, 2020 and 2021 tax returns … this is serious money!

Together with our long-time and trusted partners at Adesso Capital, we are preparing the final touches of our unprecedented online portal designed specifically for independent beauty professionals.  This online tool has been put together by industry experts, CPAs and tax attorneys to help our self-employed professionals access and maximize their share of these final Covid relief funds; and like it’s counterpart  for employers applying for ERC funds, it will also generate and deliver all of the necessary paperwork for our hard-working hair/skin/nails professionals.  

This little known federal program seeks to replace income that 1099, self-employed and independent salon, spa, and barbershop workers lost during the Covid years — as a result of lockdowns, worksite capacity limits, Covid illness or vaccine reactions, medical or self-imposed quarantines, children stuck at home doing virtual/remote learning, etc..  Consider it “ERC” for independent professionals.  

As long as you had filed a Schedule SE as part of your annual tax returns in 2020 and 2021, and you missed work due to Covid-related matters, you’re likely qualified.

With our successful history of helping over 10,000 beauty professionals receive PPP funds two years ago, followed by the past year of getting thousands of beauty/barbering employers ERC funds (which we continue to do), we are now ready to help our independent professionals receive their fair share of these final federal funds.

The Covid pandemic was devastating to our industry, most especially our self-employed beauty and barbering professionals.  We know you deserve these dollars, and that’s why we have been working very hard behind the scenes to deliver this final remaining Covid relief $ to you through our seamless, self-guided, online portal.

Go to ProBeautyRelief to secure your legally-entitled assistance before it’s too late!  

Up to $33,000 Per Employee If You Qualify!

July 15, 2021 — Sacramento, CA — The Professional Beauty Federation of California is pleased to announce the launch of a turn-key, full services platform to assist salon, barber and spa employers in filing for the Employment Retention Tax Credit (ERC).  This federal relief credit can be applied retroactively to 2020 and for each of the ongoing quarters of 2021, so this is an incredible opportunity for needed assistance to our industry employers.

This credit was established to assist businesses negatively impacted by government Covid orders, which of course applies to all of our shops and salons throughout 2020 and into 2021.  Depending on a number of factors (including use of other federal relief grants and forgiven PPP loans), employers may qualify for tax credits of up to $33,000 per employee by the end of this year.  Yes, you read that correctly: up to $33,000 for each of your salon/shop employees!

The Professional Beauty Federation, in partnership with Adesso Capital, has now established a portal, www.federationplans.com/erc, and a team of tax CPAs, experienced in filing ERCs, to assist employer-based salons, barbershops and spas to qualify for and access this federal relief program.  Industry employers can access these experts by calling the new Federation ERC Support Line at 888-600-7380.

Fred Jones, PBFC Legal Counsel and Advocate, stated, “we were surprised to learn that most barbering and beauty establishment owners, including even chain franchisees, either haven’t been informed or have been misinformed about this unprecedented ‘pot of gold.’  Our team of tax experts will ensure that our members get the relief they deserve after a very difficult year. Once again, the Professional Beauty Federation is stepping up to protect and promote our beloved industry.”

In addition, the Federation, in partnership with Adesso Capital, continues to inform and guide beauty professionals who received PPP payments in getting their loans fully forgiven.  We are sharing answers to the most common questions about PPP forgiveness to help industry professionals understand how this part of the program works.

A salient point to forgiveness includes spending at least 60% of the PPP relief funds on payroll, inclusive of benefits and taxes (e.g., did you pay yourself back for lost wages?). The balance can be spent on business rent or mortgage interest, utilities, PPE (masks, sanitary spray/wipes, etc.) and general supplies like hair and beauty products for client services. Independent professionals (booth/suite renters and sole proprietors) can also claim the automatic owner compensation replacement, equal to 2.5 months of 2019 or 2020 net profit, so their calculations are incredibly simple — as are the forgiveness applications that must be processed through the lender that submitted your original PPP application.

Damon Maletta, founder and CEO of Adesso Capital added, “We will not abandon any of those shop owners, independent hairstylists, estheticians, nail techs and other personal care professionals who received PPP.  Adesso and the Professional Beauty Federation will do everything we can to lead them to final forgiveness to ensure PPP doesn’t become a debt burden, even as we begin assisting salon employers qualify for this new ERC relief.”

The Beauty Federation has set up a website with useful PPP Forgiveness information at www.federationplans.com/ppp.  They have also set up a direct email and toll-free number to better assist beauty/barbering professionals at pbfcsupport@adessocapital.com or 888-600-7380.

Over 12,000 industry professionals and establishment owners accessed the Professional Beauty Federation’s online portal, with tens-of-millions of PPP dollars going to our hard-hit industry as a result of the PBFC’s unprecedented campaign. 

About PBFC

The PBFC is a nonprofit trade association that was formed in 1999 to give voice to the over 600,000 licensed barbering/beauty professionals in California to raise the professionalism of the beauty and barbering industry.  While their mission has never changed, their scope of representation has expanded in recent months, as they blazed the reopening trail for all Personal Care professionals through two successive federal lawsuits against the California Governor, a coordinated, statewide #OpenSalonsNow grassroots campaign and most recently with their nationwide PPP and now ERC assistance programs. For more information please visit www.beautyfederation.org 

About Adesso Capital

Adesso Capital provides financing solutions to small and medium-sized businesses. They have secured nearly $1 billion in financing and Paycheck Protection Program loans that have helped small businesses expand, manage cash flow, purchase new assets and inventory, and make improvements. They work with businesses across the US and offer an array of financing products, including term loans, lines of credit, SBA loans, accounts receivable financing, and equipment loans. For more information, please visit https://adessocapital.com

We firmly believe absent our partnerships with SBA-approved lenders and massively marketing our online Paycheck Protection Program application portal, most of our successful recipients would’ve never known how to apply or receive this government assistance.  And it couldn’t have come at a better time for our battered industry, which had been marginalized, disrespected or ignored by our governing officials for nearly a year.

However, all good things must come to an end, and so it is with PPP.  The Small Business Administration (SBA) just announced the PPP fund is nearly empty, so they are no longer accepting new applications.  Therefore, we will be refocusing our resources on assisting all successful recipients through the forgiveness process, including repurposing our PPP launch page to that sole aim.

The SBA will only accept forgiveness applications delivered to them by the lender who awarded the loan.  And because SBA is still tinkering with a more streamlined application process (particularly for small loans that were typical for our industry), most lenders are delaying publicizing their internal application process until SBA finalizes the latest loan forgiveness criteria and disclosure requirements.

So stay tuned to our PPP page for the latest information.  We retooled it to refocus it from applying for PPP to providing direction as to how to gain PPP loan forgiveness:

PBFC PPP Launchpage

As soon as our major lender partners (Biz2Credit, Cross River, and Adesso) have posted their streamlined forgiveness applications, we will provide direct links on our page.

The PBFC continues to stand tall and in solidarity with all our licensed professionals and establishment owners, defending, promoting and advocating for our beloved industry.  In the past 13 months, we have filed two federal court injunctions against our callous Governor, organized statewide grassroots #OpenSalonsNow demonstrations, conducted effective media outreach around the plight of our lock-downed but always SAFE! businesses, and helped guide thousands to badly needed government relief funds.

Our work will continue, but only with the support and membership of everyone earning a beauty/barbering income in the Golden State.  If you’ve already joined, be sure to renew your membership dues each year.  If you haven’t joined yet, please do so.  And please encourage all of our industry colleagues to do likewise:

Join PBFC

As most of you are aware, the Professional Beauty Federation of California has been standing tall in defense of our beloved industry throughout the Covid pandemic.  We have fought against 3 prolonged and unjustifiable lockdowns by filing two successive lawsuits against Governor Newsom, coordinating statewide grassroots demonstrations, and initiating an #OpenSalonsNow social and mainstream media blitz. And more recently we’ve focused on securing badly needed financial relief to our struggling behind-the-chair professionals and establishment owners.

On this latter front, we led all industry associations with the first ever, industry-specific online application process for the federal government’s 100% forgivable PPP loans.  We partnered with three lenders approved by Small Business Administration (SBA) to tailor and streamline the application process specifically for our industry professionals, most of whom lack access to lending institutions and therefore had nobody guiding them to this badly needed financial relief.

We went live with our online portal (www.federationplans.com/ppp) even before then-President Trump signed the PPP legislation into law, positioning our applicants at the front of the line for when the SBA eventually implemented the CARES Act and began accepting applications.

We closely monitored Congressional and SBA deliberations over the past year, which allowed us to announce in advance the likelihood that the application deadline would be extended from the end of April to May 31, as well as predicting that SBA would allow first-time PPP recipients to apply for a second draw within 4 weeks of receiving their first draw.  We will also provide assistance to all of our successfully funded professionals in applying for forgiveness (but more on that later, as there is promising movement within SBA to streamline that process).

We had to be way ahead of the curve, because we have been marginalized, disrespected and left behind by our elected and regulatory officials throughout this pandemic.  We knew our licensed professionals could not long survive without someone standing up for them, demanding respect and equal access to the same relief as all other industry sectors and so-called “essential” businesses.

So here is the latest information about PPP which may come as welcomed news to you:

For those who have received only one PPP, you are entitled to a second draw.  But the PPP money set aside by Congress is quickly vanishing (less than $68B is left of the original $284B at the time of this writing), so get your application in long before the May 31 deadline.

And for those of you who have never applied for PPP, do so immediately.  If you get funded in time, you may be eligible to apply for a second draw before the May 31 deadline, essentially doubling your money (all of which is 100% forgivable — but, again, more about forgiveness in a later column).

Go to our online portal to start your PPP application as soon as possible: PPP Application

Our primary lender partner, Adesso Capitol, has also established a Call Center to help answer questions of our professionals and salon owners during the application process: 1(888) 600-7380

We have done everything within our limited means to defend, promote and sustain our beloved industry throughout this difficult year.  Please follow our social media pages — Instagram (@ProBeautyFederation) and Facebook (@PBFCalifornia) — for more regular updates.

And this second round of $284B of PPP allows our booth/suite renters, independent contractors and salon owners to receive 100% forgivable loans (meaning you’ll never have to pay it back!).

To take advantage of this badly needed government assistance, the PBFC established relationships with SBA approved lenders to create an unprecedented online portal in which our beauty/barbering professionals can submit their entire application.  Our lead lender, Adesso Capital, also established a call center that is available to assist applicants successfully submit their required paperwork.  And we opened this up to barbering and beauty professionals in all 50 states.

As of yesterday, over 12,150 industry professionals and shop owners had already accessed our online portal, with over $25M in SBA approved loans going out to our industry in real time.  Everyone who isn’t a W-2 employee should be applying, especially in the next two weeks, when our industry applications will be among the only ones being processed by SBA!

If you haven’t already, please follow our Facebook page for more regular updates about this PPP funding opportunity, our ongoing federal court lawsuit against Governor Newsom to permanently keep our salons/shops/spas opened, and a host of other advocacy efforts to defend and promote our beloved industry.

Here is our Facebook page: PBFC Facebook

We are also on Intagram, @ProBeautyFederation

Finally, if you haven’t yet, here’s the portal to begin your PPP application: PBFC PPP

Oh, and there’s been great media coverage of this exciting opportunity, like these articles:

The Tease

Modern Salon