First Come First Served
We found that this motto was reiterated by several advisors. It was well advised to have your application and documents on hand and ready to file as soon as the site opens. Since there is concern that the SBA’s site will not hold up to the number of anticipated applications, it is best to keep trying. Luckily, we have heard the SBA wants to get these funds out quickly.
Timing
Sign up with the SBA for email alerts at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USSBA/subscriber/new?topic_id=USSBA_354.
Be prepared as the site could open with little or no warning. We have heard from one source that a reasonable live date for the application is May 8th and that the SBA has scheduled webinars for as late as next Thursday. We strongly suggest you are prepared to submit as soon as early next week. We have also heard that the SBA reached out to prospective Beta testers last week about the 7-day trial period for the application.
Documents
Have your application pre-filled out and ready to go. We have heard FY19 & FY20 tax returns are the preferable documents to upload. If you are a multi-entity tax filers and need to add a reconciliation document, have that ready as well.
In the event the SBA has a question, we also recommend you keep available your financial statements for FY19 & FY20 as well as your bank statements and POS sales reports for those years as well. If you hear from them, you will want to respond quickly.
The application will electronically capture your IRS Form 4506, Request for Transcript and the SBA has a direct link to the IRS so there will be no need to upload that document.
Banking
The SBA will ask you to automatically link your bank account to your application. Please check with your bank to ensure they can do this. If they cannot, you will have to manually enter your banking information and according to the SBA Technical Help page, “We strongly discourage manually linking your account. Doing this will greatly increase the processing time of your application.”