By Patrick O'Brien, JD, Legal Coordinator, American Med Spa Association

The COVID-19 relief bill we discussed yesterday on AmSpa Now was passed late Monday night as part of a 5,593-page omnibus spending bill. It heads to the president's desk today, and if signed will become law. Here are the most important new details for medical aesthetic professionals.

For the Paycheck Protection Program:

• Hard-hit small businesses can apply for a second loan draw if they employ fewer than 300 people and show a 25% drop in gross receipts from the same quarter last year. These second loans can be up to the lesser of one month of payroll expenses or $2 million.
• The bill also contains a clarification on tax treatment for the forgiven loans. The forgiven loan funds are to be treated as tax-exempt income, and no deduction or tax attribute will be denied or reduced due to the forgiveness.
• The bill also expands eligible expenses that can be forgiven, including operations expenditures, supplier costs, worker protection expenditures and property damage costs.

Also, direct stimulus checks will be equal to $600 each per adult and child. So, a married couple with two kids would receive $2,400. For individuals who made more than $75,000 last year (or $150,000 for married couples), the payments are reduced, and are phased out entirely for those making more than $87,000 ($174,000 for married couples). Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier announced that the $600 stimulus checks could start reaching people's accounts as early as next week.