Restaurants Revitalization Fund: Common Questions & Answers

[Ani_]

Hi Food and Beverage Sellers! 

Square will start enabling applications for the Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF) today Monday, May 3rd at 12:00 PM EST. This plan includes a $28.6 billion fund for awards to eligible businesses, administered by the SBA. Square is working with the SBA to help business owners apply for an award if they are eligible. If you meet the program requirements, you can submit your application through your Square Dashboard or through the SBA Portal. If you are eligible to apply through Square, we will pre-fill your application with information you have on your Square account.

I encourage you all to take a look at the Live Q&A: Restaurant Revitalization Fund for Square Food and Beverage Sellers for common questions and answers. I’ve also included an overview of the Live Q&A below:

When can you apply:

• Applications start on Monday 5/3 at 12:00 p.m EST / 9:00 a.m. PST.
• The SBA has a registration window open on Friday 4/30, but if you plan to apply through Square you do not need to register with the SBA. 

Who can apply through Square:

• To determine if you are an eligible business type, you’ll need to visit SBA’s website (sba.gov/restaurants).
  
• If you processed with Square in 2019 and 2020 (Table 1 or 2 in the RRF application), you can apply through Square’s dashboard or the SBA. If you used multiple POS providers during that period or had supplemental income e.g. from online ordering apps, you can still apply with Square. You’ll be able to add supplementary income information — but the SBA may require you to provide additional documentation before you e-sign your application.
  
• If you began processing with Square in 2020 or 2021 (Table 3 in the RRF application), then you will need to apply through the SBA. You can get useful information from your Square account to include in your application — to learn how, please take a look at our Support Center.

Why you should or should not apply with Square

• If you apply through Square can save time completing and submitting your application with pre filled data from your Square account.
  
• Submitting through Square can help you get your application in front of the SBA quickly — before the RRF funds run out.
  
• Square will enable you to add supplemental revenue information in your application for either Table 1 or Table 2 applicant. However, if you are a Table 3 applicant, you will need to apply via SBA because Square will not let you upload supporting documentation for eligible expenses. 

How can you apply with Square:

• If you are eligible to apply through Square, you’ll need to log in to your dashboard when the application window opens, using the owner’s login. From there, you’ll find a specific RRF module from where you can start your application.
  
• Square will have pre-filled your application with the information we know about your business. That said, there is information we do not have access to. To complete your application as fast as possible we recommend to have the following information handy:
• The date (day, month, and year) you began operations.
• How many months you operate in every location. This is especially important if you operate a seasonal business. 
• Any additional income you may have earned in 2019 and 2020 that was not processed through Square. Ideally you are tracking this income by location. If this information is not available feel free to distribute this across locations ensuring the total revenue by location (through Square and other sources)stays under $5M.
• Your PPP loan information — especially if you did not process these loans with Square.
  
• After submitting your award application through your Square Dashboard, you’ll need to eSign your application. Here’s how it works:
• Open an email from Square with the title “Your RRF award application is not yet complete.” Follow the link in the email to visit the SBA portal.
• If you see a page with the title “Third Party Signup,” you are in the right spot. Enter the text you see in the grey pixelated image in the appropriate field and click Complete Sign Up.
• You’ll then receive an email from SBA with the title “SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund - Password Reset E-mail.” Click the link included in the email to reset your password.
• Once you complete your password reset, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Sign and Submit Application to sign your application via DocuSign.
• The SBA may also require additional documentation for your application if you indicated revenue outside of Square. From the SBA portal, you will be able to upload supporting documentation to the Additional Info Needed section if required by the SBA.

How can you get help if you have more questions?

• If you have more granular questions about the application process, eligibility, or awards, please reach out to the designated SBA helpline (844-279-8898) or the SBA district office. Applicants can call this number for multilingual application or program support.
• Reach out to your SBA District Office: Applicants can reach out to their local District Office for tailored regional SBA support.

Note: You will be able to apply through Square if we have available processing data for at least a portion of 2019 and 2020 available through your Square account. If you are able to apply through Square, you will see a module on your online Square Dashboard prompting you to begin the application. If you apply through Square you do not need to register through the SBA portal. If you began processing with Square in either 2020 or 2021, we recommend that you apply through the SBA Portal. Square will not be able to support these applications and you will not see a module on Dashboard to begin your application.

Update: The SBA has announced that they will officially stop accepting applications for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) on Monday, May 24, at 8 p.m. ET.

[cocomoesq123]

same here!

[tamtang]

The dashboard is now asking to start a new application, same location, different name, but has no sales. I submitted the correct location and still waiting for the confirmation email for e-sign.  

[spnick]

same- asking for a new application but stalls out on location

[cocomoesq123]

What is going on with you guys? I applied at 9am sent the app through. Received a notice on my Square account that I would receive an esign doc from SBA and have received nothing. Now it showed I had to start an application. I signed out and signed back in and its gone! Now there is nothing showing about any RRF. What IS GOING ON! THIS IS MONEY VITAL TO ALL OF OUR BUSINESSESS! IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN BEFORE THE SBA RUNS OUT OF FUNDS? I want my ESIGN DOC. I want to be able to get funding for my business. Is there any answer for what is happening?

[spnick]

same

[wk27]

same here. Now even the start new application button is gone. nothing there. 

[HotinTexas]

I applied directly through SBA because I didn't want to wait any longer for Square to fix their issues. It's wasn't that difficult. You'll be asked to submit 2019 and 2020 income tax returns (or other documents), verify your bank information, submit 3 months of most recent bank statements.  As for the gross receipts from Square, just get your Square 1099 MISC or pull up your annual 2019 & 2020 reports and declare gross sales in provided spaces.  All this information you still have to provide to SBA anyway once you receive the email. Finished in less than 30 minutes all while still waiting for the email 6 hours later that I was supposed to receive. If I can do it, anyone can too.

[E504]

Did the same thing. I wish I had skipped Square and applied via SBA at the beginning. Lost many hours. Square's calculation did not include sales tax either.

[Carlisles1914]

I was able to get onto the RRF module link on the dashboard, completed the application and then got the following message "There was an error submitting your information.  Please refresh and try again".  I refreshed 5-6 times and even logged out and logged back in.  When I logged back in the RRF module link was gone!

[ACAcatering]

Hopping on to thank Square.  Very few issues running through the application.  Took me less than 30 mins, and my application is now under review with the SBA.

[cocomoesq123]

at least you had no issues

[EmsIceCream]

Were you able to upload supporting documentation (bank statements, tax docs, etc) once you were able to access the SBA site before e-signing?

[mistersoftee]

I wasn't.  I finally got my link and was checking over my information and it's saying no supporting documentation  needed. 

[EmsIceCream]

That's the issue I had. I'm curious to know if people are just signing and submitting the application without the supporting documentation that the SBA has said is a requirement...

[mikegilbo1120]

The Link disappeared off of my dashboard after I timed out filling it out, where can it be found now?

[h3yitskyle]

I have the same issue. Looks like it's a bug due to the high volume. Otherwise, my guess is they're throttling us due to the traffic. All hail Square! Please open the ark door! 

[878otissfcb]

I was able to get my application through to an e-signature, but some of the information pulled from Square was incorrect.  I withdrew my signature, and then was required to start the entire process over again.  Perhaps I made a mistake because now I cannot even apply for the program😭.  It took about an hour for the link to reappear, once I started the process, the window froze not allowing me to move forward in the process.  Now I am back to square 1 again.  I am really disappointed with the process as I am sure tons of people are all applying at once, and of course everything is crashing.  I think better organization and planning can be put forth for huge award programs like this.  So many businesses really need the help including mine.

[Lcdeli]

my business in sales decreases and i got an email from square regarding the application. I do not see the link to the application? does that mean my business is not eligible? i don't understand why wouldn't it be eligible. is the issue with the link not showing because of high volume of user applying?

[Jbatovsky]

Still have not received email.

already have an account with SBA because original instructions said to create one.....is this going to interfere? Or are emails just delayed?

[Ani_]

Hi @Jbatovsky, We understand that speed is of essence and we are working on a fix ASAP. The SBA is going to be evaluating applications based on both the time they were submitted but also the accuracy of the information provided. By applying through a POS partner, restaurant owners are able to accelerate their application submission process with verified data.

[878otissfcb]

Now I am getting a "Finish your application" Link, but I didn't get to finish the new application that I am re-doing.  I clicked the link and the SBA obviously has nothing for me there because I haven'f finished the updates after deleting my first round.  Hoping there is a resolve here. Puh-lease someone help.