On Wednesday, March 25, 2020, Governor Andy Beshear released an executive order detailing additional steps to try and contain the spread of COVID-19. Expanding upon his Healthy at Home Initiative, all businesses that aren’t one of the group considered life-sustaining will close to in-person traffic. The order goes into effect at 8 p.m. Thursday.

On March 20, 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the U.S. Department of Labor announced that small and midsize employers can begin taking advantage of two new refundable payroll tax credits, designed to immediately and fully reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave to their employees. This relief to employees and small and midsize businesses is provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Act), signed by President Trump on March 18, 2020.

As part of its disaster assistance program, the SBA is providing low-interest working capital loans of up to $2 million to small businesses and nonprofits affected by the coronavirus.

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are providing special tax filing and payment relief to individuals and businesses in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The filing deadline for federal tax returns has been extended from April 15 to July 15, 2020.

Kentucky has made available unemployment benefits to those experiencing job loss from the health crisis, including waiving the seven-day waiting period and job search requirements. Complete details and an online application can be found at https://kcc.ky.gov.