re: When did PPP 8 weeks start?

I'm going to tell you what I am telling my clients, many of whom are in the same boat as you. I am not saying I agree or disagree with this, but it's just straight up truth.

The sole and entire purpose of PPP was to pay employees. It has ZERO to do with the health or a business, except for the incidental fact that if employees stay paid through this mess, you might not have to deal with re-hiring / hiring new employees and training them, once you re-open.

They only allowed the other expenses (rent, mortgage interest, utilities) as a last minute rule because they realized that some companies might not be able to spend every dime on payroll. But the whole reason the loan amount is based on prior payroll, is because the money is intended for payroll.

The 8 week period was established because the congress-critters thought we would all be on the other side after 8 weeks. Now that it appears that might not be the case for some businesses, I would not be surprised if we see additional programs come down the pike.

What I am guessing your issue is, is that you used other funds to pay 3 weeks of payroll, then would have 8 weeks of PPP funds. Other companies didn't have to fund 3 weeks with other sources, and only paid out the 8 weeks with PPP money, and then presumably will lay people off (we don't know yet because no one's 8 weeks has expired yet).

Anytime the government gets involved, there is going to be winners and losers, intentional or not. It's just the nature of government funding. I do think you have a point in that if you can show that you kept paying people while waiting on PPP money, that you should be able to "count" that towards your PPP allotment for the purposes of loan forgiveness.