Assistance for Businesses Impacted by COVID-19

If you are a business whose financial stability is affected by COVID-19, there are programs and services available to help, including the following:

The Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) has several programs to help if businesses need to reduce employees hours or reduce their workforce.

• SharedWork(External link) allows employers to reduce the hours of permanent and hourly-paid employees by as much as 50 percent, and the employees can collect partial unemployment benefits to replace a portion of their lost wages. The application and instructions can be found here(External link).

• Businesses temporarily reducing hours of work for full-time employees may request to place an employee on standby(External link) for up to eight weeks and the employee can collect unemployment benefits without having to look for other work.

The Department of Revenue (DOR) can work with impacted companies to help with any tax payment issues related to COVID-19.

• Filing extension for excise tax returns(External link)
• Late payment penalty waiver request(External link)

The Department of Commerce has a crisis planning guide(External link) as well as resources for small businesses(External link) impacted by COVID-19.

The federal Small Business Administration (SBA) may be able to provide assistance through the Economic Injury Disaster Loans program to businesses that have suffered substantial economic injury by COVID-19.

• These loans can help small businesses meet financial obligations and cover operating expenses. Visit: https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/Information/EIDLLoans(External link)

King County Public Health has published a step-by-step guide(External link) to help businesses plan for workplace disruptions related to COVID-19.

For more information on what Washington State is doing, visit their resource page(External link) for impacted businesses.