PBF Announces Final Covid Relief Program for Self-Employed Beauty Professionals

Most beauty and barber professionals, booth renters, salon suite owners and independent stylists, and estheticians are allowing thousands of federal relief dollars to slip by them, unclaimed. The Professional Beauty Federation wants to make sure the beauty industry obtains its fair share of this last remaining federal government opportunity, given how hard COVID lockdowns and restrictions hit the beauty industry.

PBF has presented a self-guided, online portal to assist self-employed individuals recover income disrupted by the pandemic through FFCRA tax credits. Whether these disruptions happened in 2020 or 2021 or both, then they may be eligible for up to $32,220 under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.  And FFCRA money can be used without restrictions, unlike prior PPP funds or other federal loans.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) is a federal law passed in the U.S. in 2020 to help address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on families and businesses. Qualified self-employed beauty and barbering taxpayers could receive sick leave credits up to $5,110 in each 2020 and 2021 if they were sick for any reason during the pandemic eligibility periods. Self-employed pros could also receive family leave credits worth up to $10,000 in both 2020 and 2021 if they had to care for someone, like a child stuck at home during those dreaded days of online schooling. This is a 100 percent refundable credit, which the vast majority of hair, skin and nails professionals are not even aware they are legally entitled.

Fred Jones, PBF Legal Counsel and Advocate, stated, “All of our beauty and barber professionals felt the financial pinch during the pandemic, and this is our chance as an association to help the industry get some much needed relief. We’ve been helping employee-based salon owners for the past year apply and receive millions of dollars with ERC, and now we have an opportunity to help the self-employed — the true heart and soul of our beloved industry. Even if an independent beauty or barber worker received PPP, they still likely qualify. And if a self-employed professional qualifies, the money is theirs, free and clear with no need to apply for forgiveness.”

The Professional Beauty Federation has invested considerable resources to launch a completely automated, self-guided online submission process. Their goal is to make sure every self-employed professional in our industry maximizes their legally entitled share before the program ends. And to go the extra mile for beauty and barbering families, the PBF will allow the self-employed/1099 spouse or significant other of beauty and barbering pros to use the portal, even if they don’t work in the industry.

PBF has partnered once again with Adesso Capital, a successful partnership that helped over 10,000 beauty professionals receive PPP forgivable relief funds and thousands of employee-based salon owners received ERC credits. Together, the PBF has injected over $30 million dollars back into the beauty industry in the past two years, successfully guiding beauty professionals through the sometimes complicated government applications.

For more information on how to apply, go to www.ProBeautyRelief.com/ffcra.