COVID-19 Expenses Relief Program Frequently Asked Questions

To be eligible for this program, you must meet all of the following criteria:

• Be a for-profit businesses in good standing with the NH Secretary of State with an ownership structure typical of for-profit businesses, such as corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and sole proprietorships with employees, or be a self-employed business/independent contractor and have been in operation since at least August 1, 2021;
• Have total gross receipts of less than $20 million;
  • If you are a business that was formed or began operations in 2019 or earlier, you must have gross receipts of less than $20 million in 2019 or 2020, whichever is more;
  • If you are a business that was formed or began operations in 2020, you must have gross receipts of less than $20 million in calendar year 2020;
  • If you are a business that began operations in 2021 and anticipate exceeding $20 million in gross receipts during calendar year 2021, please contact GOFERR;
• Have a principal business office in New Hampshire;
• Have a New Hampshire address that payment can be delivered to;
• Have COVID-19 related business expenses that are limited to New Hampshire operations in the specific allowable categories;
• Not currently be in bankruptcy;
• Not have permanently closed;
• Not have participated in the Business Recoupment Relief program and received an offset for expenses;
• Not have received an award in the 2021 Live Venue Assistance Program; and
• Not be:
  • A healthcare provider, such as a hospital, primary care provider, urgent care facility, dentist, chiropractor, long-term care facility, and others;
  • A nonprofit entity;
  • A higher education institution, high school, elementary school, or secondary school;
  • A national chain;
  • A childcare provider;
  • A farmer;
  • A grower; or
  • A maple producer.

NOTE: The specific business types and industries listed above as excluded have been supported by other federally funded programs. Eligibility for this program is consistent with the requirements for eligibility with the Main Street Relief Program and Self-Employed Livelihood Fund. The federal government has made clear the State was required to recoup funds if there were insufficient losses. This program was designed to reallocate those recouped funds within these programs for businesses that have had COVID-19 related expenses.

GOFERR continues to evaluate COVID-19 related needs across all industries and will continue to facilitate programs to address one-time unmet needs.

Yes, however, the amount of the offset that was applied will be deducted in full from the eligible expenses in calculating the amount of an award in the COVID-19 Expenses Recoupment Relief Program.

Eligible businesses will receive a pro rata amount of the total eligible expenses of all applicants from the available allocation to this program. A maximum cap will be applied that will be determined after all applications are received.

You should not submit your application until you are certain it is complete and you have the correct documents ready to upload as you will not be able to make changes after submission. You can save your application and finish it later, if needed.

However, if you realize that you made an error or omitted a document before the application period closes you can submit a new application that contains the updated information. GOFERR will assume that the application filed last in time is the most complete and will only process the last in time application.

The corrected application must contain all of the information that you want considered, even if it was correct in the earlier application, as GOFERR will not look to an earlier filed application for missing information. GOFERR will not add documents to a submitted application or change answers that you have already submitted.

GOFERR will not accept new or additional documentation or application requests once the application period closes.

No, the pro rata calculation of what all eligible recipients will receive requires that GOFERR’s determination of allowable expense is final and it is not subject to appeal. Therefore, you are responsible for submitting accurate, correct, complete information to support your application.

See FAQ #6 for additional information on appeals. All appeals must be submitted in writing by e-mail to appeals@goferr.nh.gov by December 13, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. Include your business name and application number in the subject line of the email. Late appeals cannot be accepted.

You may appeal an eligibility determination if your business has been deemed ineligible or excluded by mistake, such as being classified as a business type or industry that is ineligible for this program.

You may also appeal typographical errors that may have impacted the calculation of an award determination, such as inverting a number in data you provided or selecting an incorrect button within the application.

No other forms of appeal will be permitted.

If you have received a notification that does not include a specific reason as to why your application was denied and would like to receive more detail, you may contact GOFERR to request additional information.

If you wish to request additional information, please email info@goferr.nh.gov, and include your business name and application number in the subject line of the email.

If you wish to submit an appeal on the grounds explained above, all appeals must be submitted in writing by e-mail to appeals@goferr.nh.gov by December 13, 2021, at 11:59 pm. Include your business name and application number in the subject line of the email. Late appeals cannot be accepted.

This category is intended to capture fixed costs that could not be avoided while an entity is shut down and the entity is not generating any revenue. Therefore “closed” means completely closed. However, your business may have been closed for more than one period during the pandemic, and you may provide details and expenses from each period of closure.

No. Due to the potential for overlapping funding from a variety of sources for payroll related expenses, payroll and payroll related costs are not allowed. Examples of these expenses that are ineligible include workers compensation, health insurance, increased paid sick leave and family and medical leave, or increases above prior base hourly or salary pay.

Yes. Only claiming prorated rent, mortgage, and utilities are limited to complete closures. Questions 5, 6, and 7 do not require that a business have been closed or that it be incurred in reopening.

This category was included because it is not possible to list or identify in advance all of the ways that COVID-19 has impacted businesses or the solutions that have been found.

The explanation provided in Question 9 must explain why the expense was needed to respond to a situation that was occurring that was caused by COVID-19. The situation, how it was/is related to COVID-19 and how the expense addresses the need must be explained.

It will not be sufficient to simply state that the expense was necessary due to COVID-19. Generally, business expenses that would be considered a normal operating cost for the type of business will not be allowed. Revenue losses are also not an expense and are not allowed in this program.   

No, the offset must be for reimbursement of expenses that have been incurred and paid between March 1, 2020 and September 8, 2021, the day before the application period.

Generally, no. If an expansion was planned before March 1, 2020 or has no relation to responding to COVID-19, it cannot be claimed. Only if an expansion was directly related to responding to an increased COVID-19 related need could the increased operational cost for an expansion be claimed. Costs to acquire increased inventory for resale will not be allowed.

No, due to restrictions in the CARES Act we cannot allow expenses incurred prior to March 1, 2020.

The documentation must be itemized and must distinguish the COVID-19 expense items claimed from non-COVID-19, normal operating costs. General expenses ledgers of all expenses, that attempt to claim all expenses as COVID-19, without identifying those that are COVID-19 related will not be accepted as adequate.

Documentation must also show that it relates to expenses only for New Hampshire operations.

For-profit businesses that obtained an offset against recoupment owed in the Business Recoupment Relief program have already been eligible to receive expenses in prior programs, as well as through its original lost revenue grants.

Additionally, recipients of awards in the BRR program were able to utilize qualifying business expenses to offset, dollar-for-dollar, recoupment the state was otherwise required to collect by the federal government. The BRR program helped keep needed funding in our small business community where it was needed.

This program is designed to assist businesses with COVID-19 related expenses that did not participate in the Recoupment Relief Program.

There are several options. Some users have reported that each field is limited to one document, but there is no size limit on the document, so you can combine or scan your documents into a multiple page file and upload it as one document.

If you do not have software to combine PDFs this can be done by printing the documents and copying them together as one document on a copier to pdf.  Alternatively, below the required document fields, there are “optional documents” field that provide the ability to upload up to three optional documents. If these options do not work for you, please contact info@goferr.nh.gov.

Please contact info@goferr.nh.gov. It is highly recommended that you do not wait until shortly before the application period closes to complete your application, as you will not be able to complete it once the deadline passes.