Help for Businesses and Residents

Governor Lamont and all of us on his team continue to work closely with public and private partners on COVID-19 financial relief strategies. I wanted to quickly share our latest progress on two fronts.

Mortgage relief. Over 60 banks and credit unions have agreed to offer mortgage relief to homeowners and businesses facing hardship caused by the pandemic. These institutions may offer:

• A 90-day grace period for all mortgage payments;
• Relief from fees and charges for 90 days;
• No new foreclosures for 60 days; and
• No credit-score changes for accessing relief.

Of course, you'll want to contact your lender for more guidance on how this applies to your specific situation.

Tax-filing extensions. The Department of Revenue Services has extended deadlines for filing tax and room occupancy tax returns for some businesses. Taxpayers that have $150,000 or less in annual sales-tax liability qualify for an automatic extension of time to file and pay. Similarly, taxpayers that have $150,000 or less in annual room-occupancy tax also qualify for this relief. A taxpayer that collects both sales tax and room occupancy tax must evaluate each tax separately to determine eligibility for relief.

We also want you to know that the U.S. Treasury Department has additional guidance on the federal Paycheck Protection Program that has authorized up to $349 billion for job retention and other expenses incurred by qualifying small businesses.

We’ll keep you posted on other initiatives as they're finalized. In the meantime, you can always find more details of federal and state business-assistance programs on the state’s coronavirus website.

Sincerely, 
David Lehman, Commissioner
david.lehman@ct.gov, (860) 500-2310