8 vs. 24 Week Window

Will the 8 week (or 24 week) time clock begin once I have been approved or once I have received the funds?

The 8 week period to spend the money begins on the day that you receive the funds. The first payment due on a loan that is not forgiven would be due on the earlier of (a) the date on which the Lender receives a determination from SBA on the Borrower's application for loan forgiveness, or (b) 10 months after expiration of the covered period, which ends 8 or 24 weeks after the date on which the Original Note was executed, as elected by the Borrower.

If my county is still in the red phase and we only have 8 weeks to spend the PPP Loan and we possibly will not be in operations until after June 4, 2020 will I be penalized for not spending all of the funds?

You can now elect to spend the funds over a longer 24-week covered period.

Do I have to spend the money I got from PPP right away?

You may choose either 8 weeks (56 days) or 24 weeks (168 days) from the date you received your money to spend it ("covered period").
If your payroll schedule does not align with the loan receipt date, you can use 8 weeks (56 days) or 24 weeks from the next payroll cycle ("alternative covered period". For example, (using the 8 week timeframe) if a borrower received the loan funds on June 1 but has a bi-weekly payroll that begins on June 7, the Alternative Payroll Covered Period would begin on June 7. Anything you haven't spent by that point, except for in cases of specific safe harbors, won't be forgiven and will have to be paid back over the remaining term of your loan. The alternative period applies only to your payroll costs. The non-payroll eligible costs must be spent during the regular covered period in order to be considered for forgiveness.