Earlier this week, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a new temporary three-part program for small businesses in California in an effort to help them cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.  Newsom explained that two of the components of the program are available to small businesses with larger businesses targeted by the third component – expanded interest free payment options. Small businesses that are filing less than $1 million in sales tax will benefit from an automatic three-month income tax extension, which the Governor described as essentially a float in that the taxes have been collected, but can be held and used by the business during the three-month deferral period. Ultimately however, the tax monies must be paid to the state. In addition, eligible small businesses may also apply for grants up to $25,000 each from a new $500 million COVID Relief Fund that will be administered by the state’s Office of the Small Business Advocate within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. Businesses with up to $5 million in taxable sales may be eligible for extension of interest and penalty-free payment agreements. Of course, all of that was announced on Monday of this week, while just yesterday, Governor Newsom extended an expansive stay-at-home order dropping capacity to 20% for most businesses across a number of California regions at least for the next three weeks and possibly beyond until the current coronavirus infection rates decrease.