UPDATE February 17 2011 :Excerpt from SBA Press Release

The United States Small Business Agency (SBA)Launches Program for Refinancing Commercial Real Estate: As of February 28th 2011 the SBA 504 program will be availableto small businesses facing maturing mortgages or balloon payments. The small business may be able to refinance their mortgage with a 504 loan from the SBA under a new, temporary program announced today.The new refinancing loan is structured like the SBA's traditional 504 with borrowers committing at least 10 percent equity and working with third party institutions. A key feature of the new program as that it does not require an expansion of thebusiness in order to qualify. Borrowers will be able to refinance up to 90% of the current appraissed property value or 100% of the outstanding mortgage, whichever is lower, plus eligible refinancing costs. Loan proceeds may not be used for other business expenses.

UDATE October 1, 2010 - After fighting all summer, Congress and President Obama did the right thing and passed HR5297 - The Small BusinessFunding Bill and Jobs Act.

 The biggest provision — a $30 billion loan — gets the most attention, but there's actually a lot that can help you.
What are the key provisions and what do they mean for you?

1. Sole proprietors can write off health insurance premiums as business expenses in 2010.
What it means for you: If you're a sole proprietor, and you pay for health insurance, this year, you'll save an average
 of $456 to $968 on self-employment tax (according to the National Association for the Self-Employed). Let's say Rebecca is a self-employed marketing consultant who pays $8,000 a year on health insurance premiums for herself and her family.
Currently, she pays 15.3% self-employment tax on that $8,000 before she can deduct it from her income taxes. In 2010, she'll save $1224. But the law lapses after one year.

2. $30 billion fund for community banks to increase lending to small companies.
What it means for you: Nothing if you're not looking for a loan or can't qualify. However, if you've got a healthy business and are looking for a bank loan, the fund is intended to get your neighborhood bank lending. My banker told me many small businesses had stopped applying for loans because they've heard the word "no" from banks, like theirs, that had stopped lending. If you're one of those, and have a healthy balance sheet, try again in another month or two, and shop around for a willing bank.

3. More flexibilty in the use funds: Most business now can now be refinanced . Commercial buinsess debt such as interest only term loanes, revolving lines of credit, business credit cards (with documentation), any notes that are being called in, loans that are being called or business loans with an escalation clause or any note that has an interest rate greater than the current market rate for an SBA 7a loan. As of February 2011 the interest rate calculation for an SBA 7a loan isthe Wall Street Journal prime rate + a margn of 2.75%.

4. Substantial increases in SBA loan amounts:
• Typical SBA 7(a) loans: increase from $2 million to $5 million.
• Low document SBA Express loans: increase from $300,000 to $1 million
• Real estate SBA 504 loans: increase from $1.5 million to $5 million.
• Microloans: increase from $35,000 to $50,000.
What it means for you: Primarily, these provisions will help medium-size businesses and larger small businesses as they'll have access to bigger loans under the SBA loan program, rather than having to get traditional bank loans. In fact, some worry these provisions will make less SBA money available to smaller businesses as banks focus on bigger –easier to service and more lucrative — loans. However, the expanded SBA Express and microloan program may help smaller companies.

5. Zero capital gains taxes on investment in small businesses
What it means for you: If you're looking for investors in your business, this could be a BIG selling point,
 because individuals who acquire stock in small businesses after the enactment date of this Act pay
 NO capital gains if they hold the stock for more than five years. However, it only applies to C corporations and stock has to be acquired by January 1, 2011 — so act fast.

6. Doubling the write-off of start-up expenses from $5,000 to $10,000 in 2010.
What it means for you: An additional $5,000 deduction for new businesses. Currently, if you spend $30,000 to start your business, you can only take $5,000 as a business expense this year, and you've got to deduct the rest of the costs over a number of other years. This has always seemed like a miserly, senseless way to treat start-up expenses and should be permanently changed.

7. Increase the write-off of certain investments from $250,000 to $500,000 in 2010 and 2011 and allow "expensing" of some real estate improvements.
What it means for you: Midsize businesses, more than small companies, are likely to benefit if they're buying a lot of new equipment or software – more than $250,000 worth. Another beneficiary: restaurants and retailers making property improvements. This allows them to use the Section "179" expensing rules.
On the other hand — and this will be a big pain — the Act now requires you to report all purchases of more than $600 with a 1099 form. There's a move to repeal this provision. Let's hope so!

8. Change in the dfinition of a small business - To qualify for SBA government guranteed funding a buisness must be considered small according to SBA guidelines. Since the passing of the funding bill a small business is now defined as having less than $15 million dollars in net assets and less than $5 million in net income after the payment of federal taxes averaged over the last two years. The government estimates that there are now more than 30 million businesses than can qualify to apply for an SBA loan.