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SBA size standards
Also called size standard, small business size standard, SBA size test.
The ceilings — by industry receipts or employee count, or under an alternate net worth and income test — that decide whether an applicant is small enough to be eligible for SBA-guaranteed credit.
Drafted with AI assistance. Not yet independently checked. Nobody has verified the claims on this page against a source, so treat the figures and legal points as a starting point rather than as settled, and confirm anything you are about to act on. How we check things.
What it means
Eligibility for a guaranteed loan starts with being small, and small is defined precisely rather than intuitively.
The two routes
Affiliation, which is what actually catches people
Size is not measured on the applicant alone. The receipts and employees of affiliates are added. Affiliation arises from common ownership, common management, identity of interest between close relatives, contractual control, economic dependence, and in some cases negative control by a minority holder who can block ordinary business decisions. Franchise and licence agreements are reviewed against agency criteria. The rules are detailed and the application to a specific ownership chart is a judgement, made by the lender and reviewable by the agency.
You certify size on the application forms. A wrong certification is not a paperwork error.
Where this one catches people
Affiliation is the part almost nobody self-assesses correctly, and it runs in directions people do not expect: a spouse's separate company in a related field, a minority stake in a supplier, a management agreement, a holding structure set up years ago for tax reasons. Combined receipts can put an obviously small applicant over an industry ceiling.
The other half of the trap is timing. Size is checked before approval, and a restructuring done to fix a size problem after the fact looks exactly like what it is. If your ownership chart has anything unusual in it, put it in front of the lender at the start and let them ask the agency, rather than discovering the issue in week six.
Worked through
Illustrative. Your operating company averages 8,200,000 of receipts across the lookback period. You also own 60 percent of a second company averaging 4,100,000, and a third company averaging 2,500,000 is owned by your spouse and operates in a related line.
Under the affiliation rules the three are aggregated for size purposes: 8,200,000 + 4,100,000 + 2,500,000 = 14,800,000.
If the receipts ceiling for your NAICS code is 12,000,000, the applicant is ineligible — even though on its own it sits 3,800,000 under the line. Nothing about the operating business changed. The measurement did.
Figures in the example are illustrative. They show the arithmetic, not a quote — what any one lender would charge is on that lender's page, where it is published at all.
Where you will meet this term
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SBA size standards — common questions
What does sba size standards mean?
The ceilings — by industry receipts or employee count, or under an alternate net worth and income test — that decide whether an applicant is small enough to be eligible for SBA-guaranteed credit.
Where does sba size standards catch people out?
Affiliation is the part almost nobody self-assesses correctly, and it runs in directions people do not expect: a spouse's separate company in a related field, a minority stake in a supplier, a management agreement, a holding structure set up years ago for tax reasons. Combined receipts can put an obviously small applicant over an industry ceiling.
Is sba size standards the same as an interest rate?
SBA size standards is defined above; if you are comparing it against a rate, check whether the two measures share a time dimension before you put them side by side.
Which products does sba size standards apply to?
SBA Loan.
Is there a worked example of sba size standards?
Yes, on this page, and it is labelled illustrative. It shows the arithmetic, not a quote from any lender.
What else should I read alongside sba size standards?
Annual revenue, Credit elsewhere test, Eligibility criteria, Entity type, NAICS code.
Has this definition been checked?
Not yet. This entry is drafted and live, and the notice at the top says so. Confirm anything you are about to act on.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a definition. What a clause does in your contract, in your state, is a question for a lawyer licensed where you are.
Can I suggest a term?
Yes — [email protected]. The glossary grows from what people are actually shown in contracts.