COVID Fraud Transparency Act of 2026

The bill would require the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration to submit a report to the House and Senate Small Business Committees within 60 days of enactment, and every three months after that, on fraud involving certain COVID-19 loans. Each report would have to include the number and dollar amount of covered loans made, the number of new and suspected fraud cases, the number of fraud cases resolved, and the types of fraud involved. Covered loans include Paycheck Protection Program and other loans made under specific paragraphs of the Small Business Act, as well as certain disaster loans made in response to COVID-19. The reporting requirement, and the Act itself, would terminate two years after enactment, and the bill authorizes no new funds to carry it out.

The Small Business Administration's Office of Inspector General, which would produce the reports, and the House and Senate Small Business Committees, which would receive them. Indirectly, borrowers under Paycheck Protection Program and other COVID-19-related Small Business Administration loans are the subject of the fraud reporting.

Regular, standardized reporting would give Congress ongoing visibility into how much COVID-19 relief loan fraud exists and how it is being addressed, potentially supporting further oversight or enforcement action. The two-year sunset means the transparency requirement would be temporary rather than permanent.

The Small Business Administration's Inspector General would compile quarterly data on covered loans and fraud cases and transmit it to the two congressional small-business committees, starting within 60 days of enactment. No new appropriations are authorized, so the reporting would be carried out using existing Inspector General resources. The obligation automatically lapses two years after enactment, requiring no further congressional action to end it.