Federal Announcements & Resources
FEDERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
December 17, 2021
Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, welcomed the Royal Assent in Parliament of Bill C-2. This bill ensures that workers and businesses have the urgent help they need to deal with the impact of the Omicron variant:
- The Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit, providing $300 a week in income support to eligible workers who are directly impacted by a COVID-19-related public health lockdown in their region up until May 7, 2022.
- The Local Lockdown Program, providing businesses that face temporary new local lockdowns up to the maximum amount available through the wage and rent subsidy programs.
- Extending the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit until May 7, 2022, and increasing the maximum duration of benefits by 2 weeks. This extends the caregiving benefit from 42 to 44 weeks and the sickness benefit from 4 to 6 weeks. Individuals will be able to apply retroactively back to the week of November 21, 2021. Applications for period 61 will launch on December 20, 2021.
- The Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program, providing support through wage and rent subsidies to, for example, hotels, tour operators, travel agencies, and restaurants, with a subsidy rate of up to 75 per cent. The eligible types of businesses are detailed in the legislation and related backgrounder.
- The Hardest-Hit Business Recovery Program, providing support through wage and rent subsidies to other businesses that have faced deep losses, with a subsidy rate of up to 50 per cent.
- Extending the Canada Recovery Hiring Program until May 7, 2022, for eligible employers with current revenue losses above 10 per cent and increasing the subsidy rate to 50 per cent. This extension will help businesses continue to hire back workers, increase hours, and create the additional jobs Canada needs for a robust recovery.
Monday, April 19, 2021
Today the Federal Government tabled its first Budget since 2019, including the extension of COVID-19 emergency benefits.
Extension of COVID-19 Emergency Benefits
Budget 2021 also extended several key benefits to support pandemic recovery by businesses and individuals. The Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the successor to the CERB, Federal wage subsidy (CEWS), rent subsidy (CERS) and Lockdown Support will be extended until September 25, 2021. CERB and CEWS supports will slowly decrease beginning in July until their conclusion in September.
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
The federal government has extended the deadline for small businesses to apply for a Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan, although it is keeping the eligibility criteria and funding amounts the same. The CEBA program was launched in the early days of the pandemic, and loan applications were originally due March 31 through participating banks, but the government announced Monday that businesses now had until June 30 to apply for a $60,000 CEBA loan or the $20,000 expansion at their financial institution.
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
CRA releases improved guidelines for employee home office expense deductions
Following up on the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, the CRA has further responded today to ongoing requests from employees, employers and the tax community for guidance on the employee work-space-in-the-home deduction availability and compliance measures (T2200 form) as COVID-19 restrictions remain in place. As anticipated in our previous publication, the CRA appears to understand the administrative burden the current T2200 requirement would have on employers for 2020 and has worked to provide an alternative approach.
What you need to know:
• The result of this announcement is that two options are available to employees for claiming a deduction for the expenses they incur in respect of a home office:
- A simplified format where employees will be limited to a maximum $400 deduction, but with no compliance work involved. There will be no need to track expenses and no need to obtain a T2200 from the employer.
- A detailed format which will require employers to sign a new short form T2200 and employees will have to calculate the amount they are entitled to deduct.
Monday, November 23, 2020
Update on the Canada-US Border:
Border measures extended until December 21st.
Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Extension: The federal government is extending the CEWS to June 30, 2021. The new legislation would also keep the CEWS’ current subsidy rate maximum at 65 percent of eligible wages until December 19, 2020.
The New Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy: to provide direct and easy-to-access rent and mortgage interest support to tenants and property owners until June 2021 for qualifying organizations affected by COVID-19. The new rent subsidy will support businesses, charities, and non-profits that have suffered a revenue drop by providing support up to a maximum of 65 percent of eligible expenses until December 19, 2020. Claims can be made retroactively to September 27, 2020.
August 31, 2020
CEBA is being expanded and will make available to small businesses additional loans of $20,000, with $10,000 of those eligible to be turned into forgivable loans if paid back by October 31. Businesses applying for the loans will be required to prove they have faced income losses specifically caused by COVID-19.
Friday, July 19, 2020
The House of Commons passed Bill C-20, which includes an extension of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and a suite of changes to broaden access to the program to more businesses impacted by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes, originally announced July 17 by the federal Minister of Finance, are intended support more businesses as they reopen and scale up operations and help transition workers back into the economy as it too gradually reopens. The program details will be in effect until November 21, 2020, with the whole program extended to December 19, 2020. The federal government will be releasing additional guidance on the program in the near future on the CEWS CRA page.
Monday, July 13, 2020
Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) The Federal Government announced Monday, July 13 the extension of CEWS through to December, 2020.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) will be extended by one month to cover eligible small business rents for July.
Tuesday, June 16, 2002
The $500 per week Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program will be extended by eight weeks to the end of August. More information on how to extend your application can be found here.
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) OPENING May 25, provides relief for small businesses experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19. It offers unsecured, forgivable loans to eligible commercial property owners to:
- reduce the rent owed by their impacted small business tenants meet operating expenses on commercial properties
- Property owners must offer a minimum of a 75% rent reduction for the months of April, May and June 2020.
FEDERAL RESOURCES
The Government of Canada has released resources to ensure businesses and citizens have support during this very fluid situation.
Resources for Canadian Businesses
Support from the Government of Canada:
Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) Extended through end of August Provides $2,000 per month for four months to workers who have lost their income for reasons related to COVID-19
Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) Extended through December, 2020 — To help companies of all sizes, non-profits, and charities. Provide employers a 75 percent wage subsidy, back-dated to March 15, through to August 29, 2020. This subsidy will cover the first $58,700 per employee – up to $847/week per employee.
NOTE: You can apply for either CERB or CEWS, not both.
Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) — Support financing in the private sector with $65 billion in direct lending and other types of financial support. Contact your financial institution to access the various programs.
Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) OPEN — Up to $40,000 loan, interest-free for one year through financial institutions but fully backed by the federal government for businesses with a 2019 payroll of 20,000 – 1,500,000. Repaying the balance of the loan on or before December 31, 2022 will result in loan forgiveness of 25 percent (up to $10,000). Apply through your financial institution.
Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) OPEN will help small and medium-sized businesses cover their commercial rents (paying less than $50,000 per month) for April, May, and June which will lower payments by 75 percent.
Tax Flexibility — Businesses can defer paying income tax until September 1, 2020. GST payments, duties, and other remittances can be deferred until June
Employment and Social Development Canada — Details for employers on EI applications for their employees and Work-Share Program
COVID-19 Economic Response Plan — $27 billion in direct support to Canadian workers and businesses (cost and implementation)
You can find additional information at the following link: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html#business
