If you are an employer in Canada, and you have seen a reduction in revenue due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, you might be eligible for a subsidy that will help you cover some of the employee wages. It might also let you re-hire your former employees, help prevent more job losses and assist you in moving your business back towards normalcy. You can get all these benefits if you know about the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy or CEWS.
A proposal
has been initiated that will help ensure that the CEWS continues till October
this year. It might include some changes to the rates of claim period 20. You
can read the July 30 announcement here.
Important
Dates
If you want
to benefit from the CEWS, you should know that the first day you are allowed to
apply for claim period 19 from September 1, 2021. The deadline for applying for
claim period 13 is September 9, 2021.
Eligibility
for CEWS
If you want
to know about your eligibility for CEWS, read on. You must be able to meet all
three criteria that are mentioned below.
1. 1.You Must Have a CRA Payroll Account
on March 15, 2020
You can get
a subsidy if you didn’t have a payroll account, but another person/partnership made
remittances on your behalf, or you purchased most (or all) of another person’s
or partnership’s business assets.
2. 2.You Must be a Qualified Employer
To qualify
for the subsidy, you must be one among these types of employers:
Ø Corporations or trusts that are not
exempt from income tax (Part I of the Income Tax Act)
Ø An individual (sole proprietor)
Ø You must be among entities that are
exempt from income tax (Part I of the Income Tax Act)
3. You Must Have Seen a Drop in Revenue
You can
calculate the drop in revenue by comparing the eligible revenue during the
specific period with the eligible revenue for the same period during the last
year.
For claim
periods 18 to 20, which cover the timeframe from July 4 to August 28, you must
have seen a more than 10 percent revenue drop. For claim periods 5 to 17, which
cover the timeframe from July 5, 2020, to July 3, 2021, you don’t need to worry
about a percent of revenue drop. The process of calculating the revenue drop
for claim periods 1 to 4 is different. You can calculate it by comparing the
eligible revenue for the claim period month with the eligible revenue from the previous
matching period. To know about who can apply, click here.
In case you
want to calculate the revenue online or via a spreadsheet, here’s a handy
link that might help you get your numbers in order.
How to
Apply?
To apply
for a subsidy, make sure that the claim period you are applying for is open and
ensure that you have calculated the CRHP and CEWS amounts for your business.
Also, ensure that your direct deposit information is up to date with the CRA.
To apply for CEWS, click here.
If you want
to contact the CRA about CEWS, you can do that by clicking here.
Source:
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-wage-subsidy.html