COVID-19 Resources

Funding and Government Relief

Below, you will find a detailed summary of the major relief programs provided through the $82 billion stimulus package.

In summary, our recommendation is the following:

  • Contact your landlord or mortgage broker about deferring payments for a 3-6 month period
  • Monitor the My Business Account portal on the CRA’s website for their web-app, which will allow you to apply for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy
  • Speak to your financial institution about the Canada Emergency Business Account, which provides a $40,000 loan of which $10,000 is forgivable
  • Defer your income tax and HST payments to the extension dates
  • If you still have funding needs, apply for the Business Credit Availability Program

Stimulus Package Overview

  • New Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, which aims to reduce the impact of job loss and offset the cost of lost revenue
  • New Canada Emergency Business Account, designed to create liquidity for small businesses in the form of a loan of up to $40,000
  • New Business Credit Availability Program which provides $65 billion in direct lending to Canadian businesses
  • Deferment of corporate income tax payments until August 31, 2020
  • Deferment of GST/HST remittances until June 30, 2020

Next, we’ll be diving into specific details about each program included as part of the stimulus package. Click below to learn more.

  • Website: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/wage-subsidy.html
  • Status: Pending the passing of legislation. Our best estimate is within the next 2 weeks.
  • Application: After legislation has passed, you’ll be able to apply through the My Business Account portal on the CRA website. In the meantime, if you have not applied for direct deposit through the CRA, you may wish to do that now, as that is how funds will be distributed.
    • Businesses will likely have to reapply monthly via the CRA website
  • Eligibility: individuals, taxable corporations and partnerships, as well as non-for-profit organizations and charities
    • Eligible employers must see a drop of at least 15% in revenue in March 2020 as compared with March 2019 OR the average of January and February 2020. For April and May, eligible employers must see a drop of at least 30% in revenues as compared to the same month last year, or as compared with the average of January and February 2020.
      Claiming period Required reduction in revenue Reference period for eligiblity
      Period 1 March 15 to April 11 15% March 2020 over:
      • March 2019 or
      • Average of Jan and Feb 2020
      Period 2 April 12 to May 9 30% April 2020 over:
      • April 2019 or
      • Average of Jan and Feb 2020
      Period 3 May 10 to June 6 30% May 2020 over:
      • May 2019 or
      • Average of Jan and Feb 2020
    • Guidance is pending for businesses that have begun operations within the past 12 months
  • Max Subsidy: There is no cap on the subsidy you can receive
  • Subsidy Amount: The amount covers a 3 month period from March 15 to June 6, 2020 and is equal to 75% of the remuneration paid, up to a maximum benefit of $847 per week per employee. This includes any new employees and covers salaries, wages and other remuneration, but does not cover severance pay. The amount is retroactive to payments made back to March 15th, 2020.
  • Non-arm’s Length Employees For employees who do not deal at arm’s length with the employee (i.e. shareholders), the subsidy amount will be limited to the lesser of amounts paid in any period between March 15 and June 6, 2020, to a maximum of $847 per week and 75% of the eligible weekly remuneration paid between January 1 amd March 15, 2020. Effectively if a shareholder was not on payroll prior to March 15, 2020, any salaries started after March 15 would not be eligible for the subsidy.
  • Turnaround Time: 6 weeks to receive funds
  • Penalties: Businesses that try to defraud the system will be subject to severe penalties, to be laid out by the government
  • Contingency: If you’re not eligible for the 75% wage subsidy, you may still be eligible for the 10% wage subsidy, which is currently available. More information can be found here.
  • Website: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html
    • Listed under “Access to Credit”
  • Status: The government is working closely with financial institutions, but it has not yet been released.
  • Application: After legislation has passed, you’ll be able to apply through your financial institution. Most financial institutions have already released their own guidance, which has been linked below:
  • Eligibility: Your company’s payroll expense in the 2019 calendar year was between $50,000 and $1 million.
  • Max Loan: $40,000
  • Interest Rate: 0% until December 31, 2022
  • Forgiveness: $10,000 is forgiven if $30,000 is repaid fully on or before December 31, 2022
  • Turnaround Time: 7 days from date of submission to receive funds

Income Tax

  • Website: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/covid-19-update/covid-19-filing-payment-dates.html
  • The CRA has extended the deadline to file corporate taxes for the current tax year until June 1, 2020 for businesses that have filing dates after March 18 and before June 1, 2020
  • The CRA has extended the payment date for the current tax year until August 31, 2020
  • No penalties or interest will be levied during this extension period
  • We recommend delaying paying your 2019 corporate tax payment and any applicable 2020/2021 corporate income tax instalments until August 31, 2020, in order to preserve cash flow through COVID-19.

GST/HST

Ontario Economic Relief Measures

Website: https://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/bulletins/eht/eht-exemption-2020.html

On March 25, 2020, the Ontario government announced that it will retroactively raise the EHT annual exemption from $490,000 to $1 million for 2020. The exemption will return to its current level of $490,000 on January 1, 2021.

Increasing the exemption to $1 million provides additional EHT relief of up to $9,945 per eligible employer. With this additional relief, eligible employers could benefit by up to $19,500 in total EHT relief.

Beginning April 1, 2020, penalties and interest will not apply for all businesses that miss any EHT filing or remittance deadlines. This will continue for a period of five months, up until August 31, 2020.

During the relief period, penalties and interest will not apply to late returns or remittances made under these tax programs.

Businesses will not be required to provide any documentation supporting their reasons for late‑filing or payments and they will not be required to advise the Ontario Ministry of Finance of their inability to meet their deadline(s).

  • Website: https://www.wsib.ca/en/financialrelief
  • The financial relief package allows businesses to defer premium reporting and payments until August 31, 2020. Businesses who report and pay monthly, quarterly or annually based on their insurable earnings are eligible for this deferral.
  • Each customer reports and pays on the previous full month or quarter, for example March 31 reporting and payment obligation covers the period of February 1-29. The following payments are eligible for deferral:
    • Monthly filers: March 31, April 30, May 31, June 30, July 31, Aug 31
    • Quarterly filers: April 30, July 31
    • Annual filers: April 30
  • No interest will accrue on outstanding premium payments and no penalties will be charged during this six-month deferral period.
  • All businesses covered by the WSIB’s workplace insurance are automatically eligible for the financial package. No action is required from businesses to receive the financial relief - you simply do not need to make the payments for the periods listed above.
  • This relief package is for the financial portion only. Companies are required to report their premiums on their normal schedule.

Website: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/finance-and-investing/covid19-cecra-small-business

The Applications for the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program will open on Monday, May 25.

Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses 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.

Learn more and apply here.

Website: https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/107.nsf/eng/home

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted women entrepreneurs. It has severely affected sectors such as retail, hospitality and food services—sectors where women entrepreneurs are most present.

The Government of Canada will provide $15 million in additional funding to support women entrepreneurs through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy.

Website: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html#businesses

Canadian Emergency Business Account is being expanded to family-owned businesses, businesses that rely on contractors and those that pay employees through dividends. Apply through your financial intuition or read more here.

We hope this guidance has been helpful. We’ll continue to update this page as the government releases information around any relief or funding efforts. Please always feel free to get in touch with us at prime@opencare.com if you have any questions. We’re here to help all of our practice partners through this difficult time.