COVID-19: GOC offers details on Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy

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On Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, Mary Ng, and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, announced the details of the proposed Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.

Click here for a summary of CEWS provided by Grant Thornton that you can download and read later.

See below for some quick facts about CEWS:

  • Qualifying businesses receive a 75% wage subsidy for up to 3 months, retroactive to March 15, 2020
  • Applies to the first $58,700 normally earned by employees, representing a benefit of up to $847 per week. Please note if you and your staff earn more than $58,700 per year, you will receive less than 75% in wage subsidy. 
  • Program would be in place for a 12-week period from March 15 to June 6, 2020
  • Eligible employers:
    • Employers who suffer a drop in gross revenues of at least 30 per cent in March, April or May, when compared to the same month in 2019, although Minister Morneau acknowledged in interviews that if there were no revenues last year that revenues from January and February 2020 would be considered.
    • Employers of all sizes and across all sectors of the economy, with the exception of public sector entities
  • The 10% wage subsidy is still available if you have not lost 30% in revenue
  • Not-for-profits: government will continue to work with the sector to ensure the definition of revenue is appropriate to their circumstances. Further details will be announced soon.
  • Eligible employers would be able to access the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy by applying through a Canada Revenue Agency online portal. More details regarding how to apply for the program will follow, but we would suggest you sign up immediately for direct deposit with CRA.

Here is a link to the backgrounder with more details.

Canada Emergency Business Account
The Federal Government has also announced a number of programs, including an interest-free loan of up to $40,000 to small businesses and not-for-profits to help cover operating costs during this period of unrest, where their revenues have been temporarily reduced. This loan will be forgivable up to $10,000.  Find more details here.