New Business Support Measures Announced Today – October 9, 2020

The Federal government announced new COVID-19 support programs and provided updates to existing programs to assist Canadian businesses as they deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These include:

Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (“CERS”)

The CERS is a new program to replace the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (“CECRA”) program and will continue until June 2021. It will be paid directly to businesses and will be administered by the CRA. The CERS will provide businesses support of up to 65% of rent and mortgage interest payments when the business has experienced a decrease in revenue of at least 70%. This subsidy will be gradually reduced when the business has experienced a lower reduction in revenue.

If the business is subject to a shut-down by the second wave of COVID-19, due to a mandatory health order, the business will be eligible for an additional 25% for a total subsidy of 90%.

The application process is to be announced soon.

Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (“CEWS”)

As was announced in the Speech from the Throne, the CEWS is being extended to the summer of 2021. In addition, it was announced today that the CEWS rate will be held at 65% to December 2020. This appears to be the basic CEWS rate of 40% that is in place for periods 8 (September 27 to October 24) plus the 25% top-up CEWS for those businesses that have been most severely impacted.

Canada Emergency Business Account (“CEBA”)

The CEBA has been extended to December 31, 2020 and an additional $20,000 is available to qualifying applicants. Up to $10,000 of this additional $20,000 can become a grant if repaid before a certain date that was not provided. The Federal government stressed that this program is a targeted program for businesses and applicants must attest that they have experienced income losses attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The opening date for applications and the details for qualification are to be announced in the coming days.

Your KMSS advisor is able to assist you with determining if you are eligible for these programs and to assist with the applications to the CRA.