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Aug
The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) is a wage subsidy program offered by the Federal government to employers. The main purpose of CEWS is to help employers keep their employees on payroll during the pandemic so they do not have to rely on Employment Insurance.
When CEWS originally started back in March, not all businesses originally qualified for the program. As of July 5th, the program has been expanded, extended and changed to make the program available to even more businesses. So even if your business did not qualify before, it might be a good idea to check back into it again as more businesses with any degree of revenue reductions can now qualify.
Here are some of the important changes that have been made to the CEWS program:
Extended Program – CEWS program has been extended now until November 21, 2020.
Expanded Eligibility – Now a wider range of employers qualify for the program. Sole proprietors and taxable corporations, certain indigenous government-owned corporations, registered charities, partnerships consisting of 50% or more eligible employers and non-profit organizations are now eligible.
Accessible Base Subsidy – All eligible employers who have experienced a drop in revenue can now qualify for a base subsidy. The amount of the subsidy will be determined by the amount of dropped revenue.
Top-Up Subsidy – Businesses that have been hit hard during the pandemic and have had a 50% or greater reduction in their revenue will qualify for up to a 25% top-up in addition to the base subsidy.
Flexibility – Under the new Safe Harbour Rule, revenue drop can be calculated in the current period or the previous period for July and August. This allows you to choose the method that will be most advantageous for your situation. As well, employees who were unpaid for 14 or more days can now be included
Subsidize Own Salary – The previous rules required that non-arms’ length employees (owners and family members) must have been paid from January 1st to March 15th to be eligible. However, under the new rules, non-arms’ length employees with a baseline remuneration will be able to use the least of their claim CEWS period’s pay, their average wage from during their baseline period, and $1,129
While this does not cover every aspect of the changes to CEWS, for more detailed information about the CEWS program and the current changes visit – https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/subsidy/emergency-wage-subsidy.html.
If you need help sorting through your options, Keenans Accounting Service is here for you. Just give us a call at 705-526-7628 to arrange a consultation by phone or via Zoom meeting. We are practicing social distancing while working remotely and with reduced staff so please leave us a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.