Part 1 Small Business – How to use Financial Support to your advantage

woman holding an open sign

COVID-19 Support

Many small business owners are perhaps unaware of the financial support both the Canadian and Ontario Governments are making available to help them stay afloat during this pandemic.

Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 it has certainly encouraged lots of business owners to think outside the box and come up with new strategies and find new dynamic ways to stay open for business.

But it probably hasn’t been easy,  perhaps you were forced to shut down during the lock down and send your staff home, with the uncertainty of whether you would have a business to go back too when things started to open up again.

You may have heard of all this free money and Government initiatives:  CEWS, CERB, CEBA Workshare, that are being offered, but don’t know if you are eligible, or  how to get the best financial support to aid your business in its recovery.

On the website www.innovation.ised.canada.ca you use your own story  by using the drop down boxes to see which grants, funding, loans and expert advice there is out there to help you and your company get back on your feet and succeed.

CEWS

CEWS – Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy

Was designed to help you to keep your employees on the payroll and gives you a temporary subsidy to cover a percentage of your payroll, the government have now extended this support until June 2021.

The Details:

The maximum payable depends on the total percentage revenue loss due to COVID-19. If you have experienced a drop in revenue between March 15 and November 21, 2020 then you could get up to a maximum of 75% of an employees’ salary rebated.

Period 1 to 4 (March 15 – July 4, 2020) 

• Your revenue dropped 15% (period 1) or 30% (period 2-4)

• If you qualify for one period you automatically qualify for the following period

• Subsidy rate is 75% of eligible employees’ remuneration up to a maximum of $847/week per eligible employee

• Employees who were unpaid for 14 consecutive days in the period can’t be included

Period 5-10 (July 5 to December 19, 2020)

• Subsidy rate varies depending on how much your revenue dropped

• If revenue dropped was less than 30% you could still qualify and get the subsidy as employees return to work and your business recovers

• Employers hardest hit can qualify for higher amounts

• Employees who weren’t paid for 14 consecutive days in the period can now be included

• You can choose which option you use as your baseline either you gross profit for Jan/Feb 2020 or the corresponding months of 2019, whichever works in your favour it does not have to be the same baseline you used in period 1-4 but you must  one and stick with it for periods 5-10

Applications for Period 10 will open on the 20th of December 2020

Applications for CEWS are done by logging into your “My Business” portal on the CRA website and applying through the payroll section, you will need to complete the online calculator before applying.

Part 1 Small Business - How to use Financial Support to your advantage 2

You can use the on line calculator on the CRA website to see if your company qualifies for CEWS and of course we are here to help you with any questions you may have or if you need a company health check to see if your company would be eligible for any of the government initiatives.

 

CEBA – read the blog

Workshare – read the blog

The preceding information is for educational purposes only. As it is impossible to include all situations, circumstances and exceptions in a post such as this, a further review should be done by a qualified professional. No individual or organization involved in either the preparation or distribution of this letter accepts any contractual, tortious, or any other form of liability for its contents or for any consequences arising from its use.

2020-12-16T16:33:30-05:00 November 16th, 2020|