- KD Wray
Canada Emergency Business Account & Commercial Rent Assistance

CANADA EMERGENCY BUSINESS ACCOUNT (CEBA)
May 19, 2020
• The Federal government is attempting to expand eligibility for the CEBA program to include:
• Sole proprietors who receive income directly from the business, perhaps with no or minimal payroll
• Businesses that rely on contractors rather than employees
• Family-owned corporations that pay employees through dividends rather than payroll
• The eligibility criteria has been expanded for those businesses with payroll less than $20,000
• To qualify the following criteria must be met:
• Have a business operating account at a participating financial institution
• Have a Canada Revenue Agency business number and have filed a 2018 or
2019 tax return
• The business would need to have eligible non-deferrable expenses between
$40,000 and $1,500,000
• Eligible non-deferrable expenses could include rent, property tax, utilities and insurance
• Expenses will be subject to verification and audit by the Government of Canada
• Application process to be announced within the week
• To date, 600,000 CEBA loans have been made under the original rules
• The Federal government is working on solutions where the business uses a personal bank account or circumstances where a tax return has not been filed such as a new business
CANADA EMERGENCY COMMERCIAL RENT ASSISTANCE (CECRA)
May 19, 2020
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has made a substantial update to their site on the CECRA including the following:
• Why property owners should apply for CECRA for small businesses
• They provide a numerical example of how the program works
• How do I apply for CECRA for small businesses program
• Staggered application days depending on the region of Canada
• What you need to apply
• Templates of the attestation forms, rent reduction agreement and forgivable loan agreement
• List of required information that you will need to apply
• Who is eligible to apply for the CECRA for small businesses program
• How does the CECRA for small businesses program work
• FAQs for property owners
• FAQs for small business tenants
• The application portal is expected to be launched in the second half of May
• https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/finance-and-investing/covid19-cecra-small-business
