COVID 19 Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) UPDATE

In order to include more businesses, NPOs, and Charities the Federal Government has announced more refinements to the CEWS.

Eligibility

• For the month of March if your revenue has dropped by at least 15 percent compared to March 2019 you will be eligible for the CEWS. For the months of April and May, the percentage will continue to be 30 percent.
• An alternative method of calculating the decrease in revenue:
  • You have the option of using the average of your January and February 2020 and comparing to March 2020. If March is lower by 15% or more you are eligible.

NOTE: If you choose the alternative method, you must continue to use it for April and May. So April and May will need to be 30% or lower than the average of January and February 2020.

Refund for Certain Payroll Contributions

The Government is proposing to expand the CEWS by introducing a new 100 percent refund for employer-paid contributions to Employment Insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, the Quebec Pension Plan, and the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan.

This refund would cover 100 percent of employer-paid contributions for eligible employees for each week throughout which those employees are on leave with pay and for which the employer is eligible to claim for the CEWS for those employees. 

Eligible employers would apply for a refund, as described above, at the same time that they apply for the CEWS.

YOU CAN’T CLAIM BOTH.

If you claim the temporary 10 percent wage subsidy and subsequently find out that you are eligible to claim CEWS you will have to reduce the CEWS claim by the 10% already claimed. You cannot claim both.