Canada Emergency Business Account Application Extension

 

The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) has been again been extended to March 31, 2021, from the original extension of October 31, 2020. CEBA was launched on April 9, 2020 and intended to support businesses by providing financing for expenses that cannot be avoided or deferred as a result of COVID-19.

This program provides interest-free loans of $60,000 to small businesses and not-for-profits. The CEBA loan provided from the government was originally $40,000, however, on December 4th, 2020 the loan amount has increased by $20,000. If the balance of the $60,000 loan is repaid on or before December 31, 2022, this will result in a loan forgiveness of 33% (up to $20,000).

Since the update, the criteria for eligible businesses has remained the same except for the removal of the criteria of having to have an active business or chequing account with a primary financial institution on or before March 1, 2020. Now, if you have opened a bank account at any point of the year and meet the other criteria below, you can also apply for the $60,000 CEBA loan.

Businesses are eligible for the CEBA amount if they meet the following requirements:

  1. They are operating as of March 1, 2020

  2. The business has a federal tax registration

  3. The business must have an active business or chequing account with the lender at the time of application

  4. The business hasn’t already used the CEBA amount from another financial institution

  5. The business acknowledges its intention to continue operations or resume operations

  6. The business agrees to participate in post-funding surveys

  7. The business’ employment income paid in the 2019 calendar year was between $20,000 and $1,500,000

If the business has less than $20,000 in employment income paid during 2019 it must have

  1. A CRA business number and filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return

  2. The business has eligible non-deferrable expenses between $40,000 and $1,500,000 (these includes rent, property taxes, utilities, and insurance)

All applications for the CEBA loan is administered through your financial institution. Please visit your institution’s website for more information or visit this link for additional details: https://ceba-cuec.ca/

 
Jessica BuiCEBA, COVID-19, Interest-free, Loans