Starting on Friday, December 4, 2020, eligible businesses facing financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are able to access a second CEBA loan of up to $20,000 – on top of the initial $40,000 that was available to small businesses.
Half of this additional financing, up to $10,000, will be forgivable if the loan is repaid by December 31, 2022.
This means the additional loan effectively increases CEBA loans from the existing $40,000 to $60,000 for eligible businesses, of which a total of $20,000 will be forgiven if the balance of the loan is repaid on time.
As announced in the Fall Economic Statement, the application deadline for CEBA has also been extended to March 31, 2021.
To apply, eligible businesses and not-for-profits need to contact the financial institution that provided their initial CEBA loan and provide the appropriate information and documentation.
Since its launch in April, 2020, the government has made modifications to CEBA to help even more small businesses, including:
- increasing the payroll eligibility range to between $20,000 and $1.5 million;
- making CEBA available to owner-operated small businesses that do not have a payroll, sole proprietors receiving business income directly as well as family-owned corporations remunerating in the form of dividends rather than payroll;
- making CEBA available to businesses operating from a personal banking account that had previously been unable to apply due to not operating from a business banking account; and
- as of Friday, December 4, 2020, making available an additional $20,000 CEBA loan, for eligible businesses facing financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The additional $20,000 CEBA loan may not be available at all participating financial institutions on December 4, but is expected to be available soon.
To qualify for CEBA, all applicants must have:
- An active Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) business number with an effective date of registration on or prior to March 1, 2020;
and either:
- meet the payroll eligibility criteria; or
- demonstrate a minimum of $40,000 in eligible non-deferrable expenses, and have filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return.
CEBA is part of the government’s comprehensive support for small businesses, which also includes:
- The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, which the Fall Economic Statement proposes to raise the maximum base subsidy of to 75 per cent;
- The Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, which provides rent or commercial mortgage support up to 65 per cent directly to businesses that have been affected by COVID-19; and
- New Lockdown Support, which provides a rent subsidy of 25 per cent to businesses that have to significantly restrict their activities as a result of a public health order.
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Content Source: Government of Canada
