Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced the federal government will be increasing its wage subsidy for small and medium-sized businesses to 75% to avoid layoffs. According to Trudeau, this move will be backdated to March 15. He said that small and medium businesses are the backbone of the community, “these places make our communities feel like home.” Friday’s announcement was an increase from last week’s initial 10% wage subsidy from the federal government. “We want our economy to recover from this,” said Trudeau, as he announced the new Canada Emergency Business Account, which will allow banks to offer $40,000 loans that will be interest-free for the first year. Of that, $10,000 can be
British Columbia Measures On March 23, 2020, the Government of British Columbia announced several measures to assist business and individuals. Here is what you need to know. New Measures for Business 1. Deferring the payment of several taxes for business until September 30, 2020, including: Employer Health Tax (originally due March 31st) o PST remittances o Carbon taxes 2. School tax rate reduced by 50% for business and commercial properties. This could have an average savings of $4,000 per property. This will be passed through to tenants that have triple net leases. 3. Non-profit, service delivery agencies, and childcare providers will continue to receive provincial funding regardless of wh
New tax filing and payment due dates The due date for filing individual tax returns has been extended to June 1, 2020. Taxpayers will have until September 1, 2020 to pay any 2019 income tax amounts owed. You will be able to apply for the new Emergency Support and Emergency Care benefits in My Account or using the dedicated phone line starting April 2020. Find more information on tax measures to help support Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic While we are continuing to deliver essential services, please note that some of our digital services may be unavailable due to measures taken surrounding the COVID-19 virus.
The government is putting programs into place to assist small businesses during this unprecedented and uncertain time. Some of the programs are still being set up so they may not be available right away. Some are already here. There are also programs to help assist your employees that are being laid-off. Here is a link to the Canada.ca page where you can find out more information about the small business assistance: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html#business As business owners, who temporarily closed their businesses, there is income assistance. Here is a link to what the government has set up for this: https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2020/03
