More on the 75% wage subsidy program

APRIL 1, 2020

More on the 75% wage subsidy program

Finance has released several details, but there is still plenty missing. You may recall that the subsidy reimburses companies suffering a 30% decline in revenue for up to $3700 per month per employee. Here is what has been announced:

This program is separate and apart from the 10% wage subsidy program. The 10% program will continue to be in place.
The new program will require an application to be filed with CRA – the ability to apply will start in three weeks. Employers will need to update each month to show that the 30% decline existed for each particular month.
Payments will begin to be made six weeks from the application date. Unlike the 10% wage subsidy program this program will not work through the employer remittance account but instead will be a separate transfer from CRA. So, for those with tight cashflow this has to be carefully managed.
To be eligible CRA will compare revenue for March, April and May of 2020 against the prior year. We have no details on precisely how this will work but it appears that it is a monthly test – a company may qualify for one month but not another.
The program will not require that employees be paid their full 100% salary. It appears that keeping employees at full pay is optional – you may be able to simply pay the employees the 75% flow through from the government if you can’t afford to pay the remaining 25% (of course paying less than 100% will require a review of relevant employment law or negotiations with employees). We have a number of questions on how this will be applied.

The finance minister committee will be releasing details “shortly”.

Another alert on cyberattacks

We’ve mentioned earlier the heightened risk. Please make sure your staff is on the look-out. Many of the current frauds appear as a reaching out from a local health authority in connection with the outbreak and a request for information. The attached links are, apparently, very dangerous.