In order to help employers and small businesses, the government of Ontario has made two major announcements regarding the following:

Ontario Small Business Support Grant

The government of Ontario has announced a new Ontario Small Business Support Grant, which will provide a minimum of $10,000 and up to $20,000 to help small business owners during the Province-wide shut-down. Applications have opened as of January 15th 2021.

Eligibility

To receive the grant, a small business must:

  • be required to close or restrict services subject to the Provincewide Shutdown effective 12:01 a.m. on December 26, 2020
  • have fewer than 100 employees at the enterprise level
  • have experienced a minimum of 20 percent revenue decline comparing April 2020 to April 2019 revenues. New businesses established since April 2019 are also eligible provided they meet the other eligibility criteria

Please see the links below for both the Application Guide and the Application Link.

Application Guide: https://www.app.grants.gov.on.ca/msrf/assets/guide.pdf

Application Link: https://www.app.grants.gov.on.ca/msrf/#/

For more information, please visit the official website.

Increase in the Wage Subsidy to 75%

On December 18th 2020, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance announced that the government has decided to raise the wage subsidy to 75% for the period beginning December 20, 2020, until March 13, 2021.

Essentially, it means that the maximum rate of wage subsidy for periods 11-13 is:

Base Rate (40%) + Top-up Rate (35%) = 75%

  • For more information on the above, please visit the official CRA website for CEWS.
  • For a step by step guide on how to apply for the CEWS, please visit this website.

For all your tax inquiries, contact one of our tax experts at SJ Chartered Accountants serving Mississauga, Etobicoke, Toronto & other surrounding areas in the GTA.