April 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, it is having a significant impact on many businesses, including operating losses as a result of closures, reduced operations and other unforeseen expenses.

These businesses should consider reviewing their insurance policies, particularly the “business interruption” clause to determine whether they are covered for these losses due to COVID-19.

Potential causes of business interruption may include:

• The contamination of the premises caused by the virus
• Employee absenteeism
• Event cancellation
• Supply chain disruption, or
• Forced closure by civil authority

Business Interruption Insurance:

The general purpose of business interruption insurance is to make the insured “whole” from the damaging event and is typically included in two types of policies:

• Perils Coverage relates to property damage from named risks that are specifically noted in the policy including fire, flood and vandalism
• All Risks coverage relates to losses arising from any fortuitous cause except those that are specifically excluded

Next Steps:

• Obtain a copy of your insurance policy and review the policy for potential coverage
• Review the definition section of the policy to see if property damage as a term is defined since property damage from named risks is typically covered through business interruption and COVID-19 losses may not be considered property damage
• Contact your insurance broker and place them and the insurer on notice of the potential claim
• Supporting documents must be available to support a claim

Lipton Polisuk is available to assist with claims preparation and review. Many business interruption policies cover the cost of professional fees incurred to prepare and review your claim.

Please contact us with any questions that you may have.

Beginning April 27th, applications will be open for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.  For those who are eligible, most businesses may apply using My Business Account. If you represent a business, you may apply using Represent a Client. Alternatively, on April 27th you may apply using a separate online application.

Please click this link to learn how to apply for and receive your subsidy, if eligible. This link also includes the following sections:

• Who is an eligible employer
• Determine your eligible employees
• Calculate your subsidy amount

If you have any questions, please contact your Lipton advisor.

On April 16, 2020 the Government of Canada announced changes to the Canada Emergency Business Account and introduced the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program.

Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA)

The CEBA allows banks and credit unions to lend up to $40,000 to qualifying small businesses and non-profit organizations. These loans are interest free until December 31, 2022. If fully repaid before this date, 25% of the loan (up to $10,000) will be forgiven.

To qualify, businesses now need to demonstrate that they paid between $20,000 and $1,500,000 in total payroll in 2019 as reported on the 2019 T4 Summary filed with CRA. Previously, the range was $40,000 to $1,000,000.

Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)

On April 16, 2020 the Government also announced the new CECRA in order to assist small businesses in paying commercial rent for April, May and June. No specific details were released but are expected soon.

If you have any questions, please contact your Lipton advisor.

On April 11, 2020, the Federal government’s $73 billion wage subsidy legislation received Royal Assent and was passed into law.

What It Means for Canadian Employers

The new Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) provides a 75% wage subsidy to eligible employers for up to 12 weeks, retroactive to March 15, 2020.

The CEWS is intended to prevent further job losses, encourage employers to re-hire workers previously laid off as a result of COVID-19, and help better position Canadian companies and other employers to more easily resume normal operations following the crisis.

Please click on this link to see the full details.

If you have any questions, please contact your Lipton advisor. If you would like to read our previous client communications on this subject, please refer to our blog.

On April 8, 2020, changes were announced to the eligibility criteria for employers to claim the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (the Subsidy).

In summary, the proposed changes include the following:

• When measuring revenue loss, eligible employers can either compare their revenue of March, April and May 2020 to that of the same month in 2019 or to the average of their revenue earned in January and February 2020. Once chosen, the approach must remain consistent for all months.

• For March only, employers will need a minimum 15 percent reduction in revenue to be eligible.  This change reflects the fact that many businesses did not begin to experience a revenue reduction until partway through the month.  Employers will still need a minimum 30 percent reduction in revenue in April and May to be eligible.

• It is proposed that employers be allowed to measure revenues on either an accrual basis or on a cash basis. Once chosen, the approach must remain consistent.

• It is proposed that eligible employers will now be entitled to a 100 percent refund for employer-paid contributions to Employment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan, Quebec Pension Plan and Quebec Parental Insurance Plan contributions.

• Registered charities and not-for-profit organizations are also eligible to receive the wage subsidy. It is proposed that these organizations can choose to include or exclude government funding in their revenues for the purposes of applying the above-mentioned revenue reduction tests.

Additional announcements are expected to address corporate groups, non-arms’ length entities and joint ventures.

Please click on this link to see the announcement.

If you have any questions, please contact your Lipton advisor.

GST/HST Update – Payment & Filing Deadlines

The CRA has now released additional details on GST/HST relief for businesses. While the GST/HST remittances and payments due on or after March 27, 2020 and before June 2020 may now be deferred to the end of June 2020, the CRA has advised that businesses should continue to file the related GST/HST returns if they are able to do so. However, the CRA will not assess penalties for the late-filing if the GST/HST returns due during that period are filed by June 30, 2020.

Annual filers will also be able to defer until June 30, 2020, the GST/HST instalments due on or after March 27, 2020 and before June 2020.

Taxpayers who file their GST/HST returns and rebates in paper format may not receive their refunds or rebates until normal CRA operations resume. Some returns and rebates filed electronically may be processed automatically unless such filings become subject to additional review.

Businesses and other taxpayers should ensure that they continue to file all GST/HST rebate applications and claim credits within the required due dates.

For more information, please refer to the link below:

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/covid-19-update/frequently-asked-questions-gst-hst.html

If you have any questions, please contact your Lipton advisor.

On April 1, 2020 Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau provided further details on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (“the Subsidy”), as follows:

• The Subsidy is available to businesses, both large and small, not-for-profit organizations and charities.

• The Subsidy will provide up to 75% of an employee’s wages for a 3 month period retroactive to March 15, 2020, to a maximum of $847 per week which is 75% of the first $58,700 of an employee’s annual salary.

• To qualify, employers must demonstrate that their revenue from business operations has fallen by at least 30% in March, April or May 2020 when compared to the same month in the prior year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Support for the reduction and Subsidy amount will need to be kept and employers will have to reapply for the Subsidy each month.

• There is no overall limit on the Subsidy amount that an eligible employer may claim.

• Employers must make their best effort to top-up employee’s salaries to bring them to pre-crisis levels.

• Employers that do not qualify for the Subsidy continue to qualify for the previously announced 10 percent wage subsidy.

• The amount of the Subsidy received by an employer is considered government assistance and is to be included in the employer’s taxable income.

• The program will be administered by the Canada Revenue Agency through a portal on its website, which is expected to be available in 3-6 weeks.

• Employers are encouraged to sign up for direct deposit through the My Business Account service with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in order to receive the Subsidy as quickly as possible.

For further details, please click on the following Government of Canada releases.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2020/04/government-announces-details-of-the-canada-emergency-wage-subsidy-to-help-businesses-keep-canadians-in-their-jobs.html

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2020/04/the-canada-emergency-wage-subsidy.html

Additional details on the Subsidy will be provided as soon as they become available.

For further information, please contact your Lipton advisor.