Francis Scarpaleggia
Francis Scarpaleggia
Member of Parliament for Lac-Saint-Louis
Release: Changes to CEBA
November 2, 2020

The federal government announced that the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) will now be available to businesses that have been operating out of a non-business banking account. The CEBA program provides interest-free loans of up to $40,000 to small businesses and not-for-profits, with loan forgiveness of 25 percent (up to $10,000) if the balance of the loan is repaid on or before December 31, 2022.

To be eligible, businesses must have been operating as a business as of March 1, 2020, must successfully open a business account at a Canadian financial institution that is participating in CEBA, and meet the other existing CEBA eligibility criteria.

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 (employment income paid in the 2019 calendar year between $20,000 and $1,500,000) or demonstrate a minimum of $40,000 in eligible non-deferrable expenses, and have filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return. The deadline to apply for CEBA is December 31, 2020.

To assess their eligibility for CEBA, applicants can use the pre-screening tool on the CEBA website. To apply for CEBA, businesses should contact their financial institution and provide the appropriate information and documentation.

On October 9, 2020 the government announced that it is working with Export Development Canada (EDC) and financial institutions to expand the CEBA program by providing an additional interest-free CEBA loan amount of $20,000, of which up to half will be forgivable if the balance of the loan is paid by December 31, 2022. Businesses accessing the additional $20,000 of financing will be required to attest to need. Further details will be available soon.

Applicants may contact the CEBA Call Centre at 1-888-324-4201 to receive a status update on a completed application between Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST.

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