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Government of Canada addresses CERB repayments for self-employed individuals and announces interest relief on 2020 income tax debt due to COVID-19 related income support

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada has provided urgently-needed income support to millions of Canadians, which has helped them put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads during this crisis. The federal government is committed to continuing to support Canadians throughout this crisis.

Today, the Government of Canada announced that self-employed individuals who applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and would have qualified based on their gross income will not be required to repay the benefit, provided they also met all other eligibility requirements. The same approach will apply whether the individual applied through the Canada Revenue Agency or Service Canada.

This means that, self-employed individuals whose net self-employment income was less than $5,000 and who applied for the CERB will not be required to repay the CERB, as long as their gross self-employment income was at least $5,000 and they met all other eligibility criteria.

Some self-employed individuals whose net self-employment income was less than $5,000 may have already voluntarily repaid the CERB. The CRA and Service Canada will return any repaid amounts to these individuals. Additional details will be available in the coming weeks.

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Alberta frontline workers to receive one-time $1,200 payment from government

More than 380,000 frontline workers in Alberta will receive one-time payments of $1,200 from the government for working during the COVID-19 pandemic, Premier Jason Kenney announced Wednesday.

Public and private sector workers in the health care, continuing care, education, transportation and grocery industries will be eligible for the benefit if they worked at least 300 hours between Oct. 12 and Jan. 31.

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