FEDERAL AND QUEBEC MEASURES

Flexibility for Taxpayers – Postponement of certain statutory dates

To help taxpayers during this exceptional period, the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada have extended certain tax deadlines. The table below shows the new current dates:

Governments have also introduced new tax measures. Here is a summary of them:

FEDERAL MEASURES

Temporary Income Support for Workers and Parents

Government have softened the rules to benefit from Employment Insurance (EI) for Canadians without paid sick leave who are sick, quarantined or forced to stay home to care for children:

Waiving the one-week waiting period for those individuals in imposed quarantine that claim EI sickness benefits;
Waiving the requirement to provide a medical certificate;
Introducing the Emergency Care Benefit providing up to $900 bi-weekly, for up to 15 weeks. This flat-payment Benefit will be available from April 2020 and will be administered through the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). You can make a request through the CRA secure My Account portal. This Benefit provides income support to:
- Workers, including the self-employed, who are quarantined or sick with COVID-19 but do not qualify for EI sickness benefits.
- Workers, including the self-employed, who are taking care of a family member who is sick with COVID-19, such as an elderly parent, but do not qualify for EI sickness benefits.
- Parents with children who require care or supervision due to school or daycare closures, and are unable to earn employment income, irrespective of whether they qualify for EI or not.

Longer-Term Income Support for Workers

Introducing an Emergency Support Benefit delivered through the CRA.
- This benefit supports workers who are not eligible for EI and who are facing unemployment due to COVID-19.

Implementing the EI Work Sharing Program.
- This program benefits workers who agree to reduce their normal working hour as a result of developments beyond the control of their employers, by extending the eligibility of such agreements to 76 weeks, easing eligibility requirements, and streamlining the application process.

Income Support for Individuals Who Need It Most

Providing a one-time special payment by early May 2020 through the Goods and Services Tax credit (GSTC).
- This will double the maximum annual GSTC payment amounts for the 2019-20 benefit year. The average boost to income for those benefitting from this measure will be close to $400 for single individuals and close to $600 for couples.
Increasing the maximum annual Canada Child Benefit (CCB) payment amounts by $300 per child as part of their May payment.
Placing a six-month interest-free moratorium on the repayment of Canada Student Loans for all individuals currently in the process of repaying these loans.
Reducing required minimum withdrawals from Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) by 25% for 2020.

QUEBEC MEASURES

Temporary Aid for Workers Program

This program is for workers who reside in Quebec and in isolation for one of the following reasons:

they have contracted the virus or present symptoms;
they have been in contact with an infected person;
they have returned from abroad.

The program only applies to adult workers aged 18 or over. Workers cannot be receiving compensation from their employer, cannot have private insurance and cannot be covered by another government program (such as employment insurance).

The lump-sum amount granted to an eligible person is $573 per week, for a period of 14 days of isolation. If justified by your state of health, the coverage period for an eligible person could be extended to a maximum of 28 days.

It is now possible to complete a registration online : https://inscription.croixrouge.ca/#/0ABFBD4F-AF68-EA11-A812-000D3AF422F3.

We thank you for your usual collaboration and be assured of ours!

Do not hesitate to contact our experts with any questions.