September 3, 2021
The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) is a subsidy from The Government of Canada available to eligible Canadian employers.
To be eligible to receive the wage subsidy, an employer must meet all three of the following criteria:
1. Have had a CRA payroll account on March 15, 2020
2. Be one of the specified type of employers detailed on the CRA website
3. Have experienced a drop in revenue
The program has started on March 15 and is currently extended to September 25, 2021 (period 20).
The CEWS is calculated on a per-employee, per-week basis. The maximum subsidy that can be received varies by claim period. Please refer to the charts below for the maximum weekly amounts per employee.
The amount of subsidy that can be received is determined by the CEWS rate, which in turn is determined by the rate of revenue drop in a given month.
Under the general year-over-year approach, the eligible employer compares its qualifying revenue in the relevant month for the current reference period (i.e. claim period) to that of the same month year-over-year.
Under the alternative approach, an eligible employer may compare its qualifying revenue in the current reference period with that of its average revenue earned in the months of January and February of 2020. Hence, under the alternative approach, the prior reference period for a claim period is January and February 2020. An election is required to use the alternative approach.
Once the approach is selected, it must be used for all consecutive periods.
Periods 1-12 have been closed for the application. If you made a mistake on your application in these periods, you can request a change to your previous claim through the CRA’s online portal as long as the claim is being reduced. Amendments to increase cannot be made.
| Period 1 | Period 2 | Period 3 | Period 4 |
| Claim Period | Mar 15 - Apr 11, 2020 | Apr 12 - May 9, 2020 | May 10 - Jun 6, 2020 | Jun 7 - Jul 4, 2020 |
| Max. Benefit per Employee | $847.00 | $847.00 | $847.00 | $847.00 |
| Baseline Revenue | March 2019
or
average of January and February 2020 | April 2019
or
average of January and February 2020 | May 2019
or
average of January and February 2020 | June 2019
or
average of January and February 2020 |
| Claim Period Revenue | March 2020 | April 2020 | May 2020 | June 2020 |
| Required Drop | 15% | 30% | 30% | 30% |
| Period 5 | Period 6 | Period 7 | Period 8 |
| Claim Period | Jul 5 - Aug 1, 2020 | Aug 2 - Aug 29, 2020 | Aug 30 - Sept 26, 2020 | Sept 27 - Oct 24, 2020 |
Max. Benefit per Employee | $677.40 (60%x $1,129) | $677.40 (60%x $1,129) | $564.50 (50%x $1,129) | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) |
| Revenue Drop |
|
|
|
|
| Over 50% | 60% | 60% | 50% | 40% |
| 0% to 50% | 1.2 x revenue drop | 1.2 x revenue drop | 1.0 x revenue drop | 0.8 x revenue drop |
| Period 9 | Period 10 | Period 11 | Period 12 |
| Claim Period | Oct 25 - Nov 21, 2020 | Nov 22 - Dec 19, 2020 | Dec 20, 2020 - Jan 16, 2021 | Jan 17 - Feb 13, 2021 |
Max. Benefit per Employee | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) |
| Revenue Drop |
|
|
|
|
| Over 50% | 40% | 40% | 40% | 40% |
| 0% to 50% | 0.8 x revenue drop | 0.8 x revenue drop | 0.8 x revenue drop | 0.8 x revenue drop |
Remaining periods are available as follows:
| Period 13 | Period 14 | Period 15 | Period 16 |
| Claim Period | Feb 14 - Mar 13, 2021 | Mar 14 - Apr 10, 2021 | Apr 11 - May 8, 2021 | May 9 - Jun 5, 2021 |
Max. Benefit per
Employee
| $451.60 (40%x $1,129) | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) |
| Revenue Drop |
|
|
|
|
| Over 50% | 40% | 40% | 40% | 40% |
| 0% to 50% | 0.8 x revenue drop | 0.8 x revenue drop | 0.8 x revenue drop | 0.8 x revenue drop |
| Period 17 | Period 18 | Period 19 | Period 20 |
| Claim Period | Jun 6 - Jul 3, 2021 | Jul 4 - Jul 31, 2021 | Aug 1 - Aug 28, 2021 | Aug 29 - Sept 25, 2021 |
Max. Benefit per
Employee | $451.60 (40%x $1,129) | $395.15 (35% x $1,129) | $282.25 (25% x $1,129) | $112.90 (10% x $1,129) |
| Revenue Drop |
|
|
|
|
| Over 50% | 40% | 35% | 25% | 10% |
| 11% to 50% | 0.8 x revenue drop | 0.875 x (revenue drop - 10%) | 0.625 x (revenue drop - 10%) | 0.25 x (revenue drop - 10%) |
| 0% to 10% | 0.8 x revenue drop | 0 | 0 | 0 |
CRA has a FAQ page which answers many questions an applicant may have.
If you have additional questions, please contact us 905-277-9499.
