75% Wage Subsidy
Last Friday, the government announced the 75% wage subsidy. Today, details were announced that eligible businesses would have had to experience a 30% drop in revenue. The definition of drop in revenue has not yet been defined - is it Revenue to Budget? Revenue to Prior Year? Revenue to Prior Month? What about Revenue that has been booked but the customer can no longer pay? Still many questions to answer - hopefully the next couple of days will shed some light on these and other questions.
GST/HST Payment Deferral
Also last week, the PM announced that GST/HST payments would be deferred as well. Again, the deferral does not relieve the requirement to file your GST/HST return. Payments are deferred until the end of June. Be careful though, GST/HST, like payroll source deductions, are what is considered a Trust Account - meaning that you hold these funds in Trust for CRA. Do NOT use these funds for working capital. CRA does not take kindly to using the funds for the operation of your business.
COVID 19 Business Incentive Summary
The information about all the incentives and initiatives that the government is providing is changing rapidly. We thank all our customers for their questions - we are happy to be of service to you in these unusual times. For that reason, our firm has created a summary of most of the measures released by the government for both businesses and for individuals. We will continue to update this PDF on a regular basis. You can find a link to that summary below. The summary will also note the last day that it was updated at the bottom of each page.
Time is of the Essence
It is most important during this time to be proactive. Be proactive with your employees, your customers, your communication, and your business.
Use this unusual time as a catalyst for change. Examine what and how you are doing in your business. You NEED to change in order to survive. Do not sit back and wait for this event to be over and assume that life will return to normal. Become a thought leader in your business, your industry, and your community. Think of this as yet another way to differentiate yourself from your competition. Some businesses will fail. Some may not make it through this unscathed. Do everything you can to buy yourself and your business time. Sounds like a good topic for a future blog....
Stay healthy, stay safe and practice physical distancing.
