Little Italy College St.

Business Improvement Area

Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA)

For quick reference and a general guide, please see the following links:

 

To date, the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) has provided over 790,000 small businesses and non-profits with interest-free loans, partially forgivable if paid back by December 31, 2022.

Initially providing loans of up to $40,000, with up to $10,000 forgivable, the CEBA program has been expanded, allowing qualifying businesses to access an additional interest-free $20,000 loan, in situations where there is need. Half of this additional amount, up to $10,000, would be forgivable if the loan is repaid by December 31, 2022.

The government recently extended the availability of the CEBA program to small businesses that have not been operating from a commercial banking account. These small businesses are now able to apply for the CEBA, provided that they have successfully opened a new commercial account and fully meet the eligibility requirements of the program.

Loans are provided through financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, in cooperation with Export Development Canada. The deadline to apply for a CEBA loan has been extended to March 31, 2021.

  • Since its launch, the government has made modifications to CEBA to help even more small businesses, including:
  • increasing the payroll eligibility range to between $20,000 and $1.5 million,
  • making CEBA available to owner-operated small businesses that do not have a payroll, sole proprietors receiving business income directly as well as family-owned corporations remunerating in the form of dividends rather than payroll,
  • making CEBA available to businesses operating from a personal banking account that had previously been unable to apply due to not operating from a business banking account, and
  • as of Friday, December 4, 2020, making available an additional $20,000 CEBA loan, for eligible businesses facing financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 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; or
  • demonstrate a minimum of $40,000 in eligible non-deferrable expenses and have filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return.
  • CEBA is administered by Export Development Canada (EDC), which is working closely with Canadian financial institutions to deliver the loans to their existing business banking customers. The CEBA Call Centre can be reached at 1-888-324-4201 between Monday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET.

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