Contributions paid by the employer:
Employers can apply for a refund of 100% of the contributions paid by them at the same time as they apply for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.
Only employers whose employees are on paid leave, and only for employees on full leave, will be entitled to a refund of 100% of the employer contributions (EI, CPP, QPP and QPIP) on a weekly basis.
For hotel owners:
Hotel owners can apply for the program by assessing their revenues (to quantify the reductions), either on a consolidated group basis or for each of their entities (who will then have to apply individually, also indicating their revenues as a stand-alone entity). Hotel companies are free to choose which method they prefer (group or individual).
Hotel owners may receive the wage subsidy for themselves provided they pay themselves a salary in their business. For example, in the case of a family-owned business, shareholder family members can receive the subsidy for each of them if they receive a salary and not dividends.
Hotel owners cannot receive this wage subsidy if they only pay themselves dividends.
Eligibility period:
If the application for a Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy is approved for the first month (and its eligibility period) hotel businesses will automatically be eligible for the second month (and its eligibility period).
Hoteliers will have to submit a new application via the MY BUSINESS FILE portal on the Canada Revenue Agency website for the third month (and its eligibility period) while continuing to demonstrate the 30% drop in revenue.
In order to avoid duplication of funding to the employee, the Government of Canada is considering a new process requiring employees who have received Canada Emergency Benefit (ECP) payments that overlap with Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy payments – to cancel their claim and reimburse the ECP for the period of overlap. This may alleviate the issue of employer liability, as it states that the employee is both responsible for notifying the CRA by cancelling their claim, as well as for returning the payments received during these overlapping periods. Details will be forthcoming.
The application date for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy has not yet been announced. Together with the Hotel Association of Canada, we are following this issue closely.
The Government of Canada has also announced some flexibility in the eligibility rules to allow more Canadians to receive ECP:
Allowing workers to earn up to $1,000 per month while receiving ECP;
Seasonal workers who have exhausted their regular EI benefits and cannot return to their regular seasonal work because of the VIDOC-19 pandemic will have access to ECP;
Workers who have recently exhausted their regular EI benefits and cannot find employment or return to work due to the VIDOC-19 pandemic will have access to ECP.
Canadians will begin receiving their ECPs within 10 days of submitting their application. They must reapply every four weeks and certify that they still meet the eligibility criteria for ECP. This benefit will be available for a maximum of 16 weeks until October 3, 2020.
When we have more information, we will let you know soon.
Xavier Gret
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Quebec Hotel Association
Visit https://alliancetouristique.com/covid19 regularly.
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