Interest-Free COVID-19 Loans for Small Businesses – Deadline Extended to June 30

Deadline to apply for CEBA was June 30, 2021

Following a recent expansion, the “Canada Emergency Business Account” now provides interest-free loans of up to $60,000 to qualifying small businesses, with up to $20,000 eligible for complete forgiveness. Businesses should contact their financial institution to apply for these loans as applications have been extended to June 30, 2021.

If you already received the $40,000 initial CEBA loan, you can apply for the $20,000 additional loan through the financial institution you applied for first.  If you’ve not accessed CEBA yet, you can apply for the full $60,000 loan (up to $20,000 which is forgivable) with your primary financial institution.

Eligibility:

• Organizations much be a Canadian business in operation as of March 1, 2020.
• Organizations must have a total payroll of $20,000 to $1.5 million in 2019 as indicated on your 2019 T4 Summary of Remuneration Paid
• For organizations with less than $20,000 in total employment income paid in 2019, they can still apply if they have:
  • A business operating account at a participating financial institution;
  • A Canada Revenue Agency business number;
  • A 2018 or 2019 tax return; and
  • Eligible non-deferrable expenses of between $40,000 and $1.5 million. Eligible non-deferrable expenses could include costs such as rent, property taxes, utilities, and insurance.
• You must apply only once and at your primary financial institution, and you must have a business (not a personal) bank account
• You must agree to use funds from this loan to pay for operating costs that cannot be deferred, such as payroll, rent, utilities, insurance, property tax and regularly scheduled debt service
• You intend to continue to operate your business or to resume operations
• The program includes unions, charitable, religious or fraternal organizations or clients owned by such an organization if it is a T2 or T3010 corporation that generates a portion of its revenue from the sales of goods or services

Loan Details:

• Loans/lines of credit will be interest free until December 31, 2022
• No repayments are required until December 31, 2022, but can be made at any time in any amount prior
• If businesses can repay the balance of the loan on or before December 31, 2022, the federal government will forgive a portion of it.
  • If you borrow up to $40,000 — Repaying the outstanding balance of the loan (other than the amount available to be forgiven) on or before December 31, 2022 will result in loan forgiveness of 25 percent (up to $10,000).
  • If you borrow between $40,000 and $60,000 —  Repaying the outstanding balance of the loan (other than the amount available to be forgiven) on or before December 31, 2022 will result in a single tranche of loan forgiveness up to $20,000 based on a blended rate:
    • 25 percent on the first $40,000; plus
    • 50 percent on amounts above $40,000 and up to $60,000.
    • For example, if you borrow the full $60,000, you only need to pay back $40,000 by the deadline to receive $20,000 in forgiveness
• If the loan is needed after December 31, 2022, it converts to a traditional loan with interest and repayment terms as per your financial institution