The Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant offers financial assistance to Alberta businesses, cooperatives, and non-profit organizations that were ordered to close or curtail operations as a result of public health orders, and that experienced a revenue reduction of at least 50 per cent in April and/or May 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible organizations can apply for 15 per cent of their pre-COVID-19 revenue, up to a maximum of $5,000 in funding. Organizations with multiple Alberta permanent physical establishments that have seen revenue reduction are eligible to apply for funding for each establishment.
Application intake for the program opens on June 29, 2020, and will remain open until August 31st or four weeks following the start of Phase 3 of Alberta’s Relaunch Strategy, whichever is later.
Eligible organizations:
Organizations will be eligible for this funding if they meet all of the following criteria:
- Be one of the following legal entities:
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- Corporation registered under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta)
- Partnership registered under the Partnership Act (Alberta)
- Sole proprietor with a trade name registered under the Partnership Act (Alberta)
- Corporation incorporated under a special act or a private act of the Alberta legislature
- Non-profit registered under a special act or a private act of the Alberta legislature
- Non-profit registered under part 9 of the Companies Act (Alberta)
- Society registered under the Societies Act (Alberta) or the Agricultural Societies Act (Alberta)
- Cooperative registered under the Cooperatives Act (Alberta)
- Maintain a permanent establishment (as defined in Appendix I) in Alberta and be established (and in good standing) under at least one of the above acts/legislation;
- Be carrying on business/operations or were eligible to carrying on business/operations in Alberta on February 29,2020;
- Have less than 500 employees (full time + part time + contract);
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- Seasonal businesses may use the number of employees from the year prior to when the COVID-19 public health orders were introduced, or the average number of employees over the three years prior to the COVID-19 public health orders introduced.
- Have been ordered to temporarily close or curtail operations through a COVID-19 public health order; For more information on the COVID-19 public health orders and legislation, please refer to the following: https://www.alberta.ca/covid-19-orders-and-legislation.aspx
- Have experienced a reduction in revenue of at least 50 per cent in April and/or May 2020 in comparison to April 2019, May 2019, or February 2020 as a result of the public health orders.
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- Seasonal businesses that only operate for part of the year may use their average monthly sales revenue for the full months they were in operation during 2019.
- Are open or plan to reopen as public health orders are lifted through Alberta’s phased relaunch.
- Have not received any payments, grants, or amounts from any other sources, including insurance, to replace or compensate for the loss of revenue/earned revenue other than amounts from these government assistance programs:
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- Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board premium relief
- Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP)
- Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA)
- Western Economic Development Regional Relief and Recovery Fund
- Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
- Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)
- Government of Alberta grant relief funding for the child care sector
Revenue Reduction Calculation
A = Pre COVID-19 revenue for April 2019, May 2019, February 2020, or average monthly revenue for seasonal businesses
B = Monthly revenue for April 2020 OR May 2020
A-B / A*100= %Revenue Reduction OR 1- (B/A)*100= %Revenue Reduction
*If the percentage of revenue reduction is below 50 per cent, the application will be deemed ineligible
Payment Calculation
A = Pre COVID-19 revenue for April 2019, May 2019, February 2020, or average monthly revenue for seasonal businesses
A x 0.15 = Total Payment (to a maximum of $5,000)
How to apply
All applications must be submitted through the online application portal. Application forms will be available when application intake opens. Applicants can access an online application portal through the program web page at www.alberta.ca/sme-relaunch-grant.aspx. Application availability is by region from June 29-July 4, after which applications are available to all regions of Alberta.
In order to apply, applicants must have a My Alberta Digital ID (MADI). You can apply for a MADI here.
Organizations will have to provide information at the time of application, including:
- Basic information on the business, cooperative, or non-profit organization;
- Organization’s Alberta Corporate Access Number, or Alberta Registration number.
- Information on the revenue reduction experienced in April and/or May 2020 as a result of the public health orders;
- Attestation(s); and
- Banking information for grant payment.
HGA will continue to update our COVID-19 resource centre with information about government benefits and programs as more information is released.
You can find our resource centre here.
If you have any questions, please contact your HGA Advisor or info@hgacpa.com.
