Applications are now open for the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS). We are able to provide the following update on our original communication from November 12, 2020.
If you are an eligible renter, your eligible expenses are:
- Rent (including rent based on a percentage of sales, profit or similar criteria)
- Amounts required to be paid or payable by you under a net lease (either to the lessor or a third party). Includes:
- base rent
- regular payments for customary operating expenses
- property and similar taxes
- regular payments to the lessor for customary ancillary services
You cannot include amounts paid or payable for:
- sales taxes (such as GST/HST and provincial sales taxes)
- damages
- interest or penalties on unpaid amounts
- other special amounts
If you are an eligible property owner your eligible expenses are:
- Property and similar taxes
- Includes school taxes and municipal taxes, if these are part of your property tax assessment
- Property insurance
- Interest on commercial mortgages for the purpose of purchasing real property
- Your mortgage amount cannot exceed the lesser of:
- the lowest principal amount secured by one or more mortgages on the property at any time it was acquired, or
- the cost amount of the property
Expenses that are not eligible include:
- payments between non-arm’s-length entities
- amounts that were paid or payable for a time that fall outside of the claim period
You can apply for CERS here. Applications for the current period will be open until 180 days after October 24, 2020.
HGA will continue to update our COVID-19 resource centre with information about government benefits and programs and 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.