CHANGES
Feds to Extend Several Pandemic Income Benefits
SCREENGRAB : CBC
On Feb . 19 , 2021 , Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , along with Minister of Employment , Workforce Development , and Disability Inclusion , Carla Qualtrough , announced that the federal government will extend the Canada Recovery Benefit ( CRB ), the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit ( CRSB ), the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit ( CRCB ), and Employment Insurance ( EI ) for a number of weeks for eligible recipients . As some workers could begin to exhaust their benefits in late March , this increase
PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU would ensure continued support as the economy and labour force recovers , they said . It would also provide additional access to the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit .
The proposed changes would : increase the number of weeks available under the CRB and the CRCB by 12 weeks , extending the maximum duration of the benefits from 26 weeks to up to 38 weeks ; increase the number of weeks available under the CRSB from the current two weeks to four weeks ; and increase the number of weeks of EI regular benefits available by up to 24 weeks to a maximum of 50 weeks for claims that are made between Sept . 27 , 2020 and Sept . 25 , 2021 .
Subject to the legislation being passed by parliament , in addition , self-employed workers who have opted in to the EI program to access special benefits would be able to use a 2020 earnings threshold of $ 5,000 , compared to the previous threshold of $ 7,555 . This change would be retroactive to claims established as of Jan . 3 , 2021 and would apply until Sept . 25 , 2021 .
Canadians should continue to apply for the recovery benefits through the Canada Revenue Agency and for Employment Insurance benefits through Service Canada .
Gig Workers Won ’ t Have to Repay CERB
In December 2020 , around 40,000 Canadians who had collected Canada Emergency Response Benefit ( CERB ) payments , which included many gig-workers like musicians , received letters from the Canada Revenue Agency ( CRA ) warning that they may have to pay back the relief money they received because of confusion over the gross versus net income threshold . Canada ’ s musician ’ s union , the Canadian Federation of Musicians ( CFM ), joined other cultural worker associations , unions , and guilds to seek clarification from the government on the notices , and to lobby to halt any repayments . On Feb . 9 , 2021 , the federal government announced that self-employed individuals who applied for the CERB and would have qualified based on their gross income will not be required to repay the benefit , provided they also met all other eligibility requirements . The same approach will apply whether the individual applied through the Canada Revenue Agency or Service Canada .
This means that self-employed individuals whose net self-employment income was less than $ 5,000 and who applied for the CERB will not be required to repay the money , as long as their gross self-employment income was at least $ 5,000 and they met all other eligibility criteria .
Some self-employed individuals whose net self-employment income was less than $ 5,000 may have already voluntarily repaid the CERB . The CRA and Service Canada will return any repaid amounts to these individuals .
For more information , go to www . canada . ca .
14 CANADIAN MUSICIAN