More Money Podcast - More Flexible Criteria for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) - Money Minute with Jessica Moorhouse

Episode Date: April 17, 2020

This week, new (and more flexible) criteria for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) was announced. That means that if you weren't originally eligible to receive the $2,000 benefit payout, you might be now! Important Resources Apply for CERB: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application.html FAQs about CERB: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/cerb-application/questions.html Scenarios for Eligibility: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/04/01/faq-canada-emergency-response-benefit/ Info on COVID-19 Economic Response Plan: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another Money Minute episode with yours truly, Jessica Morehouse. Thanks for coming back to the show. I know it's a bit later than I usually put out these episodes, but it's because pretty much every Friday, Trudeau makes an announcement about what's going on with different benefits and COVID-19. I wanted to wait until all that was done so I can be current and actually give you the real information and not be out of date by the time I put this episode out. So if you've been paying attention to the news, you will already know that excitingly, the Canada Emergency Response Plan has been expanded. So it will make more people eligible because I know a lot of

people complained that the criteria was a bit too strict, which totally agree. Um, but, uh, now it seems like more people will be eligible to get it, which is great. So, uh, listen to last, uh, you know, yeah, last week's money minute episode to learn a little bit more about what it is, but essentially what it is, is it provides you with $500 a week, but it's paid to you in a $2,000. So a four week chunks for up to 16 weeks. Um, so what that means is you, if you are eligible, um, and continue to be eligible, cause you do have to reapply, um, for every period and the different periods, I'll talk about that in a little bit. Um, but, uh, the different periods, you will get paid $2,000 per month for up to four months. Um, and now the benefit is

available to more workers. So for eligibility, this is what the criteria now says. So the benefit is available to workers who reside in Canada and who are at least 15 years old, who have stopped working because of reasons related to COVID-19 or are eligible for employment insurance regular or sickness benefits or, and this is the exciting part, have exhausted their employment insurance regular benefits between December 29th, 2019 and October 3rd, 2020. So that should include a lot more people that weren't originally eligible for this benefit. So that's very exciting. Next, a benefit is available to workers who had employment and or self-employment income of at least $5,000 in 2019 or in the 12 months prior to the date of their application and who have not quit their job voluntarily. So I know I've been getting a lot of comments being like, but I want to quit or I have quit my job because I felt like I was at risk. It was dangerous for my health and safety because

maybe I'm on the front line and I could get the virus. Unfortunately, the criteria still says, and I know this kind of sucks, but if you voluntarily quit your job, you will be ineligible for this benefit. So I'm sorry. Again, just the messenger. Next, it also states when submitting your first claim, you cannot have earned more than $1,000 in employment and or self-employment income for 14 or more consecutive days within the four-week benefit period of your claim. This is now different because before it said you couldn't have earned any money. It was really, you know, basically it kind of blocked people that earned a little bit money, but still needed some more money to, you know, again, pay their bills and pay for groceries and stuff like that. So they've expanded it so you can now have earned at least $1,000 or less.

So hopefully that will, again, open it up earned more than $1,000 in employment and or self-employment income for the entire four-week benefit period of your new claim. So hopefully you're listening to this. You're like, finally, finally, I am eligible. And this means, I think, honestly, a lot of good news. Some things I do want to reiterate in case you just are new to what's going on with the CRB is that number one, so you're going to be paid in, you know, $2,000 is what's going to get deposited to your bank or you're going to get a check. I would highly recommend set up your CRA My Account, set up direct deposit. Then it'll come up much quicker. It says about three business days. Don't forget though,

this benefit is taxable. So, and I've been getting lots of good questions or interesting questions about this being like, do I get charged interest on this? Do I have to pay it back? No, it's not a loan. You're not going to get charged interest on it. You do not have to pay it back. It is a benefit. However, you do have to pay tax on it because they're basically saying this is income. So you have to pay income taxes on it. So just remember that when you get it, set aside a portion of it for tax time, or just be aware when you file your 2020 taxes next year, this is going to be a part of your income and you're going to have to pay taxes on it. So just be aware of that. Also, since I mentioned the benefit periods, and I feel like when this was first launched, I found it personally confusing. There's like three for me, because I've done so

much research on this topic. There's like three different web pages on Canada.ca that have similar information. Some of them elaborate more than other pages about the CERB, which is so freaking annoying. So for me, I'm going to include the URLs in the description of this podcast so you can look at them all. It's just super annoying. But anyways, one page, because there's two pages that don't mention the period dates, this one page does. So in case you're wondering, what are these period dates? What are the dates in which I can apply for Curb or get the benefit for Curb? And remember, there are seven different periods that you could apply for, but you can only get four. Does that make sense?

I think so, right? There's up to seven, but you can only get four. So the dates, the period dates are between March 15th to April 11th, April 12th to May 9th, May 10th to June 6th, June 7th to July 4th, July 5th to August 1st, August 2nd to August 29th, and August 30th to September 26th. It also states on this page where I feel like it doesn't stay on this other page about that $1,000. You cannot earn more than $1,000 in order to be eligible. It does say before taxes. So I don't know why it doesn't state that on the other pages. They should all be consistent, but they are not. So this is why there's a ton of

confusion and it's very frustrating. That goes also for the, you know, you didn't earn or you did earn rather a minimum of $5,000 either in 2019 or the last 12 months. Again, that is before taxes. Just so you know. One of those webpages that I do keep on referring people to is there's this questions and answers on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit page. And it has a bunch of Q&As. Like they keep on updating it

because people keep on asking them, Hey, I have a question and they keep on updating it. So most likely if you have a question, it will be answered on this page. You can find it at, I'm sorry, this is long URL. Again, I'm going to include it in the description of this one, this episode. So Canada.ca slash EN slash services slash benefits slash ei slash curb dash application slash questions dot html i know that's so gross you're not going to remember that i'm not going to remember that don't worry i'm gonna again the url is going to be in the description here okay what else um he mentioned in his briefing today that the can emergency response benefit uh over seven and a half million payments have been made oh Oh, wow. That's a lot of people

getting this benefit and I'm sure it's going to help a lot of people. That's crazy. So that's interesting. But what I found more interesting, because I personally have a lot of people who work in the arts, culture and sports sector. And a lot of them were not, there was no kind of financial relief for them. So he's announced that the government will be providing $500 million to Heritage Canada to support artists, creators, and rising sports stars. So I would highly recommend that you check out the Heritage Canada website to find out what are some of the programs that they offer. It says, you know, people will be able to receive wage support and organizations will have access to funding if they are experiencing liquidity problems. So yeah,

I think that's great because quite honestly, oh gosh, the worst thing that I find every economic recession, it's always the artists and people that are creators that are the worst hit and we really need them in a time like this. We really do rely on musicians and artists and filmmakers and creators basically to make this life a little less bleak. Don't you think so? I'm very excited for that. And of course, there's more information about other kinds of things, more industry-based, more that I'm not really going to get into in this because I don't think you probably are super interested in. But there's a lot of great articles. I'm reading this one that's pretty well written from McLean's that just got released today. So just Google Trudeau announcement and check out what are the new things going on. But of course,

any kind of really important things that I think you will really want to know, I will of course include in, you know, future money minute episodes. Um, one thing before I let you go, um, I'm going to take next week off from the podcast. That's right. Um, I just need a minute to, uh, kind of figure out what I want to do for the rest of the season and what the rest of the season really looks like. Quite honestly, I typically, you know, I'm putting out episodes every single, uh, Wednesday with a new guest up until, you know, basically from like, you know, mid-January to early June. I think we may be changing this up a little bit. I think I might actually go longer. So this is actually good news.

So I might be even going through the summer. It really depends on how locked down we are. And because I know the podcasts are very important right now because people have time to, to listen. Um, so I'm going to take next week off cause I just need a beat. I need to take a beat, uh, take a little break. Um, and, uh, and just also kind of make a new list of guests and topics that I want to talk about. Um, cause things are changing so much. So that's why there won't be a new episode next Wednesday. I may have another Money Minute episode Friday, most likely. There's

just always so much more news and announcements I think are important to share and talk about. So probably have that. But then hopefully the following week, I will have more guests and interviews. Also, let me know what you want to see on the podcast. I know you've been great at telling me, but let me know if you have a specific guest in mind, if you have a specific topic you want me to talk about, let me know because I'm trying to figure out what do you want to hear right now? That's very important to me and I'm sure very important to you. So let me know. Okay. So that is it for me. Also, yeah, I don't think I've mentioned this to you just in case you don't know, I've got a Facebook group. If you want to join us and want some online community, want a place where you can ask your

questions, get some opinions with some very nice people, join us in the Facebook group, jessicamorehouse.com slash Facebook group or facebook.com slash groups slash money life balance is where you can find that. Hope to see see you in there. But otherwise, that's it for me. I will see you possibly next week for a Money Minute episode, if not the following week. Thanks again for listening and supporting me. I really, really appreciate it. Have a good rest of this day, Friday, and have a good weekend. Okay? Okay. See ya.