Calculate your subsidy amount: Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
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Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
Sections
- Who can apply: Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
- Expenses you can claim: Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
- Periods you can apply for: Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
- Calculate your subsidy amount: Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
- How to apply: Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
- After you apply: Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
- Contact us about CERS: Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS)
Calculate your subsidy amount
On this page
How the subsidy is calculated
The CERS provides both a base subsidy and, in some cases, a lockdown support amount.
How much you may claim
The base subsidy rate applies to a maximum of $75,000 in eligible expenses per location and an overall maximum of $300,000 in expenses for you and any affiliated entities per claim period.
If you must close or cease certain activities at one or more of your locations under a public health order for one week or longer, you may be eligible for lockdown support of up to 25% of eligible expenses per affected location for the days the order was in place.
Calculating your base rent subsidy rate
The amount you can claim of your expenses (your rent subsidy rate) is based on the revenue drop you experienced between the claim period you are applying for and a prior reference period.
You have options for choosing which prior reference period you will use.
This revenue drop is used to calculate your rent subsidy rate:
| Your revenue drop | How to calculate your rate |
|---|---|
| 70% or more | The maximum subsidy rate of 65% |
| 50 to 69.99% | (Your revenue drop - 50%) x 1.25 + 40% |
| Less than 50% | 0.8 x your revenue drop |
| Your revenue drop | How to calculate your rate |
|---|---|
| 70% or more | The maximum subsidy of 60% |
| 50 to 69.99% | (Your revenue drop – 50%) x 1.25 + 35% |
| 10.01 to 49.99% | (Your revenue drop – 10%) x 0.875 |
| 10% or less | 0% |
| Your revenue drop | How to calculate your rate |
|---|---|
| 70% or more | The maximum subsidy of 40% |
| 50 to 69.99% | (Your revenue drop – 50%) x 0.75 + 25% |
| 10.01 to 49.99% | (Your revenue drop – 10%) x 0.625 |
| 10% or less | 0% |
| Your revenue drop | How to calculate your rate |
|---|---|
| 70% or more | The maximum subsidy of 40% |
| 50 to 69.99% | (Your revenue drop – 50%) x 0.75 + 25% |
| 10.01 to 49.99% | (Your revenue drop – 10%) x 0.625 |
| 10% or less | 0% |
| Your revenue drop | How to calculate your rate |
|---|---|
| 70% or more | The maximum subsidy of 20% |
| 50 to 69.99% | (Your revenue drop – 50%) x 0.5 + 10% |
| 10.01 to 49.99% | (Your revenue drop – 10%) x 0.25 |
| 10% or less | 0% |
Revenue drop comparison months for claim periods 1 to 14
| Claim period | General prior reference period (current or previous) |
Alternative prior reference period (current or previous) |
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Calculating your lockdown support rate
In addition to the rent subsidy rate, you can receive a lockdown support amount for certain locations affected by public health restrictions.
Your CERS lockdown support rate is 25% on lockdown, calculated as:
- 25% fixed lockdown rate
- times days the location was locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- divided by 28 (the days in the CERS period)
- equals Your lockdown support rate
If you have a 0% rent subsidy rate, you cannot claim lockdown support for any location.
Example lockdown support rate calculation
For example, if one of your business locations was on lockdown for 7 days of the 28 day period, you would be eligible to receive:
- 25% base lockdown rate multiplied by
- 7 days out of 28
- for a 6.25% lockdown support rate.
Lockdown support eligibility criteria
Lockdown support is calculated on a location-by-location basis.
To qualify for lockdown support, you must have:
- a base rent subsidy rate of more than 0% for the claim period
- one or more locations temporarily closed, or have activities significantly restricted for a week or longer due to a COVID-19-related public health order
- the minimum lockdown period can span across two different claim periods Updated: May 20, 2021
- 5 days occurred in claim period 8
- 4 days occurred in claim period 9
Example – Gloria’s Gift ShopGloria owns a gift shop in Ontario.
Her location was closed due to a COVID-19 related public health order from May 4, 2021 to May 12, 2021 inclusive.
Claim period 8 ended on May 8, 2021.
This means her location was locked down for 9 days total, but:
If Gloria used the CERS calculator to calculate the lockdown support when she applied for the rent subsidy for claim period 8 on May 9, 2021, she would not have received any lockdown support in her original claim.
However, if Gloria re-applies for the rent subsidy after May 20, 2021, she may receive a lockdown support payment in claim periods 8 and 9. She would be eligible based on the 5 days her business was closed at the end of the claim period 8 and the 4 days it was closed at the beginning of period 9.
The lockdown support for period 8 would be calculated for 5 days and for 4 days for period 9.
If you used the CERS calculator on or before May 20, 2021, it may not have accurately calculated your lockdown support if your lockdown period overlapped two or more claim periods.
A public health order must:
- be issued by a federal, provincial, or municipal government, or a local health authority
- be limited based on at least one of these factors:
- geographical boundaries
- type of business or other activity
- risks associated with a particular location
- result in sanctions or be an offence if you do not comply
- require you or your non-arm’s-length tenant that has a business at the qualifying property to stop some or all of your regular business activities at the qualifying property while the order is in place
- the activities that were stopped must account for at least approximately 25% of total revenues at that location during the prior reference period
An order that restricts or reduces activities but doesn’t require you to close or stop certain activities does not qualify for lockdown support.
Examples of restrictions that do not qualify for lockdown support
- travel restrictions that reduce the number of clients
- rules about when you can perform your regular activities, such as
- restricted or reduced service hours or hours of operation
- any other restrictions that do not specifically order you to stop or close an activity, such as
- reduced seating capacity or other physical distancing strategies
You do not qualify for lockdown support if you are already restricted or closed because you failed to comply with a previous public health order or decision.
Before you start the calculation
Before you continue, make sure you have:
- confirmed you meet the eligibility criteria to make a claim
Who can apply - your monthly qualifying revenue amounts from the 2 years
- your eligible expenses broken down by business location
Expenses you can claim
If your business has affiliated businesses or entities:
- you have agreed with those affiliated entities about how you will split the rent subsidy maximum
- Find out if you have affiliated entities
You should understand the definitions and gather all the necessary information before you calculate your claim.
Use the calculator
Use this calculator before you apply for the subsidy to calculate the amount you can apply for.
After calculating your amounts, you will have to apply for the subsidy online through My Business Account or Represent a Client.
Print the information from the calculator in order to use it in your application.
Privacy statement: This calculator does not collect your information
The CRA is not collecting or retaining any of the information you enter on this page. These amounts are only used to help you determine the amount of CERS you may be eligible to claim. You may be required to provide a full list of your business locations and their expenses for verification after you apply.
Warning: This calculator does not save any data and if you leave or refresh this page you may need to enter the information again.
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Why these months are used
The calculator asks for your eligible revenue for these specific calendar months to
- compare your claim period reference month revenue to a certain time before the COVID-19 pandemic
- compare your immediately preceding claim period reference month revenue to a certain time before the COVID-19 pandemic, and
- use the better of the two rates (deeming rule)
The legislation determines which calendar months to use for the comparisons for each claim period:
What is eligible revenue
These months are needed to calculate your revenue drops for the current period, prior period, and lockdown support period, using your chosen baseline.
Read more about eligible revenue (opens in new window)
Eligible expenses
If you rent the qualifying property, 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). These required amounts might include:
- base rent
- regular payments for customary operating expenses, such as
- property insurance
- utilities
- common area maintenance
- property and similar taxes, including school and municipal taxes
- regular payments to the lessor for customary ancillary services
Amounts that you pay under a net lease are considered rent.
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
Tenant insurance and leasehold improvements are not eligible expenses.
If your landlord received an amount under the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program and they applied the amount to your future rent payments, you can still claim the full rent amount in the current period.
Learn about lockdown support eligibility criteria
Compare the pre-crisis revenue options
Pre-crisis revenue and prior reference period options
There are two prior reference period options when calculating your revenue from before the pandemic.
Pre-crisis revenue and prior reference period options
Your baseline revenue is determined by the prior reference period you choose. It is either:
General prior reference period
The eligible revenue you earned in the corresponding month of the previous year
Alternative prior reference period
The average of the eligible revenue you earned in January and February 2020
You must choose one of these prior reference period options and use it when calculating your revenue drop for the base rate for all claim periods.
You must use the same option for all future CERS claims.
If you have also claimed the CEWS, you must use the same method you used for the base CEWS for periods 5 or later.
However:
If you were not operating on March 1, 2019, you may choose to use the alternative approach for CERS claim periods 7 to 10, even if you used the general approach for prior claims. New: September 1, 2021
If you choose to use the alternative prior reference period (January and February 2020), you need to check the "prior reference period" election box when completing your CERS application form.
These rules are the same for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).
Learn more about these rules on the CEWS website:
Example: Choosing a revenue comparison option
- Date modified:
- 2021-11-23