Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)

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• What the changes are: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• Compare the CEWS and the CRHP: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• Who can apply: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• Periods you can apply for: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• Which of your employees qualify: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• Calculate your amount: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• How to apply: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• After you apply: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)
• Contact us about CEWS: Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS)

What the changes are

Calculation details for claim periods 20 and 21 are now available.

July 2021 changes

On July 30, 2021, the Government announced the following changes:

• the wage subsidy has been extended to October 23, 2021
• the rate of CEWS will now remain the same for claim period 20 as for period 19, declining in period 21
• eligible employers that were not operating on March 1, 2019, may now choose to use the alternative approach to calculate their revenue drop for claim periods 14 to 17

The necessary regulatory changes were registered on August 12, 2021, and published in the Canada Gazette on September 1, 2021.

June 2021 changes

Changes to the CEWS as of claim period 17 (Bill C-30):

• the wage subsidy has been extended to September 25, 2021
• the new Canada Recovery Hiring Program (CRHP) was introduced, beginning June 6, 2021
  • for claim periods 17 to 20, claim either CEWS or CRHP, whichever gives you the higher amount
• beginning in claim period 18, you must have had a revenue drop of over 10% to receive the CEWS or CRHP
• the rate of CEWS will gradually decline from claim periods 18 to 20
• eligible remuneration paid to employees on leave with pay is no longer included in the CEWS calculation as of claim period 20
• certain publicly listed corporations may have to repay some or all of the CEWS they received from June 6, 2021, onward, depending on how much compensation was paid to certain executives in 2021 compared to 2019

April 2021 changes

If you missed the deadline for a claim period, you may now ask us to review your late request to apply for the subsidy (or increase your previously-claimed subsidy amount) under certain circumstances. You have a limited time to send a late request, and you must contact us first to see if you qualify.

What to do if you missed a claim period deadline

March 2021 changes

On March 3, 2021, the Government announced proposed details for upcoming CEWS claim periods from March 14 to June 5, 2021 (claim periods 14 to 16):

• the maximum wage subsidy rate for active employees will remain at 75%
• the revenue drop will continue to compare your eligible revenue to a time prior to March 2020 (specific comparison months and years are listed for each claim period)
• you may use a new pre-crisis pay period when calculating an employee’s pre-crisis pay (baseline remuneration) for the new claim periods
• the maximum subsidy amount for employees on leave with pay will remain at $595

February 2021 changes

On February 24, 2021, the government announced a technical change that would bring the CEWS legislation in line with the CRA’s current application of the deeming rule for claim period 11.

The online calculator and spreadsheet already applied the deeming rule this way, so employers who used these calculators do not need to update their previous claims as a result of this update.

Read about the deeming rule for period 11

January 2021 changes

Changes to CEWS as of January 6, 2021:

• details for claim periods 11 to 13 (December 20, 2020, to March 13, 2021):
  
  • the maximum top-up subsidy rate is 35%
  • the maximum subsidy amount for employees on leave with pay is $595
  • the base revenue drop comparison months for period 11 will be the same as period 10

November 2020 changes

Changes to CEWS as of November 19, 2020 (Bill C-9):

• the subsidy is extended to June 2021
• the maximum subsidy rate for periods 8 to 10 will remain at 65% (40% base rate + 25% top-up)
• beginning in period 8, the top-up rate and base rate are is now calculated using the same one-month revenue drop
  
  • for periods 8 to 10, use the new top-up calculation or the previous 3-month average drop, whichever works in your favour
• the deadline to apply is January 31, 2021 ^{Footnote 1}, or 180 days after the end of the claim period, whichever comes later
• starting in period 9, the calculation for employees on leave with pay now aligns better with EI benefits
• you can now calculate pre-crisis pay (baseline remuneration) for employees who were on certain kinds of leave, retroactive to period 5
• the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) has been introduced for businesses, non-profits, and charities

July 2020 changes

Changes to CEWS as of claim period 5 (Bill C-20):

• the subsidy rate varies, depending on how much your revenue dropped
• if your revenue drop was less than 30% you can still qualify, and keep getting the subsidy as employees return to work and your revenue recovers
  
  • for periods 5 and 6, if your revenue dropped at least 30%, your subsidy rate will be at least 75%, up to a maximum of $847/week per eligible employee
• employers who were hardest hit can qualify for a higher amount
• employees who were unpaid for 14 or more days can now be included in your calculation
• use the current period’s revenue drop or the previous period’s, whichever works in your favour

Periods 1 to 4

For claim periods 1 to 4 (Bill C-14):

• you must meet a minimum of 15% (period 1) or 30% (periods 2 to 4) revenue drop to qualify for the subsidy
• if you qualify for a period, you automatically qualify for the following period
• the subsidy rate is 75% of eligible employees' remuneration, up to a maximum of $847/week per eligible employee
• employees who were unpaid for 14 or more consecutive days in the period can't be included in your calculation

How the subsidy helps

Get a % of your employees’ pay
per eligible employee
per week

The amount you get per employee is still based on your revenue drop.

Subsidy rates for periods 19 to 21

You will be able to use the online calculator or downloadable spreadsheet to figure out how much subsidy you may receive and whether the CEWS or CRHP amount is higher for periods 17 through 21. If you are eligible, apply for the subsidy that gives you the higher amount.

The CEWS rate will gradually decline toward October 2021:

Footnote 2

if you have employees on leave with pay during claim period 18 or 19, you may still qualify for CEWS for those employees, even with a revenue drop of 10% or less. Use the online calculator or downloadable spreadsheet to find out.

Return to footnote *referrer

Read more about how the CEWS and CRHP compare

Examples of how much you may qualify for

Qualifying for the CEWS or the CRHP

Dorotea and Roger run a bookstore whose storefront was shut down sporadically through the winter and spring due to public health restrictions. While their business survived, they had to lay off three of their 10 employees, whom they pay $600 per week. Their eligible payroll for the base period from March 14 to April 10, 2021, was $16,800 (i.e., 7 employees x $600 x 4 weeks).

As public health restrictions are lifted and the vaccination campaign continues, their business begins to recover. In May, their revenues are still down 50% from their level before the pandemic, but are only down 20% in June, and by July are close to their pre-pandemic level. As a result, they are able to hire back their three laid-off employees starting June 6, and are even able to add an additional employee starting July 4.

Dorotea and Roger's business will benefit from either the CEWS or the CRHP:

• For June 6 to July 3, their payroll is $24,000. Their business would be eligible for a CEWS rate of 40% (based on a 50% revenue decline), resulting in a CEWS amount of $9,600. Alternatively, the business would be eligible for a CRHP rate of 50%, which would be applied to the difference between its current payroll and its base period payroll, resulting in a CRHP amount of $3,600. They would claim the CEWS of $9,600 for this period.
• For July 4 to July 31, their payroll is $26,400. Their business would be eligible for a CEWS rate of 8.75% (based on a 20% revenue decline), resulting in a CEWS amount of $2,310. Alternatively, the business would be eligible for a CRHP rate of 50%, which would be applied to the difference between its current payroll and its base period payroll, resulting in a CRHP amount of $4,800. For this claim period, they would claim the CRHP of $4,800.

In total, Dorotea and Roger will be eligible for at least $14,400 in support from these two measures to help their business rebuild as the economy recovers.

Your revenue drop is 60% in any period from 11 to 16

In this example, you are calculating the period 11 wage subsidy for your employees Maude and Jean-Pierre, who have been working throughout the claim period (active employees) and are not related to you (arm’s-length employees).

Step 1: Determine your revenue drop

For this example, you’ve been using the general method to calculate your drop in eligible revenue since period 5 and have already figured out all the revenue drops you’ll need for period 11:

• Claim period month: December 2020 divided by December 2019: 60% drop
• Previous period month: November 2020 divided by November 2019: 58% drop

Step 2: Calculate the subsidy rate

To calculate your base and top-up rates, use the higher of the two revenue drops from step 1:

• the claim period month revenue drop (December)
  or
• the previous month's revenue drop (November)
• In this example, you’ll use the December revenue drop of 60% because it is higher than the previous period month’s revenue drop of 58%.

• Revenue drop of 60% = maximum base rate of 40%
• Revenue drop of 60% = 1.75 x (60%-50%) = top-up rate of 17.5%

Step 3: Add the base rate and top-up rate to get your overall subsidy rate

Base rate of 40% + top-up rate of 17,5% = overall rate of 57.5%

Step 4: Calculate the amount of subsidy for your employee

Let’s say Maude made $1500/week during the claim period:

• 57.5% (your overall subsidy rate) of $1,129/week (the maximum amount of remuneration per week)
• $1,129 x 57.5% = $649.18/week
• $649.18 x 4 weeks = $2596.70 for Maude for this claim period

Let’s say Jean-Pierre made $500/week during the claim period:

• 57.5% (your overall subsidy rate) of $500/week (Jean-Pierre’s eligible weekly remuneration)
• $500 x 57.5% = $287.50/week
• $287.50 x 4 weeks = $1150 for Jean-Pierre for this claim period

Your revenue drop is 60% in period 8, 9, or 10

In this example, you are calculating the period 8 wage subsidy for your employees Bess and Jer, who have been working throughout the claim period (active employees) and are not related to you (arm’s-length employees).

Step 1: Determine your revenue drop

For this example, you’ve been using the general method to calculate your drop in eligible revenue since period 5 and have already figured out all the revenue drops you’ll need for period 8:

• Claim period month: October 2020 divided by October 2019: 60% drop
• Previous period month: September 2020 divided by September 2019: 58% drop
• Average of July, August, and September, 2020, divided by the average of July, August, and September, 2019: 66% drop

Step 2: Calculate the subsidy rate

For the base rate, use the higher of the two revenue drops from step 1:

• the claim period month revenue drop (October)
  or
• the previous month's revenue drop (September)

• In this example, you’ll use the October revenue drop of 60% because it is higher than the previous period month’s revenue drop of 58%.
• Revenue drop of 60% = maximum base rate of 40%

For the top-up rate, use the higher of these two amounts:

• the revenue drop you used when calculating your base rate (the higher of either the claim period month or the previous period month)
  and
• the average revenue drop over the three months prior to the claim period compared to the average monthly revenue of the same 3 months in the previous year

In this example, you’ll use the three-month average drop (July, August, and September) of 66% because it is higher than the base revenue drop of 60%.

Top-up revenue drop of 66% = 1.25 x (66%-50%) = top-up rate of 20%

Step 3: Add the base rate and top-up rate to get your overall subsidy rate

Base rate of 40% + top-up rate of 20% = overall rate of 60%

Step 4: Calculate the amount of subsidy for your employee

Let’s say Bess made $1500/week during the claim period:

• 60% (your overall subsidy rate) of $1,129/week (the maximum amount of remuneration per week)
• $1,129 x 60% = $677.40/week
• $677.40 x 4 weeks = $2709.60 for Bess for this claim period

Let’s say Jer made $500/week during the claim period:

• 60% (your overall subsidy rate) of $500/week (Jer’s eligible weekly remuneration)
• $500 x 60% = $300/week
• $300 x 4 weeks = $1200 for Jer for this claim period

Your revenue drop is 30% in period 8, 9, or 10

In this example, you are calculating the period 10 wage subsidy for your employees Sam and Lindy, who have been working throughout the claim period (active employees) and are not related to you (arm’s-length employees).

Step 1: Determine your revenue drop

For this example, you’ve been using the alternative method to calculate your drop in eligible revenue since period 5 and have already figured out all the revenue drops you’ll need to compare for this period:

• Claim period month: average of January and February, 2020, compared to December 2020: 22% drop
• Previous month: average of January and February, 2020, compared to November 2020: 30% drop
• Average of January and February, 2020, compared to the average of September, October, and November, 2020: 26% drop

Step 2: Calculate the subsidy rate

For the base rate, you’ll use the November revenue drop of 30% because it is higher than the claim period month’s revenue drop of 22%.

• Revenue drop of 30% = base rate calculation 30% x 0.8 = base rate of 24%

Because neither the drop you used to calculate your base rate (30%) nor your three-month average drop (26%) were over 50%, your top-up rate will be 0.

• Top-up revenue drop less than 50.00% = no top-up amount

Step 3: Add the base rate and top-up rate to get your overall subsidy rate

Base rate of 24% + top-up rate of 0% = overall rate of 24%

Step 4: Calculate the amount of subsidy for your employee

Let’s say Sam made $1500/week during the claim period:

• 24% (your overall subsidy rate) of $1,129/week (the maximum amount of remuneration per week)
• $1,129 x 24% = $270.96/week
• $270.96/week x 4 weeks = $1083.84 for Sam for this claim period

Let’s say Lindy made $500/week during the claim period:

• 24% (your overall subsidy rate) of $500/week (Lindy’s eligible weekly remuneration)
• $500 x 24% = $120/week
• $120 x 4 weeks = $480 for Lindy for this claim period

Your revenue drop is 60% in period 7

Your revenue drop is 30% in period 7

Your revenue drop is 60% in period 5 or 6

For this employee, you would use the $847/week subsidy and not the $818/week.

For this employee, you would use the $375.00/week subsidy and not the $362.50/week.

Your revenue drop is 30% in period 5 or 6

For this employee, you would use the $847.00/week subsidy and not the $406.44/week.

For this employee, you would use the $375.00/week subsidy and not the $180.00/week.

Get started

The first step is to confirm you are an eligible employer.

Document navigation

• Compare the CEWS and the CRHP

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Because January 31 is a Sunday, the application deadline for claim periods 1 to 5 is extended to February 1, 2021.

Return to footnote 1 referrer