You Won't Automatically Get The CERB Next Month Even If You Applied In April
Do you need money? If you've lost income because of COVID-19 and are getting help from the federal government, this is something you should know about. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit is up and running but you actually have to re-apply every four weeks. If your situation continues, the benefit doesn't automatically renew.
Canada Revenue Agency took to Twitter on April 14 to answer a couple of questions about the new benefit from the government including when you can start getting the money.
However, the most important one was about whether or not it is automatically renewed for the entire four-month period that you can get it.
"Eligibility periods are fixed in 4-week periods. If your situation continues, you can re-apply for CERB for an additional 4-week period, to a maximum of 16 weeks (4 periods)," the CRA said.
So if you've applied and have gotten the benefit and your situation doesn't change, you'll need to continue to re-apply every four weeks for 16 weeks.
With the CERB, you get $2,000 a month for up to four months.
The eligibility periods are from March 15 to April 11, April 12 to May 9, May 10 to June 6, June 7 to July 4, July 5 to August 1, August 2 to August 29 and August 30 to September 26.
However, you can only get the benefit for a maximum of 16 weeks so you can't get money from March 15 all the way to September 26.
According to the CRA, if you start working after you've gotten a payment but then stop working again, you need to completely re-apply.
When you do that, you have to confirm that you won't get employment income, self-employment income and/or provincial or federal benefits related to maternity or paternity leave for at least 14 days in a row during the period you're applying for.
There are a lot of requirements to be eligible for the benefit like not quitting your job voluntarily, being 15 or older when you apply, earning a certain amount of money in the last year and more.
Justin Trudeau first announced this new benefit on March 25 and it finally launched on April 6 but you can't just apply whenever you want to.
You have to apply based on your birth month.
Just a few days after applications opened, people were already getting money in their bank accounts.
There are some conditions related to the CERB like you can't get it if you're also getting the wage subsidy.
Also, if you got money from it without being eligible, you might have to pay it back come tax time next year.
With the CERB, you can get payment by direct deposit within three business days from when you submitted your application or by mail within 10 business days.