Lateral Numbers Accounting
Cedar Ave V2S 2W2 Abbotsford, BC, Canada

Anybody else obsessed with Post-it notes? Just me? Lol. (This is Bowser who has eaten his second pad of Post-it Notes this week).

Some light reading *sarcasm. Pictured is a book that arrived in my mail today for which I paid more than my most expensive university textbooks. The book is entitled Death of a Taxpayer which is not in fact a reference to how much tax we pay living in Canada, but indeed a lengthy and detailed description of the taxes we pay when we die (and how to minimize said tax). Indeed it is not light reading, but important nonetheless. Be safe everybody!

Futurpreneur Canada is a non profit organization helping Canadians aged 18-39 start, purchase or grow their own businesses. Loans of up to $60,000 are available as well as mentorship and education in business planning, marketing and cash flow management. Check out www.futurpreneur.ca for more info.

Wishing you a safe jump into the new year! See you there!

If your business does not qualify for the CEBA loan, but you are still in need of support, check out these programs under the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund providing funding under several categories: Rural Businesses up to $40,000 Women owned Businesses up to $40,000 Other Small and Medium sized businesses up to $40,000 and Businesses requiring more than $40,000... https://covid.smallbusinessbc.ca//360048424093-Regional-Re

Are Overdue Tax Returns causing you stress? You aren't alone! 10+ years behind? No problem. When things get overwhelming, it is common for this to no longer be top of mind. The problem seems like a mountain to scale another day. Overdue tax returns prevent you from qualifying for GST rebates, Child Tax Benefits, Tax return funds and Covid Benefits. It can also prevent you from qualifying for a car loan or a mortgage. Let's get things cleaned up so you can stop stressing about it and move on with life! Book an appointment and let's chat. https://go.oncehub.com/ElissaPoh

Did you qualify for the $40,000 CEBA loan? Have you applied for the extra $20,000? This is a reminder that the Canada Emergency Business Account has been extended for a total of $60,000. Pay off $40,000 of the loan by Dec 2022 and the other $20,000 will be forgiven. Deadline to apply is March 2021. Contact your bank for a link to apply.

BC Recovery Grant program for small and medium sized businesses whose revenue have been negatively affected by Covid. Does your business employ at least 2 people for at least 4 months of the year? Check out this link to see if you qualify to apply for up to $45000 in grant money. https://www2.gov.bc.ca//economic-r/business-recovery-grant

BC RECOVERY BENEFIT APPLICATIONS OPEN TODAY $1,000 for families with annual incomes under $125,000. Families earning up to $175,000 will qualify for a reduced benefit amount. Single-parent families also qualify for these benefit amounts. $500 for single people with annual incomes under $62,500. Single people earning up to $87,500 will qualify for a reduced benefit amount.... TO APPLY: Applying online is the easiest way to receive the BC Recovery Benefit. To apply, British Columbians can visit: gov.bc.ca/recoverybenefit For those without access to a computer or the internet, starting Monday, Dec. 21, call centre agents will be available to assist people who need help applying or those who want to apply over the phone: toll-free within North America: 1 833 882-0020 Monday to Friday (excluding statutory holidays), from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Pacific time)

This is the new rental subsidy that is paid directly to businesses whose income has been affected by Covid. This program replaces the previous program that was paid out through landlords. You do not need your landlord to be involved to qualify for this subsidy.

The BC recovery benefit will be available to apply for starting Dec 18: For Families: $1,000 for eligible families and single parents with a net income of up to $125,000... Reduced benefit amount for eligible families and single parents with a net income of up to $175,000 For Singles: $500 for eligible individuals with a net income of up to $62,500 Reduced benefit amount for eligible individuals with a net income of up to $87,500 https://www2.gov.bc.ca//content/economic-/recovery-benefit

This is Mr Snuffles... he doesn’t want employment insurance, he just wants his job back... #unemployedtherapydogs

Residents of BC: Your Child Tax Benefit payment may be going up in October. The BC Child Opportunity benefit will be added to your CTB payment from October 2020 onwards. The maximum annual amount receivable is $1600 for the first child, $1000 for the second child and $800 for each subsequent child. This amount will be reduced according to your income. https://www2.gov.bc.ca//family-b/child-opportunity-benefit

Emergency Wage subsidy has been extended beyond June. 75% wage subsidy applications for businesses are available through your My CRA Business Account or through your CRA representative/ accountant. Additional details on the extension will be available next week. Don't qualify for the 75% wage subsidy for your business? You most likely still qualify for the 10% wage subsidy.

In case you haven't done this yet: To apply for the $1000 BC Emergency Benefit, click the link below. You qualify for this if you have already qualified for CERB or EI because of COVID. https://www2.gov.bc.ca//covid-19/emergency-benefit-workers

COMMERCIAL RENT ASSISTANCE ANNOUNCED TODAY The long awaited emergency commercial rent assistance program announced today includes forgivable loans available for 50% of the tenants current rent with 2 caveats: 1) The landlord will agree to reduce the rent to 75% of its former level. 2) The landlord will agree to a moratorium on evictions.... Qualifying tenants include: 1) Small businesses, Not-for-profit businesses and charities who currently pay less than $50,000 per month in rent. 2) The tenant must have ceased operations or have experienced a reduction in revenue of at least 70%. Applications will be available mid May and will be retroactive to April. Currently this program will cover the months of April, May and June.

Applications open May 1 for the $1000 BC Emergency Benefit. This is for anyone who has already qualified for the CERB.

Curious about how the 75% wage subsidy will apply to your business? Here’s the link to the online calculator and qualification rules. This is for businesses that have experienced a reduction in revenue compared to the same month last year OR compared to the average of revenue in Jan/Feb 2020. The qualifying reduction is 15% in March and 30% for subsequent months. There are 2 different calculations:... Arms length employees (those you aren’t related to) - these employees will be covered at 75% of actual remuneration up to $847 per week. This includes new hires. Non arms length employees (those you are related to by blood or adoption - this includes majority shareholders) - these employees are covered at 75% of the average weekly remuneration they received from Jan to Mar 2020 up to $847 per week. https://www.canada.ca///cews-calculate-subsidy-amount.html

COMING SUPPORT FOR COMMERCIAL PROPERTY OWNERS: The government has announced its intention to provide a CANADA EMERGENCY COMMERCIAL RENT ACCOUNT which will provide support to landlords of commercial properties for the months of April - June. This has been proposed as access to loans including a forgivable portion to owners who are offering small businesses rent reductions during this period. ... Details of this have yet to be worked out with the provinces who have jurisdiction over rental relationships. More details will be coming.

JUST ANNOUNCED EXPANDED SUPPORTS FOR BUSINESSES: The CANADA EMERGENCY BUSINESS ACCOUNT: For businesses who had between $20,000 - $1.5mill in annual payroll for 2019, this is a $40,000 loan guaranteed by the government available through your bank or credit union. These loans are interest free for the first year and include a $10,000 forgivable portion if the loan is paid back by Dec 2022. 2 separate wage subsidy programs:... 10% WAGE SUBSIDY: For all businesses who are currently still paying workers, wages paid after March 18 are eligible for the 10% wage subsidy. This subsidy is calculated at 10% of gross wages and can be claimed against the income tax portion of your payroll remittance. Unclaimed amounts can be rolled forward into future periods. If the entire amount can not be claimed by the end of the year, you will receive a credit for the difference. 75% WAGE SUBSIDY: For businesses that can show a 15% decline in revenue for March, and 30% decline in subsequent months, there is a 75% wage subsidy available for employees. This decline can be shown by comparing revenue to EITHER the same month last year OR the average of January and February 2020 revenue. This application will be released in the coming weeks. This amount will be reduced by any entitlement under the 10% wage subsidy program.

CHANGES TO THE CANADA EMERGENCY RESPONSE BENEFIT (CERB) If you earn less than $1000 per month, you can now apply for CERB. If you have already applied for CERB, you can now earn up to $1000 per month in employment or self employment income and you will continue to be eligible for CERB.... If you were counting on a SEASONAL JOB that is not going to happen this year, you can apply for CERB. If your EI BENEFITS have recently run out, you can now apply for CERB. (You can't receive EI and CERB for the same period thought so watch your dates) Information on how to apply, can be found here: https://www.canada.ca//benefi/apply-for-cerb-with-cra.html

This is a good resource that summarizes the financial supports being offered to BC residents and businesses. http://bowinnmamla.ca/covid19/supports/

BC Rental Subsidy. The application is here! The rental supplement is available on a per-household basis to those who meet all of the following criteria: - receiving or eligible for Employment Insurance, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or experiencing a 25% reduction in monthly employment income as a result of COVID-19;... - 2019 household income of less than $74,150 for households with no dependents and $113,040 for households with dependents; - paying more than 30% of current/reduced gross monthly income towards rent; and - not receiving any other rent subsidy from any level of government, including subsidized housing or rent supplements, such as Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) or the Rental Assistance Program (RAP). The supplement will be available for April, May and June 2020. Renters who are eligible for the program and have already paid their April rent are still able to receive the rental supplement for this month. https://bchousing.org/bctrs

EXTRA GST PAYMENT: Login to your MY CRA ACCOUT to see the amount you will receive. Deposit date has been set for April 9 (you will also get your regular GST payment April 5) If you don’t have a MY CRA ACCOUNT login, DO IT NOW! You will need this login if you are going to apply for the Emergency Response Benefit (the $2000 per month payment for those who’ve lost their income) next week. Don’t wait! CRA sends codes out via Canada Post as part of their verification process. You won’t be able to apply until you’ve gone through this process. https://www.canada.ca//e-services/account-individuals.html

IMPORTANT: If you are going to be applying for any of the COVID 19 benefits available from the Federal Government, please go to the CRA MY ACCOUNT website and ensure that you are able to login. Ensure that your login works. This will speed up the process for you once the application is available. (In many cases, CRA has to send you a code in the mail as part of the verification process.) Also, if you have not yet signed up for direct deposit, sign up for that as well to ensure that your payments will be deposited as quickly as possible. https://www.canada.ca//e-services/account-individuals.html

FEDERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR BUSINESSES: WAGE SUBSIDY has been increased to 75% for qualifying businesses. No additional details have been released so far about caps on the amount, about the time period covered (although they have said it will be backdated to Mar 15) about what constitutes a qualifying business (although they have suggested the definition will be as broad as possible), nor about how this will be rolled out. More details are expected on Monday. INTEREST FREE ...LOANS FROM BANKS: $40,000 loans guaranteed by the Government of Canada to businesses through the Canada Emergency Business Account. These loans will be interest free for one year and loans that are paid off by December 2022 will qualify for $10,000 of the loan to be forgiven. Businesses will be able to access this through their current financial institutions. GST/HST PAYMENTS and EXPORT/ IMPORT DUTIES: Payments that are coming due during this period have been deferred to June. As always, I will continue to post developments as I hear about them, and continue to research how this applies to each type of business.

Emergency Response Benefit: This applies to everybody whose income has been affected by COVID 19. The $2000 per month for up to 4 months will apply to everyone. How to apply: IF YOU QUALIFY FOR EI: you should go forward with that application and you will be automatically enrolled to receive the benefit. ... IF YOU DO NOT QUALIFY FOR EI - self employed, contract workers, EI exempt etc, the application will be available by April 6 through your MY SERVICE CANADA account or your MY CRA ACCOUNT. IMPORTANT: If you do not have a login for CRA yet, you need to take care of that IMMEDIATELY. The government will send you a code in the mail to complete the registration for the login. Getting the login set up now will reduce the amount of time and frustration involved in applying for the benefit when the application opens. Here is the website to register: https://www.canada.ca//e-services/account-individuals.html The benefit will be paid out 10 days after you fill in the application.

SUPPORT DETAILS FOR RENTERS & LANDLORDS during COVID-19 Supports for RENTERS: halting new and active evictions, except for exceptional circumstances, so that no one is evicted because of COVID-19 and people can remain in their homes during this crisis;... helping renters pay a portion of their rent each month through a new temporary rental supplement of up to $500 per month, building on other federal and provincial financial supports; freezing annual rent increases to ensure that landlords cannot apply an annual rent increase for existing tenants during the COVID-19 crisis; supporting tenants in social distancing and self-isolation by providing them the right to prevent landlords from accessing rental units without the tenant’s consent (for example, for showings or routine maintenance), except in exceptional cases where access is needed to respond to urgent health and safety concerns or to prevent undue damage to the unit; restricting methods of service for Residential Tenancy Branch disputes or notices to reduce the potential transmission of COVID-19 (no in-person service) and allowing service by email; allowing landlords to restrict the use of common areas by tenants or guests to protect against the transmission of COVID-19. Supports for LANDLORDS providing a new temporary rental supplement of up to $500 per month, which will be paid directly to landlords, ensuring they continue to receive rental income during the pandemic; preserving the ability for landlords to apply to the Residential Tenancy Branch for permission to issue a notice to end tenancy in exceptional circumstances, for example when the safety of landlord or other tenants is at risk; allowing landlords to restrict the use of common areas by tenants or guests to protect against the transmission of COVID-19; restricting methods of service for Residential Tenancy Branch disputes or notices to reduce the potential transmission of COVID-19 (no in-person service) and allowing service by email. https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2020MAH0048-000561

EI APPLICATIONS: Trudeau announced this morning that in the last week they have processed 143,000 of the over 1 million applications they have received. They are ramping up capacity as fast as they can HOWEVER these numbers are showing there is a significant delay in getting money out to applicants. At the current rate, someone applying for EI today would have their application processed 6+ weeks from now. If you have not yet filed your tax return for 2019 and need access to money, please contact me. The returns I have filed this morning are showing a direct deposit date of April 2.

FOR ALL OF THOSE WHO DON'T QUALIFY FOR EI: This morning Trudeau announced the details of what was actually approved yesterday in parliament. This is different from what came out earlier this week. $2000 monthly payment for up to 4 months for those who do not qualify for EI. This includes contract workers, self employed individuals, and those without enough hours to qualify for EI. The online portal will be ready to accept applications by early April. And they have indi...cated that payments will go out within 10 days of applying. https://www.canada.ca//introduces-canada-emergency-respons

SELF EMPLOYED: The current government proposal for income replacement does not seem to include Self employed individuals. As per briefings and news that is currently coming out, this is going to change and will include you. I am hoping this will be updated quickly after parliament passes the package today. Applications are coming out at the beginning of April through the My Service Canada and CRA My Account platforms. Please ensure NOW that you have a valid login for one of those sites. They may have to MAIL a code to you to verify your account and this will take time. Please check this WITHOUT DELAY.

Details on the Plan announced by the provincial government today.

UPDATE on the 10% wage subsidy announced last week by Trudeau. The new wage subsidy is available to non profits and Canadian controlled Private Corporations (CCPC). It is so far NOT available to proprietorships. https://www.canada.ca//frequently-asked-questions-wage-sub

Announcement from the BC Government to come on Monday regarding rent supports and hydro payments. This is expected to include individuals and businesses. Also, eviction notices should not be issued and will not be enforced during this time for corona related issues in public housing. Evictions that were already in various stages of progressing prior to the current crisis will continue. Landlords are asked to be lenient. https://www.google.ca//bc-coronavirus-financial-suppo/amp/

Businesses: Do you have business interruption insurance as part of your existing coverage? If so, contact your insurance agents about how COVID-19 is affecting your business to see if they can provide support.

TAX RETURNS filed today are showing MARCH 30 as the direct deposit. You could have your FULL RETURN by the time your rent is due! From $45 for Basic Return, Business Returns starting at $70. Please Contact me TODAY!

UPDATE FROM EFILE THIS MORNING: If you are receiving Child Tax Benefits and/or GST credits, the CRA is recommending that you DO NOT DELAY filing your return in order to ensure that your entitlements for 2020-21 are properly determined. TAX RETURNS ARE STILL BEING PROCESSED AND PAYMENTS ARE BEING DEPOSITED APPROXIMATELY 8-10 BUSINESS DAYS FROM FILING. WE CAN FILE YOUR RETURN USING VIDEO CHAT AND ELECTRONIC SIGNING TECHNOLOGY.... EI BENEFITS WILL BE DELAYED - IF YOU ARE FACING A WORK SHORTAGE OR SICK BENEFITS AND WILL NEED YOUR TAX RETURN MONEY TO PAY YOUR BILLS, FILE NOW! I FILE MOST INDIVIDUAL RETURNS FOR $45 + GST. PLEASE CONTACT ME SO I CAN HELP YOU TODAY!

Documents for CRA can now be Electronically signed making our process of filing easier while maintaining social distancing measures. I am prioritizing returns for people who are expecting money back from the government. If you will owe money, your deadlines for filing and paying have been extended. We have time to file those. ... Please contact me if you need you are expecting money back from the government on your return. I charge $45 for basic returns, Business or commission employee returns start at $70+ GST.

More information about the measures that were introduced this morning: https://www.canada.ca//canadas-covid-19-economic-response-

JUST ANNOUNCED: PAYMENTS FROM THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT: For all of these, I am actively looking for details on how to apply for these programs and will post details as I find them. Please follow this page for updates. For Individuals: Increase to Child Tax Credit of approximately $300 per child EDIT: This is a one time payment that will come with the April payment. ...Continue reading

Resources for Businesses dealing with Corona virus considerations. https://www.tradecommissioner.gc.ca//ressources-entreprise

https://docs.google.com//1Tv9UH8Nn5Y0ilGZ5Gflv/mobilebasic

For entrepreneurs impacted by the current situation, here’s more information on the BDC program available: https://www.bdc.ca/en/pages/special-support.aspx

Tax Services are so far being deemed essential services. There are definitely stressors happening and things may change quickly. I will be processing as many returns as I can today. https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca//thousands-at-sudbury-c

Small and Medium sized businesses who are currently facing slow downs or closures due to recent events may qualify for this new loan program through the Business Development Bank. Keep your antennae’s high for more news on this program as it rolls out. https://www.cbc.ca//poli/covid-19-fiscal-package-1.5496928

UPDATE REGARDING COVID-19 AND YOUR TAX RETURN Currently, returns are continuing to be processed and direct deposits of returns are being made on schedule. As of today, the wait time for direct deposit is 10 days after e-filing. CRA HAS NOT CHANGED THE TAX RETURN DEADLINE YET. ... Due to my son’s health history, and the need to keep everyone safe, I will be altering my business practices effective immediately. I will no longer be doing in-person appointments for filing tax returns. I have several options available to ensure that tax returns can still be filed completely and accurately for existing and new clients. This includes video chat, telephone calls, direct downloads of T-slips from CRA, cloud based file transfer, drop off service, and regular mail. Please contact me regarding your situation.

Information for anyone needing to access sickness benefits through Employment insurance in the coming weeks: https://www.canada.ca///corporate/notices/coronavirus.html

This is a fantastic explanation of why the CDN $ is sinking against the USD right now. The article itself is 5 years old - but it is still relevant to what is going on right now. It will also give you a little snapshot of why the bottom just fell out of the oil industry at the beginning of this week when Saudia Arabia decided to go rogue. When you look at what it actually costs them to produce oil compared to other countries, it just all makes sense. https://www.linkedin.com//explain-me-like-im-10-why-canadi