To date, the CRA has processed and approved more than 2.7 million Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy applications for businesses, charities and organizations in the not-for-profit sector, delivering over $71 billion in payments to support over 5 million workers. By providing support quickly to employers of all sizes and in all sectors across the country, over 5 million workers have received the support they need during this unprecedented time.

The Canada child benefit (CCB) has a major impact on the lives of middle-class Canadians, helping over 3.3 million families with the cost of raising children under 18 years of age. In its report, the Auditor General notes that the CRA ensures accurate and timely CCB payments to millions of eligible families

In February, an analysis revealed evidence that some user IDs and passwords used to access CRA accounts may have been obtained by unauthorized third parties. We wish to reiterate that these user IDs and passwords were not compromised as a result of a breach of CRA’s online systems, rather they may have been obtained by unauthorized third parties and through a variety of means by sources external to the CRA, such as email phishing schemes or third party data breaches.

The Government of Canada announced that self-employed individuals who applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and would have qualified based on their gross income will not be required to repay the benefit, provided they also met all other eligibility requirements. The same approach will apply whether the individual applied through the Canada Revenue Agency or Service Canada.

Canadians will begin receiving T4A slips from the CRA for these benefits to support their tax filing. The T4A is virtually identical to the T4 slips Canadians are used to receiving from their employers, but rather than employment income, they provide the amounts of COVID-19 benefits received from the CRA in 2020.