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Ontario COVID Program Updates

Ontario COVID Program Updates

We hope that all our friends and clients are healthy and safe. Clearly, we all hope that the second lockdown is as short as possible – subject to keeping everybody safe.

This is a short blog post to make sure that our Ontario clients are aware of a few provincial schemes that may support you. Some of these are specifically COVID-related; others are not.

For a start, check out Ontario Businesses Get Help with COVID Costs

The main one is the Ontario Small Business Support Grant. We expect many businesses will qualify for this one. Ontario grant of between $10k-$20k to businesses who have had to close in the 2nd lockdown.

Need to be able to demonstrate that COVID hit your revenues by at least 20%. They are measuring the revenue drop by comparing April 2020 vs April 2019, as many businesses won’t have pulled numbers for the current lockdown yet.

There’s also the Ontario Main Street Relief Grant (same link). Smaller amount at $1k, but still better than a poke in the eye!

And (on the same page), relief from energy and property tax costs under the COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program for Small Business (CEAP-SB),.

The focus seems to be on getting money out quickly!

  • Ontario Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit
    https://budget.ontario.ca/2020/marchupdate/annex.html#section-3
    We’ve mentioned this one in earlier posts. Up to 10% back on the cost of commercial property. There seem to be fairly few limits on this one.
  • Southwestern Ontario Development Fund
    https://www.ontario.ca/page/southwestern-ontario-development-fund
    Potentially bigger numbers available, if you qualify. Some key points:

     

    • Funding mainly as an interest-free loan, but partly forgivable under the right circumstances
    • Business needs to have been around for at least 3 years and have at least 10 employees (5 if in a rural area)
    • Be spending at least $500k ($200k if in a rural area)
    • Commit to creating at least 5 new jobs within 4 year (or 30% increase if you have at fewer than 15 employees).
    • See the above link for the eligibility criteria.

Please stay safe and reach out to us if we can help you with any of our business needs!

~ Jules