If you received Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), you will have to pay income tax on the amount that you received. You will receive a T4E from the Canada Revenue Agency and will be responsible for any taxes due on that income.

For students, The Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) is also taxable to the student. Students and parents will want to consider this when determining who should use tuition deductions.

‍

Additionally for businesses, the Government of Canada has implemented a program that provides interest-free loans of up to $40,000 to small businesses (Canada Emergency Business Account - CEBA). If the loan is repaid on or before December 31, 2022, 25% of the loan will be forgiven (i.e. $10,000). The Forgivable Portion of the loan must be included in the income of the Participant, despite the fact that it is unclear at that point whether the portion of the loan will in fact be forgiven. Whether or not the portion of the loan is actually forgiven will instead impact the tax consequences in the year of repayment.

‍