The portal for the expanded Small & Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant is now open

Businesses can now start applying for the second round of funding through SME Relaunch grant. This is a grant, not a loan, so you do not have to pay it back but it is taxable. The application portal has been updated with the ability to submit your application for a second payment.  Upon signing into the program's application portal, you will see a 'Second Payment' button associated with your initial application(s) if you applied for the first payment. The updated Application Companion Guide can be used to help you through the application process.

Updated Program Guidelines are now available. Please review the eligibility criteria to ensure that your organization was affected by the recent public health orders and you are eligible for the second payment.

Call for Applications: Canada Summer Jobs 2021 

The annual call for applications for the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program will launch on December 21, 2020, and will remain open until January 29, 2021. Applicants will be able to seek funding to hire youth between April 26, 2021 and February 26, 2022. While employers are encouraged to offer quality jobs on a full-time basis (35 hours per week), part-time jobs (minimum of 12 hours per week) will also be eligible for funding. This flexibility was introduced to enable hiring of youth outside of the summer period.

Approved employers from the not-for profit sector will still be eligible for a wage subsidy reimbursement of up to 100% of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage. Approved public and private sector employers will be eligible to receive a wage subsidy reimbursement of up to 75% of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage. Apply through this link after December 21.

For more information click: www.canada.ca/canada-summer-jobs

Call: 1-800-935-5555 (ATS: 1-800-926-9105)

Visit: a Service Canada Centre

If you are interested in attending an information session, please register here:  https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/canada-summer-jobs-2021-teleconferences-western-canada-and-territories-registration-132179992917

A Simplified Process For Claiming Home Office Expenses

Employees who worked from home more than 50% of the time over a period of a least four consecutive weeks in 2020 due to COVID-19 will now be eligible to claim the home office expenses deduction for 2020. The use of a shorter qualifying period will ensure that more employees can claim the deduction. A new temporary flat rate method will allow eligible employees to claim a deduction of $2 for each day they worked at home in that period, plus any other days they worked from home in 2020 due to COVID-19 up to a maximum of $400. Under this new method, employees will not have to get Form T2200 or Form T2200S completed and signed by their employer. Read more and find out how to apply. Backgrounder: Employer-provided benefits and allowances: CRA and Covid-19.

This is the type of tax reform Canada needs and something the Canadian Chamber's Think Growth project called for specifically. Simplifying and streamlining the deduction for home office expenses means far less paperwork for Canadian employers and more money in Canadians' pockets. The Canadian Chamber calls on the government to continue reforming Canada's complex and outdated tax system in 2021 to support and hasten inclusive economic recovery and growth. To learn more about the tax reform we need, visit www.ThinkGrowth.ca.

Energy Savings for Business Funding program

Energy Savings for Business Program is a program that will help accelerate the uptake of commercially available energy efficiency technologies, leading to operational efficiencies and cost reductions for small and medium-sized industrial and commercial facilities. Businesses such as manufacturing facilities, agricultural operations, office buildings and fabrication shops can cut costs and reduce emissions by adopting modern building systems and updating facility operations, enabling smarter energy use and less waste.

Applications are expected to open in January 2021 for businesses to submit their eligible projects for pre-approval. Find out more about receiving incentives through the program or becoming an eligible contractor by:

• Submitting an Expression of Interest (bottom of the webpage),
• The informational Energy Savings for Business webinar posted on our website,
• For further questions email energysavings@eralberta.ca

The Innovation and Employment Grant to launch January 1, 2021

When this program launches, companies can receive a grant of up to 20% toward qualifying research and development expenditures.