Government of Canada issues debt notification to ineligible CERB recipients
May 12, 2022
Global Korean Post
The Government of Canada provided income support through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to help more than 8 million workers and their families stay afloat, and millions more through the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) that followed.
Having recovered the jobs lost at the height of the pandemic and Canada’s unemployment rate at a historic low of 5.2%, repayment activities for the CERB and other emergency and recovery benefits have begun.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) are working together to ensure that those who received COVID-19 individual benefits were eligible for them.
Starting Tuesday, May 10, 2022, the CRA will begin sending Notices of Redetermination (NoRs) to inform Canadians of the debts that have been established on their CRA accounts.
Canadians who receive these letters, but still believe they are eligible for these payments, should contact the CRA and provide any additional information required to validate their claim.
This follows the Notices of Debt (NoDs) that ESDC began sending in November 2021, to benefit recipients who received an advance payment of $2,000 in 2020 but did not remain on CERB long enough to fully reconcile that payment by applying for subsequent payment periods. ESDC will issue the last of these letters in July 2022.
The CRA and ESDC want to assure Canadians they will continue to be supported when calling in to discuss their unique situations including flexible payment arrangements. There will be no interest or penalties applied to any repayments.
