The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has announced that they will be sending out repayment letters to Canadians who may have gotten COVID-19 benefits along with other financial help from the government.
Per a statement to Narcity, the CRA has said that any Canadians who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), as well as employment insurance (EI), could be subject to repayment of some, or all, of the extra cash they got.
The financial organization started sending out notices in August and has apparently issued about 100,000 such letters so far. And there are more to come.
CERB was a benefit that came into action during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It was designed to assist Canadians financially when nationwide lockdowns were in full effect.
It existed for several months before being eventually phased out in favour of other benefits such as the Canada Response Benefit or the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit.
All of which have since closed down officially.
Part of CERB's roll-out meant that it was there to temporarily replace EI for some Canadians.
But, with the shuffle of such an emergency situation, some folks may have found themselves paid twice.
So, now it seems that the CRA is hoping to get some of that money back, and if you think that's you, you may find yourself receiving a letter sometime soon.
And this isn't the only time that the revenue agency has called for repayment of CERB money.
Matter of fact, in May of this year, the CRA sent out repayment letters to Canadians who may have received CERB and other COVID-19 benefits but didn't qualify for them.
While there is no interest in penalties for those who received the benefit unjustifiably, unpaid amounts could lead to the government putting a lien on your property or getting the CRA to take legal action against you.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
