Make it Right: Returning CERB Payments You’re Ineligible For

On April 6, the government initially opened the CRA application process with two portals: one through the CRA (for those ineligible for standard EI) and one through Service Canada and the standard EI program.  This lead to many Canadians receiving duplicate $2,000 payments last week – one from each program. What now?

If this was your experience due to user error, or a processing issue on the government’s side, not to worry. Per the government, there will be opportunity to make it right without penalty!

The government has stated that if you received the $2,000 plus a payment of any other amount last week, this was not an error. It was retroactive pay through the EI-CERB program. Your bank deposits should have come from EI-CERB or Service Canada.

But, caution: if you received a $2,000 with one of these labels PLUS another $2,000 last week, it needs to be repaid as no one is eligible to double-dip into both programs. The government might not be officially coming for it yet, but they have provided one option for repayment at this time

They’ve stated that you will have to return or repay the CERB if you:

• Return to work earlier than expected: (i.e. you did not end up being without income for 14 consecutive days or made more than $1,000 in the March 15-April 11 period)
• Applied for CERB but later realize you’re not eligible (including if you received this duplicate payment.

Here are the current options for returning the payment. At this time, they are not ideal.

If you still have the original CERB cheque:

You can return the cheque by mail to the address below.

If you don't have the cheque or were paid by direct deposit:

You can mail your repayment to the CRA. Be sure to:

1. Make payment out to “Receiver General for Canada”
2. Indicate it is for “Repayment of CERB”
3. Include your Social Insurance Number (SIN) or your Temporary Tax Number (TTN)

Mail your payment to:

Revenue Processing – Repayment of CERB
Sudbury Tax Centre
1050 Notre Dame Avenue
Sudbury ON P3A 0C1

There are a few problems with this option. The majority of Canadians would have received their CERB payment by direct deposit, and returning the funds by cheque means that the CRA will need to manually reconcile these to CRA and Service Canada accounts. This leaves a margin of human error, and it remains unclear how long it will take before Canadians will see these return payments reflected on their accounts. In addition, at this time of social distancing, sending a cheque by mail is problematic.

The government has also said that they will be contacting anyone who received both payments, though the timeline has not yet been announced. Details on other repayment options, including whether this may occur during next year’s tax season, have not yet been provided. But beware, as verification of all claims will definitely take place in the future!

Additional educational resources: get all the technical details of the COVID-19 Canada Emergency Response provisions by enrolling in the Virtual CE Summits. It’s a sought-after educational event from Knowledge Bureau in a new format: a professional online course plus interactive live virtual meeting. The online learning release will be available April 22 on the Virtual Campus, and the interactive Zoom event will take place on May 13. 

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