Independent Canadian travel advisors are being hit with notices that could force them to repay government monies given out during the pandemic, and ACITA wants to hear from them.
In late April this year, The Association of Canadian Independent Travel Advisors was advised that the Canada Revenue Agency had sent notices to a handful of independent travel advisors. The notices suggest the government is investigating whether the advisors had been eligible to receive the CERB and CRB payments.
CERB (The Canada Emergency Response Benefit) and CRB (Canada Recovery Benefit) provided financial support to employed and self-employed Canadians who were directly affected by COVID-19 and reached up to $38,000.
ACITA says it was hopeful that an appeals process would clarify the investigation by establishing advisors’ eligibility for the funds. It’s been monitoring the situation closely.
“We know we were eligible for payments, but some semantic issues are triggering notices from the CRA,” ACITA co-founder Brenda Slater of Beyond the Beach told Open Jaw today (18JUL).
ACITA had recently posted a note in its private group that asked agents to let them know if they had been contacted by Ottawa so it could track the number of people affected.
“Within the last couple of weeks several more ITAs are now in a position where appeals have been denied, and they now require a lawyer to get them through the judicial review process,” which means added expenses for already struggling advisors.
ACITA said its team members met with its government contacts late last week.
“They clearly understand our business model, how we are paid, and why we had qualified for both programs. They are talking to both the Tax department and the Ministry of Finance on our behalf to determine our next steps,” ACITA said.
“From what we understand, the issue seems to be that the interpretation of the rules differs from each case reviewer within the CRA, and they may not be taking into consideration that we were the hardest hit within our own industry. The biggest contributor seems to be income from more than one source and/or the $5000 NET vs. Gross minimum revenue requirement for the CERB.”
“There’s confusion about net versus gross income,” Slater said. “It depends on the CRA agent you have. There are different interpretations of the rules.”
“One thing we know for sure is that notification of the recalls is ONLY being received via each person’s individual CRA account,” ACITA said. “They are NOT sending anything via MAIL to notify (advisors) that there is an issue.”
ACITA CALL TO ACTION
While it waits for the government to determine what it will do, ACITA is asking advisors to please log in to their CRA accounts to see if you have a notification of repayment. If you do, let them know ASAP by sending an email to acitacanada@gmail.com.
