CRA to send more letters to CERB recipients checking eligibility, possible repayments

The Canada Revenue Agency is sending out letters to individuals it has some, but possibly incomplete, information on whether they need to repay some of their COVID aid.

The Canada Revenue Agency is sending out a new round of letters to pandemic aid recipients to verify they were eligible for the help, and warning of potential need for repayments.

It’s the second time the agency is mailing Canada Emergency Response Benefit recipients as part of a process to verify the eligibility of the millions of Canadians who received the $500-a-week benefit.

The CRA sent out more than 441,000 letters to CERB recipients near the end of 2020 asking them to verify they met eligibility rules for the payments.

Thousands more are going out beginning Thursday, this time targeting recipients who may have earned more than the $1,000 a month the Liberals allowed beginning in mid-April 2020.

The agency says the people who are receiving letters have tax information that suggest they earned too much income during periods when they received aid.

The letters say the CRA will work on flexible repayment plans for anyone who has to give back some of the money, without interest, but warns that won’t be the case for those who don’t respond to the government missive.

The federal government quickly rolled out the CERB at the onset of the pandemic, only asking applicants to attest they were eligible.

The government opted for few upfront validation checks to speed up payments during lockdowns over March and April 2020 when three million jobs were lost.