Owe money for CERB? Here's how the CRA is getting it back

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) may face some hurdles in collecting the money loaned through COVID-19 pandemic relief programs, like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), according to a tax lawyer.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) may face some hurdles in collecting the money loaned through COVID-19 pandemic relief programs, like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), according to a tax lawyer.

The CRA announced last month that it would start issuing legal warnings and potentially take steps to recover overpayments of all COVID-19 programs, including CERB.

After ruling many people ineligible for these payments, the tax agency seeks to regain the money — a total of about $9.53 billion.

“If you divide $9.5 billion by $20,000 or whatever people have received in overpayment, it’s a lot of people,” Dale Barrett said in an interview with CTV Your Morning on Tuesday. Of that $9.53 billion sum, the CRA seeks to collect $5.41 billion from CERB overpayments alone.

Barrett noted several Canadians who received these pandemic relief payments have left the country and aren’t set to return.

“We hear about people who are out of the country, who shouldn’t have received the money, who would never come back, and who are going to get away with it. There’s just so many people who this is affecting,” Barrett said.

There are people who have already “gotten away” without repaying the loan, Barrett adds.