If you received COVID-19 income support from the federal government such as the Canada Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB), or the Canada Lockdown Worker Benefit, you will receive a T4A Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income slip by the end of February. These tax slips can also be found online in CRA My Account. All income received from these pandemic benefits are taxable and must be reported in your income tax return.
You are required to report the following amounts on your income tax return:
Box 200 Provincial/Territorial COVID -19 financial assistance payments
Box 201 Repayment of COVID-19 financial assistance (the amount in this box can be claimed as a deduction on the return for either 2021 or for the year in which the benefit was received
Box 202 Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB)
Box 203 Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)
Box 204 Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB)
Box 211 Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB)
Any errors on your T4A should be reported to the CRA immediately. If you are waiting to hear back from the CRA, you should still plan to file your tax return on time (May 2, 2022 for personal T1 returns). Should a correction be warranted, the CRA will issue an amended or canceled tax slip, at which time you can request changes to your tax return.
Should you be faced with owing money and cannot pay it all back, be sure to contact the CRA to arrange for a payment plan. Penalties and interest may be waived under certain conditions where the circumstances are outside of the taxpayer’s control.
Questions should be directed to the individual tax enquiries line at 1-800-959-8281. The line is open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, local time, and Saturday 9am to 5pm, local time, except holidays.
