New Innovation Assistance Program

Apr 24,2020 Leave a comment By Segal GCSE LLP

Applications must be in by April 29, 2020. The government recently announced $250 million of a new program called the Innovation Assistance Program (IAP). The goal of this program is to assist Canadian small and medium sized enterprises in the technology field.

This program is for those technology companies that are NOT eligible for the CEWS. The CEWS is the program where the government will subsidize salaries up to 75% with certain limits. The CEWS program is available when a company meets certain revenue decreases (see the Segal publication here for details). The IPA is meant to be a wage subsidy program for up to 12 weeks. The size of the subsidy has not been clarified.

Who Can Apply

The company must meet the following criteria:

Ineligible for the CEWS. The likely reason is that the company’s revenue did not decrease by the set limits.

Be an incorporated, profit-oriented business in Canada
- This would eliminate non profits or government organizations from eligibility.
- This would also leave out self employed business and partnerships.
Be a company with 500 or fewer full-time equivalent employees
Plan to pursue growth and profit by developing and commercializing innovative, technology-driven new or improved products, services or processes in Canada.
- This subjective criteria will be evaluated by the government.
Lack sufficient financial resources to sustain operations from April 1, 2020 to June 23, 2020 inclusive.
- This will be determined by the government based on the information submitted.
Have a Canada Revenue Agency business number.
Be incorporated by no later than March 1, 2020.
- That is, companies cannot be created or formed now to access these funds.

How to Apply

Complete an application at https://nrc-covid-19.microsoftcrmportals.com/en-CA/.
The application must be filed by April 29, 2020 at 11:59pm EDT.

Next Steps

Following the assessment and approval of applications, applicants will be notified in writing on the status of their application as early as the week of May 11, 2020
IAP will begin making payments to successful applicants starting the week of May 11, 2020

Ensuring Compliance The information collected in your application will be used for the purposes of assessing the merits of your application and due diligence. As part of the assessment process and validation, the information provided will be shared with the Canada Revenue Agency.

In addition, measures will be put in place to ensure that the subsidy is not inappropriately obtained – that applicants are not participating in making, a false or deceptive statement. Penalties may apply in cases of fraudulent claims.

Segal GCSE LLP is available to assist you throughout the process.