I did a quick search and hadn't seen this one pop up, yet.

Now does this mean I had to be "residing" in Canada when I earn the income, or does it mean I need to reside in Canada when I'm claiming this benefit? It is unclear and uses past tense for the earnings, and present tense for the living. I called the CRA and they said I should be fine, but weren't 100% sure themselves.

I've earnt $4500 roughly but my UK earnings prior to moving here would top me up past the $5000 mark, so I've claimed for this 4 week period.

If anyone is super clued up on this and able to answer for certain, that would be appreciated.

I think that if CRA weren't too sure it indicates that no one is 'super clued up' on this. Worse case scenario is that you will have to pay it back, they have said that there won't be penalties for those that claimed incorrectly.

I think you have to be residing in Canada whilst earning, in other words tax resident at the time of earning. That’s my interpretation anyway.

This is from the FAQ section:

Does the minimum income of $5,000 have to be earned in Canada?

No.

The income does not have to be earned in Canada, but you need to reside in Canada.

https://www.canada.ca/en/services/be...questions.html

It does leave a lot of people who have just moved in the lurch. There seem to be a lot of groups that haven’t been considered when putting this together. It’s kind of a mess and nigh on impossible to reach any officials for guidance.

Is this free money or are you expected to pay it back, and if so, how and when? Genuine question, thanks.

It is not a loan, it is an income supplement. When my daughter applied for it, it became apparent that she will have to include it in her income when she files her 2020 tax return and will taxed upon it at her marginal rate.

She has never earned $2,000 a month in her life and so it is a big pay increase for her. That is one of the downside to universal payments.

Repayment will only happen if someone received funds and wasn't eligible. To get money out quickly the initial application is honor system, the government will verify eligibility at a later date.

US gave out free money though with their stimulus check.

Yep.

It's probably quite an efficient way of doing it in terms of simplicity but it does throw up anomalies. Smaller scale but I got $350 on top of the usual HST credits but my income is unaffected. I sent it to the food bank.

So I've finally managed to clarify with an agent who knew more about this.

So basically, if the foreign income is declared for tax purposes in Canada, then it can be used for the purposes of CERB income calculations. If the income is not declared under tax purposes, then it cannot be. Unfortunately, as we hadn't created enough residential ties to Canada at the time of earnings, I didn't need to declare this income here, so I'll need to repay the $2000. You don't need to be living in Canada, but you need to be a deemed or factual resident for the income to count.

However, if my boss pays me an advance this week, then I'm fine.

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In addition, once I'm back in May, I should earn enough to go over the $5000 mark, but still be under $1000 a month, in which case, I repay this $2000, put in a claim for the next period, and then backdate the other dates again and get the $2000 back that I repaid.