Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) 

The emergency loan for National Bank business clients amounts to $60,000 (either a fixed amount of $40,000 with the possibility of an additional $20,000, or a fixed amount of $60,000). Processing your application can take between 10 and 15 business days (if the application is completed in accordance with the eligibility criteria issued by the federal government). If your application is accepted, the funds will be deposited into the business account listed in your application and will be available immediately.

For businesses who benefitted from the $60,000 loan

If you repay $40,000 by December 31, 2022:

• You do not have to pay interest 

• You will be exempted from paying the remaining $20,000
   

For businesses who benefitted from the $40,000 loan

If you repay $30,000 by December 31, 2022:

• You do not have to pay interest
• You will be exempted from paying the remaining $10,000
   

On January 1, 2023:

• If there is a remaining balance, the loan will be automatically renewed for a 3-year extended period ending December 31, 2025, at an advantageous fixed interest rate of 5%.
  

You have until June 30, 2021 to complete your CEBA loan application. 

For the repayment of the loan, no payment will be possible before January 1, 2021. 

The Canada Emergency Business Account is intended for small and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations. 

To be eligible, the federal government has imposed the following conditions on businesses:

• Have paid an amount greater than $20,000 and lower than $1,500,000 in salaries in the 2019 calendar year.  

or

• Have paid no salaries or total salaries of $20,000 or less in the 2019 calendar year, and:
  
• Have filed an income tax return for 2018 or 2019.
  
• Have a total of non-deferrable expenses as of March 1, 2020, between $40,000 and $1,500,000 that the business was legally or contractually required to pay in 2020 (including eligible expenses that cannot be deferred and have actually been paid since January 1, 2020), deducting any excluded benefits. These expenses could include, for example, rent, property taxes, utilities and insurance. Expenses will be subject to verification and audit by the Government of Canada. 

Important! After submitting your application using the form available on this page, you must submit your supporting documents on the government's website: https://application-demande.ceba-cuec.ca. There you will find the procedure and the official list of eligible expenses.

To apply for the emergency loan through National Bank, your business must also:

• Have an active Canada Revenue Agency Business Number (BN) with an effective date of registration on or prior to March 1, 2020. 
  
• Have an active business current account in Canadian dollars with National Bank.
  
• Have National Bank as your primary financial institution.
  
• Currently be facing financial difficulties (including, for example, a continued decline in revenues or cash reserves, or an increase in operating costs) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Intend to continue or resume operations.
• Have made all reasonable efforts to reduce its costs during the COVID-19 pandemic and otherwise adapt its activities to improve its sustainability.
  

Once your application has been completed:

The Government of Canada will assess application information submitted via financial institutions together with the supporting documentation and information provided, if applicable. If approved by the federal government, National Bank will provide the funds into your business current account.

Note: National Bank does not have information regarding specific inputs or uploaded documents and does not have authority to grant exceptions on any declined applications. Applications are assessed by the federal government, and no formal appeal process is available.

To be eligible for the additional $20,000 loan extension, you must have already been accepted for the $40,000 emergency loan under the CEBA program. To apply for the additional amount, you must have received your $40,000 emergency loan from National Bank.

To apply for the additional $20,000 through National Bank, your business must:

• Have an active Business Number (BN) with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), with an effective date of registration on or before March 1, 2020.
• Have an active business current account with National Bank, in Canadian dollars.
• Not be in arrears in the payment of your existing loans under the Program, not be in breach of the terms and conditions of such loans and not be in default thereunder and with existing credit facilities or National Bank, if any, and were not 90 days or more in arrears as at October 31, 2020.
  

The business must:

• Be currently facing financial difficulties (including, for example, a continued decline in revenue or cash reserves, or an increase in operating costs) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Intend to continue or resume operations;
• Have made all reasonable efforts to reduce its costs and otherwise adjust its operations to improve its viability; and
• Not have used any loan received under the CEBA program to make a payment or pay expenses other than eligible expenses that cannot be otherwise deferred.
  

The loan can be repaid as of January 1, 2021. However, we remind you that the loan is interest-free until December 31, 2022.

Here are the steps to follow to start repaying your loan:

1. Sign in to Internet Banking Solutions for Businesses
2. Select Manage billers/beneficiaries
3. Add COVID-19 – CEBA-CUEC as the biller, and enter the 16-digit account number indicated on your statement
4. Then pay the loan as a bill payment by selecting COVID-19 – CEBA-CUEC as the biller.

You can also visit your National Bank branch with your CEBA statement in hand. All the details can be found in this statement or your welcome letter.

No, the amount of $60,000 is fixed for a first loan application for your business.

However, if you have already obtained a $40,000 emergency loan, you can apply for an additional fixed amount of $20,000. 

The emergency loan must only be used to cover operating costs that cannot be deferred, such as payroll, rent, utilities, insurance, property tax and regularly scheduled debt service.  

The loan may not be used to repay or refinance a payment, or for expenses such as existing debt or to pay dividends, nor may it be used for distributions purposes or to increase management compensation.

To qualify for the emergency loan, your business must not have previously used the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) and must never have used the COVID Indigenous SMEs Initiative or the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund and will not apply for support under the Program at any other financial institution or for support under the COVID Indigenous SMEs Initiative or the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund.

However, you can get additional assistance from other programs available to businesses, provided you meet their eligibility criteria.

Find out more about our support measures and Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. 

Once you have applied through the online form from our website, upload all necessary supporting documents (if you applied for a $60,000 loan and paid $0 or $20,000 or less in total salaries for 2019), and if pre-funding eligibility validation is successful, you should expect to receive funding within 10 to 15 business days.

You can expect to receive the funds for a $20,000 loan extension within 10-15 business days.

Your application and supporting documentation must be properly completed and submitted to start the pre-funding eligibility validation process. 

Yes, you can now apply for the emergency loan. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Complete the Pre-screen tool on the government of Canada website to see if you’re eligible.
   
2. Open a business current account with National Bank, where you already have your personal account. Consult this page to learn how you can quickly open a business account.
   
3. Apply for the emergency loan through the form available above.

If you have applied for a Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) and have questions, please contact the CEBA call centre at 1-888-324-4201 to receive a status update on your application. You will be able to leave a message and an agent will call you back between Monday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. (ET). You can address the following types of questions:

• What is the status of my application?
• Why was my application declined?
• Why weren’t my submitted document processed?
  

You can also check the status of your request on the federal government's website.  

If your business had a payroll of $0 or $20,000 or less in 2019, it is mandatory that you must submit proof of your eligible expenses on the government website.  

Once you have submitted your application for an emergency loan using our form, go to the government website to find out the procedure and whether or not your expenses are eligible and the list of excluded benefits. You must submit the required documents before July 14, 2021. However, consider that the earlier your documents are filed, the faster your application will be processed. 

Make sure you have:

• Your financial institution’s name, in this case, National Bank 
  
• Your Business Number (BN) (9 digits, as registered with the Canada Revenue Agency)
  
• Copy of your eligible expenses documents (details about file formats available on the government’s website)
  

Filing of documents on the government website is mandatory for your request to be processed.

Yes, including the following Government of Canada COVID response programs:

• Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy,
  
• 10% Temporary Wage Subsidy,
  
• Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance,
  
• Futurpreneur Canada,
  
• Northern Business Relief Fund,
  
• Fish Harvester Grant,
  
• Relief measures for Indigenous businesses
  
• Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) (program to support technology innovation)
• Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy

The grants you will have received will have to be deducted from your eligible expenses and after this calculation you will have to arrive at an amount of more than $40,000 and less than $1,500,000 in eligible expenses.

The official list of excluded benefits can be found on the government's website. Please read it so that you are prepared: https://application-demande.ceba-cuec.ca/.

Eligible non-deferrable expenses may include, for example, the following: 

• Salaries / third party payments
  
• Rent / lease - real estate
  
• Rental / contract for equipment
  
• Insurance
  
• Property tax bills
  
• Phone bills
  
• Gas, oil, electricity, water and internet
  
• Loans, mortgages, line of credit
  
• Expenses incurred under agreements with independent contractors
  
• Licence fees
  
• Payments incurred for materials used to manufacture a product ordinarily offered for sale

The official list of eligible non-deferrable expenses can be found on the government's website. Please read it so that you are prepared: https://application-demande.ceba-cuec.ca/. 

For incorporated businesses, the person applying for the emergency loan must be a legally authorized partner. The name of the partner will be used for identity confirmation purposes with the government. 

When asked about income (in option of $0 or $20,000 or less in salaries paid in 2019), the applicant will be required to indicate the business’s reported income.

You should add all 2019 T4SUM statements together and compare that total amount against the CEBA eligible payroll range, which is a payroll amount greater than $20,000 and less than $1,500,000. 

For example, a business with the following two payroll numbers would have a total payroll amount of $100,000, which is within the eligible range:

• Payroll number 1 (…RP0001) 
  
  • 2019 T4SUM = $30,000
    
• Payroll number 2 (…RP0002)
  
  • 2019 T4SUM = $70,000
    
• Total 2019 T4SUM = $100,000
  

If you have accounts with more than one financial institution:

Your business’s main financial institution is the one with which you carry out most of your daily transactions. These include paying your employees, making payments to suppliers, collecting accounts receivable, and other day-to-day cash management transactions.

If you have several accounts with National Bank:

You must use an active Business Current Account. For example, you cannot request the that funds be deposited into a savings or trust account. 

If National Bank is your primary financial institution and you hold several eligible accounts with us, you can choose the one you prefer when filling out the application.

Businesses which choose to do their banking through a business savings account are not eligible for the CEBA program.

Each qualifying business must have a unique 9-digit Canada Revenue Agency Business Number (BN) with an effective registration date on or prior to March 1, 2020. Each qualifying business is limited to one emergency loan. 

In response to the economic impact of COVID-19, the Canadian government established the Canada Emergency Business Account Program to provide interest-free loans of $60,000 for small and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organizations. 

National Bank and several other financial institutions are authorized to implement this program, in cooperation with Export Development Canada.

By requesting an emergency business loan of $60,000 through our website, you are borrowing from National Bank, but supported by the government. 

Visit the Canadian government website for more information.

To apply for the $60,00 emergency loan, you will need:

• Your Business Number (BN), as registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (9 digits) or employer account number (15 characters, see your business’s 2019 T4 summary statement). The effective date of the BN or employer account number must be on or before March 1, 2020.
  
• Your National Bank business current account number (see the bottom of your business cheques)
  
• Your business’s transit number (5 digits and appears at the bottom of your business cheques)
  
• The total amount paid in employee salaries in 2019 can be found in Box 14 of the Borrower’s 2019 T4SUM. For the limited number of Borrowers who also pay employees tax-exempt salaries under the Indian Act, please also add such salaries for 2019, as reported in Box 71 of all employee T4 slips for 2019
  
• Your Business Number (BN) as registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (9 digits), or Employer Account Number (15 characters long and appears on your business’s 2019 T4 Summary) 

To complete the application (if you paid $0 or $20,000 or less in salaries), you will also need: 

• Copies of Receipts / Invoices / Agreements that support your 2020 eligible non-deferable expenses.
  

To apply for the $20,000 loan extension, you will need:

• Your Business Number (BN) as registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (9 digits) and for which the effective date of registration is on or prior to March 1, 2020.
• Your confirmation number from the confirmation email you received when the $40,000 CEBA loan was deposited.
  

These are the tax documents by which your business reports to the Canada Revenue Agency. They comprise of the details of your employees’ remuneration during a calendar year including income, contributions, and deductions.

If you cannot find these documents for the 2019 calendar year, contact your accountant, the person who filed your business tax return, or the Canada Revenue Agency to retrieve a copy.

View a sample of a T4 Summary, T2 Declaration, or T1 Declaration.  

We accept only one signatory per application. If your business requires the consent of more than one administrator, we recommend that you have them approve a resolution that will allow only one signatory. This way, you can complete the application and provide the consent to the terms and conditions of the loan on behalf of the business. 

For partnerships, the request must be made by one of the partners. 

Check your account balance by signing in to our Internet and mobile banking solutions. You can also visit one of our ABMs or call us at 1-888-835-6281.

We will send statements on a quarterly basis, until the loan is paid, to businesses that have been accepted for the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) through National Bank.
 
 The first time you receive your statement, you will also receive:

• A welcome letter explaining how the loan works, for example, the repayment method;
• The attestation from the federal government to which you provided consent when you applied for the loan;
• The loan agreement detailing the terms and conditions, to which you also provided consent when you applied for the loan.

Should you have any questions about the CEBA loan statement, please call our Customer Service team at 1-844-394-4494. 

It’s important to remember that you consented to the government attestation and terms and conditions of the Canada Emergency Business Account when you submitted your application. The business has, therefore, undertaken to respect the terms and conditions of the loan.

No, the amounts are fixed. If your business is applying for an emergency loan for the first time, the loan amount is $60,000 and is fixed. If your business has already received a $40,000 CEBA loan, you can apply for a $20,000 loan extension.

Fill out the form adapted to your situation.

If your application is declined, it means your business does not meet the program’s eligibility criteria and cannot benefit from this program.

Note: National Bank does not have authority to grant exceptions on any declined applications. Applications are assessed by the federal government, and no formal appeal process is available. 

Learn more about our support measures, Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, and Emergency Aid for Small and Medium Businesses. 

Have questions about your application? Write to us at the email address listed in the acknowledgement email.