With tax season in Canada drawing to a close, many individuals may be taking a closer look at past income sources, including government relief received during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between March 15, 2020, and May 7, 2022, individuals could apply for temporary income support in the form of COVID-19 benefits administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).¹ These included:

• The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB);
• The Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB);
• The Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB);
• The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB);
• The Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB); and
• The Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB).

The goal of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the CRA’s validation and appeal processes related to these benefits, including eligibility criteria, submission requirements and steps for requesting a second review or judicial review if a benefit application was denied.

Eligibility for COVID-19 benefits

An individual could qualify for COVID-19 benefits depending on if they met the relevant criteria:

• Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) Eligibility Criteria ²
• Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) Eligibility Criteria ³
• Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) Eligibility Criteria ⁴
• Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) Eligibility Criteria ⁵
• Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) Eligibility Criteria ⁶
• Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB) Eligibility Criteria ⁷

Submitting requested information to the CRA

To validate an individual’s application for COVID-19 benefits, the CRA contacted individuals for more information.⁸ Possible requests from the CRA included asking the individual to confirm personal information on file, verifying having met the eligibility criteria or reviewing their account activity if the CRA detected any suspicious activity.⁹

The CRA asked the individual to provide certain documents (any of which the CRA could verify for authenticity) depending on whether they were an employee, self-employed or received provincial or federal benefits.¹⁰ For example, documents proving an individual was an employee could include confirmation of closure or reduced work dates from an employer, confirmation of illness dates, layoff or termination letters, pay stubs, Record of Employment (ROE) documents, confirmations of COVID-19 diagnoses from medical records, attendance lists from schools or daycares, bank statements and emails. The CRA would in some cases also ask for a “Form T182 Supporting information for the CRCB application” if the individual received CRCB.¹¹

Validation documents were to be provided to the CRA online, by fax or by mail.¹² The deadline to send them to the CRA was 45 days from the date of the letter containing the request.¹³

Requesting a second review if an application was denied

If the CRA denied the individual’s application for COVID-19 benefits, and the individual disagreed with the decision, they could request a second review (by a different CRA official than the first review), which required including written reasons for disagreeing and providing any relevant new information.¹⁴ The request for a second review was required within 30 days of the date on the decision review letter from the CRA.

The process for requesting a second review depended on the benefits received. If the individual received two COVID-19 benefit payments for the same benefit period, they had to send their request by mail or fax to CERB/CRB Eligibility and Entitlement in Winnipeg.¹⁵ For any other COVID-19 benefit payments, requests for a second review could be submitted online via CRA My Account, by fax with a cover sheet containing contact information or by mail to the Sudbury Tax Centre.¹⁶

Application for judicial review in the event of a second denial

If the individual disagreed with the result of the second review, they could apply to the Federal Court for a judicial review of the CRA decision within 30 days of receiving the second review decision.¹⁷ An application for judicial review involves completing a Notice of Application and paying the appropriate filing fee to the registrar of the Federal Court.¹⁸ Judicial review will not change the CRA’s decision of whether an individual was eligible for benefits, but allows a judge to decide whether the decision was reasonable, consistent, fair and transparent.¹⁹

As Canadians finalize their tax filings, questions may arise related to past COVID-19 benefit claims — including eligibility, documentation requests and appeals. Our Tax group is here to help you navigate CRA processes. For more information, please contact the author, Gergely Hegedus.

The author would like to thank articling student Sarah Fong for her contribution to this insight.

1. Government of Canada, “COVID-19 benefits from the CRA” (7 March 2023), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits.html>.↩
2. Government of Canada, “Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)” (8 November 2022), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/apply-for-cerb-with-cra.html#eligibility>.↩
3. Government of Canada, “Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB)” (8 November 2022), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/emergency-student-benefit.html#eligibility>.↩
4. Government of Canada, “Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB)” (8 November 2022), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-benefit.html>.↩
5. Government of Canada, “Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB)” (8 November 2022), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-caregiving-benefit.html>.↩
6. Government of Canada, “Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)” (8 November 2022), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-sickness-benefit.html>.↩
7. Government of Canada, “Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB)” (21 December 2022), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/worker-lockdown-benefit.html>.↩
8. Government of Canada, “Validating your application” (25 October 2024), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/covid-validation.html> [Validating an Application].↩
9. Ibid. ↩
10. Ibid. ↩
11. Government of Canada, “T182 Supporting Information for the CRCB Application” (9 May 2023), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/forms/t182.html>.↩
12. Ibid. ↩
13. Ibid. ↩
14. Ibid. ↩
15. Ibid. ↩
16. Ibid. ↩
17. Ibid; Federal Court, “How to file an Application for Judicial Review” (11 July 2022), online: <https://www.fct-cf.gc.ca/en/pages//representing-yourself/practice-guides/how-to-file-an-application-for-judicial-review#cont>. ↩
18. Government of Canada, “Judicial review” (12 February 2015), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/about-canada-revenue-agency-cra/complaints-disputes/judicial-review.html>; Federal Court, “Forms”, online: <https://www.fct-cf.gc.ca/en/online-access/forms>.↩
19. Government of Canada, “Canada Emergency Benefits, Canada Recovery Benefits, and Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit Validation and Compliance” (1 November 2024), online: <https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/about-canada-revenue-agency-cra/protecting-your-privacy/privacy-impact-assessment/canada-emergency-benefits-canada-recovery-benefits-canada-worker-lockdown-benefit-validation-compliance.html>. ↩