The Government of Canada proposes new rebate to help businesses with carbon pollution pricing

The Government of Canada proposes new rebate to help businesses with carbon pollution pricing

The Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses is a refundable tax credit proposed in Budget 2024 to return a portion of federal fuel charge proceeds directly to eligible Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs).

Once legislation is enacted, the Canada Revenue Agency would work towards issuing the retroactive payments, which total over $2.5 billion with respect to the 2019-2020 to 2023-2024 fuel charge years.

You can get ready by filing your 2023 corporate income tax return no later than July 15, 2024.

To be eligible for the rebate for one or more of the fuel charge years (which run from April 1 to March 31), you must:

• have employed one or more persons in a designated province in the calendar year in which the fuel charge year begins,
• have had 499 or fewer employees throughout Canada in that calendar year, and
• file your corporate income tax return for the tax year ending in 2023 no later than July 15, 2024.

You would not have to apply for this rebate. Once the Minister of Finance has specified the payment rates for each designated province for the applicable fuel charge year, we would calculate and automatically issue the rebate amounts to eligible CCPCs.

It is too early to determine the exact distribution date for the rebate amounts. We will provide updates on the timelines in the coming months.

For more information on how the rebate payments would be calculated and the designated provinces, go to Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses - Canada.ca.