Toronto, Ontario — In case you missed it, the Federal government’s 2024 budget includes a new carbon rebate for small businesses to help reduce the impact of environmental costs.
The 2024 Federal budget report, which was released on April 16th, specifically notes that “the government is delivering on its commitment to return proceeds from the price on pollution to small-and medium-sized businesses by announcing an accelerated and automated return process to provide refunds (…) in the provinces where the federal fuel charge applies.”
The budget also proposes to “urgently return fuel charge proceeds from 2019 to 2020 through 2023 to 2024 to an estimated 600,000 businesses with 499 or fewer employees.”
According to the Federal government, this rebate “would deliver over $2.5 billion directly to Canada’s small and medium-sized businesses.”
Proceeds from the rebate would be returned directly to eligible corporations through direct payments from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), separately from CRA tax refunds.
To receive proceed returns for fuel charge years, corporations must have filed their tax return 2023 by July 15th, 2024. It is unclear under what additional terms businesses must meet to be eligible for the new rebate.
The proposal would then return proceeds for future fuel charge years, including 2024 to 2025, similarly each year.
In response to the new Federal carbon rebate, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) noted that it recently gathered over 8,500 signed petitions from small businesses across the country in support of the rebate, and further estimates overall, “small businesses pay about 40 percent of the carbon tax.”
To read the Federal government’s 2024 budget, and to see how it affects the automotive and collision repair industries, click here.
