The CRA may follow up on claims you have remitted, at its discretion. This is nothing to worry about; like with any government program, monitoring is always present. If your claims were made in good faith and you keep adequate books and records, you will be able to answer any inquiry they may have.

Keeping proper books and records involves a few things. It means keeping your accounting system up to date. Keeping calculations, and internal reports used in those calculations, in good order and accessible is also key. Keeping payroll reports, having bank statements and/or payment confirmations (or being able to get them easily), and email correspondence will only help in the long run.

Most of these things are business as usual; however, keeping all CEWS support in 1 location will make any audit or inquiry that much easier. We recommend compiling all the above support [specific to CEWS] in a folder, sorted by claim period. If you choose, you can also keep electronic versions of the above records – the CRA will accept electronic information.

The other part of record keeping will be calculations and records related to the revenue portion of the claim. It is key to keep calculations used in determining your revenue decline since this will be one of the main parts of most inquiries.