The Manitoba government is once again extending measures aimed to help residents and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Manitoba’s small- and medium-sized businesses continue to face a challenging economic situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and we want to help them further by giving them more time to submit provincial taxes,” said Finance Minister Scott Fielding. “As we enter Phase Two of restoring services across Manitoba and more businesses reopen, we want to provide them with some additional financial flexibility.”
After extending the April and May filing deadlines for small and medium-sized businesses with monthly remittances of no more than $10,000, the province is now extending the deadlines for June as well. Businesses will now have up to three additional months to remit retail sales taxes and the Health and Post Secondary Education Tax Levy, commonly called the payroll tax.
Fielding noted in the last two months, deferred retail sales and payroll tax deferrals resulted in an estimated $10.8 million savings to Manitoba businesses.
The province is continuing to postpone non-urgent eviction hearings and suspending any rent increases scheduled to take effect in June. The Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB) and Residential Tenancies Commission (RTC) will continue to postpone all hearings for non-urgent matters to halt evictions, and all scheduled hearings are delayed to protect Manitobans from evictions during the pandemic, with certain exceptions to deal with urgent issues that involve the health and safety of tenants. Eviction orders will only be issued to address issues affecting health and safety including unlawful activities.
“We continue to balance safety concerns with support for renters facing economic hardship or needing to self isolate due to COVID-19,” said Fielding. “The Residential Tenancies Branch remains available to resolve urgent situations involving health and safety for landlords and tenants.”
Fielding noted the RTB also recognizes landlords are experiencing financial challenges as some tenants are unable to pay full rent. After June 30, the branch plans to schedule hearings to adjudicate landlord applications for orders of possession on a priority basis. Hearings will be scheduled based on the order in which the applications are received. Landlords and tenants are encouraged to contact the RTB for information by telephone at 204-945-2476 or (toll-free) at 1-800-782-8403 and by email at rtb@gov.mb.ca.
Information on filing requirements is available at gov.mb.ca. A comprehensive list of Manitoba government COVID-19 measures can be found at manitoba.ca.
