Has the thought of hiring interns crossed your mind? Each year you hope to accomplish many projects, but your employees are already swamped with loads of work. Cash flow is always tight and your start-up or growing organization needs all the help it can get. Well, hiring incentives through government grants for small businesses may be a solution you need to look into.
Hiring and training government grants for small businesses operating in Ontario are a prefect way to offset partial of your wages expense. Following are some hiring incentives and tax credits offered in Ontario which businesses can benefit from:
Ontario Exporters Fund
The Ontario Exporters Fund provides funding up to $80,000 of the salary for hiring a dedicated Export Manager. To be eligible, following criteria must be met:
- Business should be operational for more than 2 years
- Annual sales should be between $3-$20 million while 10%-50% of those sales should be related to export
- Export Manager should be hired in the following industries; advanced manufacturing, aerospace, building products & construction, clean technology, exportable professional services, information technology & life sciences
Canada Ontario Job Grant (COJG)
COJG is another example of government grants for small businesses to invest in their employee’s further advancement of their skills. Not only does this advance the workforce’s technical skills but enables employers to learn new skills to apply to their respective businesses. COJG offers funding up to $10,000 or 2/3rds of training costs for eligible training programs per employee. This grant covers any third-party training conducted for new and existing employees.
Apprenticeship Tax Credits
If you’re operating a skilled trained business and wish to bring on an apprentice who is working towards their prescribed trade hours, then you’re eligible to claim the Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit. The tax credit is a non-refundable credit up to 10% of eligible wages of the apprentice or a maximum of $2,000 per year which can be claimed on the businesses tax return.
Summer Students
Any organization with less than 50 employees in the Public/Private sector or a Not-For-Profit can benefit from the Canada Summer Jobs Grant. Not-For-Profits can receive funding up to 100% while the public-sector employers can receive funding up to 50% of the minimum hourly wage. However, there are a few conditions which are required to be met;
- Each employer must provide quality work experience so the youth can improve and develop their skills
- Employ youth aged 15-30 and will be returning to school
Youth Career Development Fund (YCDF)
YCDF offers funding for any organization which includes Not-For-Profits, Provincial/Territorial/Municipal Governments, Aboriginal & For-Profit Companies that plan and deliver activities for youth to make knowledgeable career decisions as long as the planned project or activity is Non-commercial and not being intended to generate profit. Up to a maximum of 80% of financial assistance can be provided for costs related to planning and carrying out the proposed youth career focused activity. Following criteria must be met by each organization planning any project activities focusing around youth’s career advancement:
- Minimum of 8 youth participants must be present
- Activities must be conducted in rural and remote regions
- All planned projects should aim to advance youth employability skills
Opportunities Fund Program
The opportunities fund program is aimed towards helping individuals with disabilities prepare for the workforce and enable them to have financial independence. Any organization can partake this grant as long as sincere efforts are made to help individuals with disabilities and offer variety of activities which can potentially lead to attaining employment or self-employment. Funding for such efforts is limited to the budget each year and varies in terms of the total costs related to the activities. This is a great way to help individuals with disabilities find their financial freedom.
Youth Canada Works (YCW) Program
Young Canada Works offers many programs and incentives for organizations who employ students so they can gain industry experience and help prepare them for the workforce. See below some of the programs offered by Youth Canada Works:
- YCW in Heritage Organizations
- YCW in Both Official Languages
- YCW at Building Careers in Heritage Internship
- YCW at Building Careers in Both Languages Internship
Please click here to access the complete details and the requirements for each of the programs offered by YCW.
Registration – Website and Mobile App
To start off, all employers should register an online account with Government Grants & Contributions Online Service: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/funding.html
This will enable each employer to create a profile and have access to funding opportunities to apply across Employment & Social Development Canada. In addition to viewing all approved active projects and applications.
We also recommend you download an application called “Canada Business” published by the Canadian government. The application lists the latest government grants for small businesses, and plenty more resources and links.
For a detailed list of all Government Grants and Subsidies mentioned above please visit the following ink: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/business/hire/wagesubsidiesotherassistanceprograms.html
That’s a Wrap
These government grants for small businesses and tax credits are a perfect way to hire extra help and offset some of your business expenses. This not only opens doors for potential interns/apprentices to take on full-time positions at a later date, but a great way to hire the right employees by utilizing some of these wage subsidies and assistance programs. Email us at info@thinkaccounting.ca or call any one of our team members at 905.565.0095 and see how we can make your life easier, so you can get back to thriving your business.
