Shortly after CERS was launched, Caitlin Butler of the VTN team noted an issue with the attestation required from Representatives when applying for ZA accounts, and the VTN team communicated the issue to CPA Canada. Today, CPA Canada issued the following notice:
As previously reported, the CRA has opened the application portal for the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS). Under the process, the first step is to create a ZA number for the business. If this is done in My Business Account, an authorized person for the business must click a box to acknowledge the following statement:
"Confirmation (required) - I confirm that this business is eligible for CERS and that I want to create a CERS number."
Unfortunately, the same text is now included in Represent a Client, and from that perspective, the reference to “I” is now the representative and not the authorized person from the business. As a CPA cannot provide assurance on whether a client is eligible for the CERS without doing a report in prescribed form, it would appear that members will not be able to create a ZA account for clients until this issue is resolved.
When a CERS claim is submitted, the representative confirmation is essentially the same as the CEWS confirmation and is not an issue. So, if the client can create the ZA number, a CPA can still make a claim on behalf of the client pending resolution of this issue.
We have brought this issue to the attention of CRA. We believe that the CRA will adjust the wording for representatives to confirm that the representative has been asked by the business to create the ZA number and will be assisting the business with CERS claims.