Officials have removed the $75 in tax taken off NWT Wildfire evacuees’ $750 relief payments.
A notice sent out by the GNWT shortly after 8 p.m. says “Starting immediately, eligible residents will now receive the full $750 as a one-time payment, without any withholding tax.”
To date, the notice reads, the GNWT has doled out $3.1 million. It adds anyone who receives $750 under the Evacuee Income Disruption Support (EIDS) program for leaving the territory will no longer have to pay withholding tax on the payment.
“Initial EIDS payments from the GNWT deducted a 10% withholding tax, meaning that residents received $675 instead of the full $750. Residents who previously received a payment of $675 will soon receive an additional payment of $75.
“Since the EIDS replaces employment income it is taxable and under normal circumstances the withholding tax would be applied. However, in these extraordinary circumstances the withholding tax is not being applied, but EIDS payments will remain taxable. All residents who receive an EIDS payment will be issued a T4A slip and must declare the $750 on their 2023 tax returns.”
As of Sept. 5, more than 8,300 applications have been received for both the EIDP and the Evacuation Travel Support Program (ETSP) and the GNWT says roughly 6,000 of those have been processed. Of those, around 800 EIDS payments have been issued and approximately 4,600 ETSP payments have been made out. The GNWT says 40 government employees have been re-assigned to process EIDP and ETSP applications.
Apply to either program by visiting the following links: