'Back-end’ validation of CERB claims possible only during 2021 tax season

But federal officials said the resolution of the fraudulent benefit claims could only be done during 2021 when taxes are filed.

CRA also officials also confirmed that all illegal claims could be settled in the months of Jan and Feb of 2021 when CRA officials start to get the T4 information from employers' summarizing individuals' earnings to enable the CRA officials to compare that to CERB claims.

All dishonest applicants of CERB would be forced to pay back any money they were not entitled to receive, said CRA officials, and added that they may not face any other dire consequences.

CERB implies that only those employees that have been forced to stop working because of the COVID-19 pandemic can apply for CERB.

It also implies that these recipients can earn up to $1,000 a month while receiving the benefit.

Although CRA officials believed that most Canadians are honest, one CRA official acknowledged that fraud rates for the $35-billion program could be higher than for most federal programs and could reach two or three percent.

The CRA officials who get only the annual total in a normal year, are still finalizing the plans to get the details of how much employees were paid on a monthly basis during the COVID-19 outbreak.

CRA officials recently introduced a new verification procedure of flagging "high risk" applications whenever there is any discrepancy or doubt.

All "high risk" applicants would be required to call a toll-free number to have their applications processed. 

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)