Some Canadians say they were shocked and alarmed to learn they may have to pay back thousands of dollars in pandemic benefits after receiving letters from the Canada Revenue Agency last week suggesting they may not have qualified for the Canada emergency response benefit in the first place.

The CRA is encouraging Canadians who got the letters to pay back the CERB by Dec. 31 so it does not negatively affect their tax returns.

Recipients of the letters have told CBC News they are being targeted because they used their gross income, including expenses. For a self-employed person that could include work-related cell phone bills or equipment needed to do their work.

Alison Griffiths says she was shocked to find that the CRA didn't count those expenses towards her overall income.

"I was completely taken aback, and I thought, OK, this is a typo," said Griffiths, an author of books on personal finance and a former Toronto Star financial columnist and CBC host.

"I immediately went back to the paperwork that I had copied and went back onto the internet. And I thought OK, this definitely is a mistake because I did not see the word 'net' anywhere."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadians-told-to-pay-back-cerb-cra-1.5834950