Some employers require their employees to pay for their own expenses to be able to perform their job. Whether you are paid a salary or a commission, your employer has to approve and sign the T2200 Declaration of Condition of Employment form which lists the expenses and whether or not you have been reimbursed.

You don’t file the T2200 with your tax return; you need it for reference in case CRA requests a copy. Instead, you are required to fill the T777 Statement of Employment Expenses to calculate your allowable expenses for the tax year.

Eligible Expenses

There is a specified list of expenses you can claim as a salaried employee. The expenses are claimed as a deduction on line 22900 of your income tax return to reduce your taxable income. Keep in mind that you cannot claim a loss on line 22900, but you can transfer the unused amount to future years.

Accounting and legal fees:

You can deduct any legal fees you paid to establish the right to collect your salary. You must reduce your claim by any amount awarded to you for those fees or any reimbursement you received for your legal expenses.

Note: Salaried employees are not eligible for accounting fees.

Traveling Expenses:

You can deduct traveling costs if:

  • You were required to work away from your employer’s workplace
  • You were required to travel to multiple places to perform your duty
  • You had to pay your own expenses
  • You have a signed T2200

You can claim 50% of food and beverages and claim the full amount of lodging expenses you incurred while you were away. You can also claim transportation costs other than your motor vehicle expense such as airplanes, trains, and buses.

The maximum allowable meals are 3 meals per day. You can use the detailed method and deduct the actual meal cost, or you can use the simplified method and deduct a flat rate of $17 per meal (to a maximum of $51 per day). Regardless of which method you use, you have to keep the receipts for proof of purchase.

Parking

Although you cannot deduct the parking expenses at your main work location, you can deduct parking expenses related to earning your employment income if you were required to work away from it (i.e. meeting a client).

Supplies

You can deduct the supplies you used directly for your work and not for personal use:

  • Cellphone service plan – the portion related to your employment income
  • Office supplies: pens, paper, etc.
  • Special clothing: you can only deduct the cost of clothing that cannot be used for any other occasion such as clown costume, wigs, nurse scrubs, etc.

You cannot deduct the expenses of suits, dresses, and dress shoes even if you don’t normally wear them. CRA covers these expenses under the Canada Employment Amount credit.

Also, you cannot claim a deduction for capital expenses such as computers, printers, headphones, etc. under the employment expenses deduction.

Salary Expenses

If you hire someone else to help you with your work, you can deduct the salary you paid as long as your T2200 specifies the need for such costs.

You will have to withhold tax and remit EI and CPP (or QPP), and file a T4 to CRA (and RL-1 for Quebec residents).

Office Rent

If it was mandatory under your contract to rent an office space, you can deduct the portion related to your work. This is different than home-office-expenses.

For example;

If you use 10% of your total home space for work, you can only claim 10% of the total rent amount. However, if you rent an office space that is used for this work only, you can claim the full amount.

Home Office Expenses

It is also called work-space-in-the-home-office. You can deduct expenses related to the use of workspace in your home if you had to pay them under your employment contract. To be eligible, you need to use the work space more than 50% of your work time to earn income.

As a salaried employee, you can claim:

  • Utilities (heat, power, water, etc.)
  • Rent
  • Maintenance (current expenses only)
  • A signed T2200

As a salaried employee, you cannot claim expenses such as property taxes, insurance, or mortgage interest. As some of these expenses can only be claimed by commissioned employees.

Motor vehicle expenses

You can deduct motor vehicle expenses if:

  • You were required to work away from your employer’s workplace
  • You had to pay your own expenses under your employment contract
  • You did not receive a taxable benefit (not included in your T4) for the same expenses

The eligible expenses you can deduct include:

Employer’s reimbursement

If your employer paid a non-taxable benefit to cover any of your expenses, you will have to deduct the paid benefit from your expenses. If your employer paid a taxable benefit that would be reported on your income slip, you can deduct the full employment expense since the employer already withheld taxes from the amount.

GST/HST rebate

If you deduct these expenses from your employment income that includes GST/HST, you may be able to get a rebate of the GST or HST you paid on these expenses. Complete the GST370, Employee and Partner GST/HST Rebate Application, and claim the rebate on line 45700 of your income tax and benefit return.

Salaried and commissioned employees who reside in Quebec should complete the TP-64.3-V form and signed it by their employers. Complete the TP-59-V form to claim the expenses in your TP-1-V tax return.

TurboTax software offers an easy step-by-step guide to report your employment expenses and file related forms. Consider TurboTax Live Assist & Review if you need further guidance, and get unlimited help and advice as you do your taxes, plus a final review before you file. Or, choose TurboTax Live Full Service* and have one of our tax experts do your return from start to finish.

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