Due to the coronavirus covid 19 pandemic millions of employees who ordinarily work at an office or other workplace provided by their employers are now working at home while you can no longer get a tax deduction for work at home expenses here are some other ways you can get reimbursed for these costs including as qualified disaster relief payments.
Can home office expenses be deducted during covid 19. Detailed information on home office expenses can be found on the cra s website. Full coverage at ctvnews ca coronavirus tracking every case of covid 19 in canada. Who can benefit from home office deduction during the covid 19 lockdown. We understand that due to covid 19 your working arrangements may have changed.
In addition to deduct office space expenses the employee s work space at home must be the place where the employee principally performs her duties. If you have been working from home you may have expenses you can claim a deduction for at tax time. For example if your work from home area is 400 square feet and your total home is 2 000 square feet you would be able to claim 20 400 2 000 of your home related expenses internet fees. While you can t take the home office deduction if your business operated at a loss you may be able to carry forward your expenses and take the deduction in the future savage added.
Required by the contract of employment an employee may deduct home office expenses only if the employee is required by the contract of employment to supply and or pay for them. As the covid 19 pandemic shifts employees from their offices to their homes many employees are left wondering whether they ll be able to deduct home office expenses from their employment income in their 2020 tax return. Tracking these expenses can be challenging so from 1 march to 30 june 2020 we have introduced a temporary shortcut method. Employees working from home during the covid 19 pandemic may be wondering whether additional costs they incur during this time will be deductible for income tax purposes.