Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees have unexpectedly shifted to a “work from home” environment. In response, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has made the home office expense deduction available to more Canadians and simplified the method for claiming this deduction on their personal income tax returns for the 2020 tax year.

The new simplified method allows eligible employees to claim a flat rate deduction and does not require the employee to obtain a T2200S claim form signed by their employer or to keep supporting documents.

Employees still have the option to use the existing detailed method instead of the simplified method mentioned above. Employees can determine their eligibility to use the detailed method by referring to the CRA link below. Employees who determine they are eligible to use the detailed method may request a signed copy of the T2200S claim form by contacting Payroll at payroll@tbh.net. Payroll will provide the T2200S only to employees who were approved by Human Resources to work from home during the pandemic. Payroll will also not provide any tax advice or guidance on your eligibility for either option listed above.  In order to determine your eligibility for this deduction and for further information on the calculation, please refer to this CRA link or speak to your professional tax preparer.