Other employment expenses (line 22900)

If you are an employee and your employer requires you to pay expenses to earn your employment income, you may be able to deduct certain expenses, including any GST/HST. Those Other employment expenses go on line 22900.

Two conditions come before everything else. You can do this only if your employment contract required you to pay the expenses, and you did not receive an allowance for them — or the allowance you received is included in your income.

Most employees cannot claim employment expenses. You cannot deduct the cost of travel to and from work, or other expenses such as most tools and clothing. Those are personal.

What you can claim

What you can deduct depends on the type of work you perform and whether you meet specific conditions. Broadly, the categories are:

Accounting and legal fees paid to collect or establish a right to collect salary or wages, or other amounts that must be reported in employment income
Motor vehicle expenses — fuel and electricity, maintenance and repairs, insurance, licence and registration fees, capital cost allowance, eligible interest on a loan used to buy the vehicle, and eligible leasing costs
Travelling expenses — food, beverage, lodging, and transportation such as airplane, train, or bus
Parking costs related to earning your employment income
Supplies you had to provide and pay for under your contract of employment
Salaries you paid to a substitute or assistant
Office rent
Home office expenses, including work-space-in-the-home expenses, office supplies, and employment use of a cell phone
Meals and lodging (including showers) if you are a transport employee
A power saw if you work in forestry operations
Eligible tools if you are a tradesperson or an employed apprentice mechanic

Capital cost allowance (CCA) is worth a word, because it is the odd one out. You cannot deduct the cost of a property, such as a vehicle or a musical instrument, that you use to earn your income. You can deduct a portion of the property's cost instead, spread over the years you own it. That portion is capital cost allowance.

What does not qualify

Travel between home and work. The CRA considers driving back and forth between home and work to be personal use. It cannot be claimed at all.
Parking at your employer's office, such as monthly or daily parking fees, and the cost of traffic infractions such as speeding tickets. These are personal and cannot be claimed.
Most tools and clothing, outside the eligible-tools rules for tradespeople and apprentice mechanics.
Anything used for something other than the work. Supplies are only those materials you use directly in your work, and for no other purpose.

If you are self-employed rather than an employee, none of this line applies; business expenses are set out in Guide T4002, Self-employed Business, Professional, Commission, Farming, and Fishing Income.

Form T2200 — the employer's declaration

For most of these claims your employer has to complete Form T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment, and you keep it with your records. That covers supplies, salaries, office rent, work-space-in-the-home, a power saw, and motor vehicle expenses. An electronic signature is accepted.

Two versions carry extra certification:

A tradesperson claiming eligible tools needs question 12 of Part C completed, certifying that the tools were bought and provided by you as a condition of your employment. Attach to Form T2200 a list of the tools you are claiming and the related receipts.
An apprentice mechanic needs question 13 of Part C completed, with the same list and receipts attached.

A completed Form T2200 is not required for the accounting and legal fees claim.

You do not send Form T2200 in with your return. You keep it. That catches people out, because the form arrives looking like something to file.

Records that are not receipts

Some parts of this line are supported by a record you write rather than a document someone hands you.

Motor vehicle. Keep a record for each vehicle showing both the total kilometres you drove and the kilometres you drove for employment in the year. If you use a vehicle for both employment and personal use, only the employment share is deductible, and this record is what shows it. Calculate each vehicle separately.

Capital cost allowance. Keep a record of the motor vehicles or musical instruments you bought and sold. It has to show who sold it to you, the cost, and the date you bought it. If you sell or trade one, show the date on your bill of sale, along with the amount you received from the sale or trade-in.

Transport employees. Form TL2, Claim for Meals and Lodging Expenses, is completed in Parts 1 and 2 by you and in Part 3 by your employer, and kept rather than filed. Under the simplified or batching meal method you need a detailed trip log book but no meal receipts; under the detailed method you need both receipts and a log. Lodging and shower costs always need receipts. Trips to the United States need a detailed trip list attached.

Forestry. Keep a statement breaking down the cost of running the power saw with your records and receipts.

Cell phone. You need to be able to show that the cellular minutes or data were consumed directly in performing your employment duties, and what they cost. The plan cost is divided between employment and personal use on a reasonable basis.

Work space in the home. The space qualifies if you worked more than half the time from home for at least four consecutive weeks, or if you use the space only to earn employment income and regularly meet clients there. Home internet access fees can be included. The claim cannot create or increase an employment loss; what you cannot use this year carries forward.

What your receipts must show

Here the CRA is exact. Your receipts for the purchase of merchandise or services have to show:

the date you made the purchase
the name and address of the seller or supplier
your name and address
a full description of the goods or services you bought
information regarding the GST/HST you paid on your expenses, or the rate of tax if you are claiming the GST/HST rebate for employees

A till slip with no supplier name and no description does not meet that standard. It is the description and the seller's details that usually go missing, not the amount.

If you paid GST/HST on expenses you deducted, you may be able to get a rebate of it using Form GST370, Employee and Partner GST/HST Rebate Application.

What to keep

You have to keep records for each year you claim expenses. These records must include:

a daily record of your expenses, together with your receipts and any cancelled cheques
any ticket stubs for travel
invoices
any monthly credit card statements
a record of each motor vehicle you used for employment, showing the total kilometres and the employment kilometres

Include Form T777, Statement of Employment Expenses, with your income tax and benefit return. Do not send your records or receipts — keep them in case the CRA asks to see them. If you do not keep the necessary information, the CRA may reduce your claim.

Generally, keep your records, whether paper or electronic, for at least six years from the end of the tax year to which they apply.

Dossier tags an employment expense receipt as it arrives, files it under the tax year, and flags one that is missing the supplier's details or a description of what was bought — the two fields the CRA names and the two most often absent.

Official CRA sources

Source: Canada Revenue Agency (canada.ca). Not tax advice.