On December 15, 2020 the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) made an announcement of changes to simplify the home office expense deduction as a follow up the Fall Economic Statement 2020: Supporting Canadians and Fighting COVID-19.
The CRA has made the home office expenses deduction available to more Canadians, and simplified the way employees can claim these expenses on their personal income tax return for the 2020 tax year.
Employees who worked from home more than 50% of the time over a period of a least four consecutive weeks in 2020 due to COVID-19 will now be eligible to claim the home office expenses deduction for 2020. The use of a shorter qualifying period will ensure that more employees can claim the deduction than would otherwise have been possible under longstanding practice.
A new temporary flat rate method will allow eligible employees to claim a deduction of $2 for each day they worked at home in that period, plus any other days they worked from home in 2020 due to COVID-19 up to a maximum of $400. Under this new method, employees will not have to get Form T2200 or Form T2200S completed and signed by their employer
A simplify the process for employees choosing the detailed method, the CRA has launched simplified forms (Form T2200S and Form T777S) and a calculator designed specifically to assist with the calculation of eligible home office expenses.
Please contact me or your tax professional for me information.
Canada Revenue Agency (December 15, 2020)