Claiming moving expenses

[amandalee-3darti]

I moved to Canada on working holiday visa and was living temporarily in Vancouver in a hostel for 2 weeks. I received a job offer in Toronto that required me to move, can I claim the cost of my flight and temporary accommodation in Toronto??

[TurboTaxJeffrey · Accepted solution]

No you are not able to claim moving expenses.  You are only able to claim if you move from one Canadian residence to another...your temporary stay in Vancouver does not qualify as a Canadian residency.

[guy3]

Not actually the case, but you need to fight CRA to get it. I filed an appeal on moving costs back to Canada to get a job being disallowed. I was told by the lawyer representing CRA a number of others filed similar appeals. Prior to the cases being heard in Federal Court the lawyer directed in writing CRA to allow the deductions as the Income Tax Act was not clear on this CRA policy. (As an aside the CRA employees involved were furious and dragged their feet for over a year and a half on giving me my refund, saying their lawyer was wrong. Finally I started to re-open the case in Federal Court which got another CRA lawyer involved who convinced the obstinate CRA employees to give me the refund.)

[TurboTaxJeffrey]

To claim moving expenses from outside Canada to Canada for a new work location one has to be a deemed resident or a factual resident.

[TurboTaxJeffrey]

You said you moved BACK to Canada...so you likely qualified as a factual resident.  For someone with no residential ties to Canada, they can not claim any costs for moving to Canada.

[guy3]

Yes I had been working outside Canada for about a year, then moved back to Canada to work at a job here.

[TurboTaxJeffrey]

You had residential ties.  But for the person who made the original query, he wouldn't be a factual resident.  He would not be able to make any claim.  In his case, I would hope the work that he did in Canada had a compensation that made the trip worthwhile.