Am I eligible to claim employment expenses due to COVID-19?

In 2020, 2021 and 2022, many people worked from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were two temporary simplified methods for the employment expense deduction.

Option 1: Temporary flat rate method

This is a per $2 diem allowance up to a $400 ceiling for 2020. After 2020, the ceiling is $500.

Requirements:

• Worked more than 50% of the time from home for four consecutive weeks or more in the year due to COVID-19
• Had home office expenses and no other employment expenses, and
• Received no reimbursement for home office expenses

The CRA provides an online calculator that will do the calculations and no documentation is required.

Option 2: Detailed method

This allows the deduction of actual expenses incurred. On Form T777S, working-from-home expenses fall into three basic types:

• Office supplies
• Other expenses
• Workspace-in-the-home expense
• Supporting documents must be kept

Other requirements:

• You worked:
  • More than 50% of the time from home for four consecutive weeks or more in the year due to COVID-19, or
  • In a dedicated workspace in the home regularly and continually for work-related meetings
• Paid for home office expenses as an employer’s requirement
• Incurred the expenses directly for work purposes
• Obtain a signed T2200 or T2200S

Eligible and ineligible expenses can be reviewed here: Detailed method. TurboTax will automatically do your calculations for either option, based on the answers you provide in the EasyStep questionnaire.