Cell phone required by work

[carjoohn]

I work as a firefighter and my work requires me to have a phone on me at all times. I have been issued a t2200. Can I write off my whole amount minus data? 

[ayseleren18]

Thank you for choosing TurboTax,

If you use your cell phone for both personal and employment use, you can only claim a portion of its cost as an employment expense.  You need the T2200 from the employer completed to claim. If you use a cell phone 100% for employment-related, you can claim the whole amount as a deduction. Recently, where a detailed log of personal vs employment calls was not provided to the CRA, they denied the expense related to the calls but allowed the cost related to the data.  While this does not, and will not apply to everyone in all circumstances and situations, it is very important to have detailed records available.

Please visit our Turbotax article on T2200 Form: Deduct your employment expenses in Canada to learn more about how to file the T2200 Form.

[Assistant]

As per CRA:

You can deduct a part of a basic cell phone service plan if all of the following conditions are met: 

• the cost of the plan is reasonable
•  the minutes or data were used for employment purposes
•  the cost of the plan has been divided between employment use and personal use on a reasonable basis

You cannot deduct amounts paid to connect or license the cell phone.

Most employees cannot deduct the costs to buy or lease a cell phone. However, commissioned employees may be able to deduct the cost to lease a cell phone as long as the costs related to earning commission income.

For more information please follow the link: Employment Expenses 2020 

Thank you for using TurboTax.