Live~NRGY

CRA says you’d better be working from home to claim home-office expenses | Ottawa Citizen

…”To be entitled to deduct home-office expenses, an employee must be “required by the contract of employment” to maintain such an office as certified by the employer on the T2200. It must also be either where the employee “principally” (more than 50 per cent of the time) performs their duties of employment or, alternatively, used exclusively to meet customers on a regular and continuous basis in the course of employment. (Note that for the 2023 tax year, the CRA said you can claim home-office expenses if your home workspace is where you principally worked for a period of at least four consecutive weeks during 2023.)”…

Nothwithstanding that CRA and a judge is correct with how the percentages of office to home use is calculated in this case…

There should be a realization that on the whole, office use for administrative purposes is a reality.

Given that this is 2024 and not the dark ages of to hell with paperwork…

The new digital era of communication has fundamentally changed the way the way we communicate and for all intents and purposes, so has administrative tasks and where they are performed.

Whether by agreement with an employer, employee or self-employed people, using mobile devices has been a game changer where you are no longer tied to a landline and office desk and chair.

If an employer fails or omits to certify a specific location and then an employee declares one in some fashion, either by location or otherwise, then there is a duty by standards to make allowance for administrative purposes.

For example – in 2006 I decided to eliminate an office altogether. Going entirely digital in my work truck. No more mountains of paperwork on the desktop and shuffling stacks all over the place. Failed miserably. Impossible to eliminate an office desk somewhere, even by today’s standards. Now caught up between both. However, my goal remains the same for the moment. NO MORE OFFICES. PERIOD END OF STORY.

It will take time, but the mobile office affords the same as a physical office, albeit no desk and chair and wherever I happen to be, sit and do paperwork. Yes deductions will change too in the process. However, disqualifying expenses should be avoided and decided upon a broad consensus of administrative activities and the benefits that ensue as a result.

The good news for those no longer claiming home office use percentages… taxes on your capital gains in your principal residence will follow suit.

The bottom line is this…

A declaration of the location of administrative work should be allowable even if there is no physical location.

That way, everyone is on the same page.

Choosing one that makes sense and helps you in your work, reduces tax liabilities and increases competitiveness, instead of hindering, impeding, slowing down and costing businesses time and money.