Home Office Expenses & T2200S
Tax season is coming again and many of you have questions about what working from home means for you and your claim. While we cannot give you tax advice, we have prepared a reference guide to help answer some of your questions about home office expenses for 2021.
It is the sole responsibility of an employee to determine their own eligibility to claim home office expenses, identify what is an eligible expense, calculations for a claim, and to reduce the claim by any amounts received or receivable from the University of Lethbridge.
Employees are encouraged to review the CRA website Home Office Expenses for Employees for more information and discuss your personal tax situation with your tax advisor. We have summarized some claim options below to provide context to this topic:
|
CRA Temporary Flat Rate Method |
CRA Temporary Detailed Method |
Eligibility |
|
|
What you can claim |
$2 per day you worked at home (excludes days off, vacation, holiday, sick or other absence)
Maximum of $500 |
Employment portion of actual amounts you paid while you worked from home. Cannot claim any expenses that were or will be reimbursed by your employer. |
Employer signed form required |
None |
T2200S Declaration of Conditions of Employment for Working at Home due to COVID-19 form |
How to claim |
Complete CRA Form T777S |
Complete CRA Form T777S |
Maintain with your tax return |
T777S |
|
Employees should decide before they complete their T1 Personal Tax return for 2021. Employees choosing the Detailed method must complete the T2200S request form online by its deadline of May 31, 2022.
No. Many different work requirements and arrangements occurred across campus during 2021 that Financial Services may not be aware of. It is the sole responsibility of an employee to determine their own eligibility to claim home office expenses, identify what is an eligible expense, calculate amounts, and reduce the claim by any amounts received or receivable from the University of Lethbridge.
No, you can only claim $2 for each eligible day you worked at home, full or part time.
Active employees as of February 2022 received an email from Kim Ordway with a link to the T2200S request form. Employees wanting the T2200S form must complete the request by May 31, 2022. All requests will be reviewed, and forms send via email within 5 business days.
Employees who worked from home during 2021 but are not active in February 2022, active employees who miss the May 31, 2022 form deadline, and research and student positions can request the T2200S form by emailing financial.services@uleth.ca with the following information:
Legal first and last name |
U of L ID number |
University Department you worked at during 2021 |
Declare if you did, or did not, work from home for the University of Lethbridge during 2021 for at least 4 consecutive weeks. |
Using the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) criteria, calculate the proportionate share of eligible expenses:
Can Be Claim |
Cannot be Claimed |
|
|
University staff cannot give tax advice. CRA has some great resources to help you, please navigate to their page entitled Home Office Expenses for Employees, including an online calculator. As well, you may wish to engage tax advice from a professional accounting firm.
For more information about home office expenses & T2200S, please contact financial.services@uleth.ca.