If you’re an employee who pays for various work-related expenses that your boss doesn’t cover, you may be able to get some tax relief when you file your 2018 tax return by claiming a deduction for valid employment expenses.
In his 2010 tax return, the taxpayer claimed a deduction for employment expenses of $4,013 which were denied by the CRA. The taxpayer objected to his reassessment and went to court. The trial lasted more than a day during which three witnesses testified and 13 exhibits were filed. The judge acknowledged that there may be “limited circumstances” where the requirement to produce a T2200 can be ignored. This can occur, said the judge, if you make “diligent and timely efforts prior to the tax return due date to obtain the form” provided “the circumstances are not circumstances where the employer refused to provide the form for a valid reason.” Lacking such circumstances, the absence of a T2200 is “fatal” to an employee’s claim for employment expenses.
For example, included among the taxpayer’s employment expense were copies of various restaurant bills. All but one of the receipts were for meals consumed in Toronto and therefore could not be claimed because of the tax rule that requires an employee to be away from their employer’s metropolitan area for at least 12 hours to claim a meal deduction. The one out-of-town restaurant expense claimed was for a trip the taxpayer made to London, Ont.