News

CUE has issued 2020 T4 statements. Please check the InsideCUE post here on viewing instructions.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has announced a temporary simplified method to claim home expense deductions for the 2020 tax year, for employees who were required to work from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employees who were required to work from home due to COVID-19 more than 50 percent of the time for at least four consecutive weeks during the pandemic, can claim an amount of $2 per working day (up to a maximum deduction of $400) as eligible deductions on their 2020 income tax return. CRA definitions:

• Working day includes any day during which an employee performs work, at their home, for the employer. There are no minimum hours attached to this. Full-time and part-time employees may count any day on which they performed work for the employer.
• Non-working days such as weekends, statutory holidays, vacation or sick days are not counted.

This temporary simplified method for home expense deductions does not require employees to obtain any additional tax forms from their employer such as a T2200S, or to maintain documented receipts when filing 2020 income tax return. Therefore, Concordia University of Edmonton will NOT be issuing T2200S Declaration of Conditions of Employment for Working from Home Due to COVID-19 form, for employees who claim the simplified $2 per working day for home expenses.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) also provides a detailed method to claim home expense deductions for the 2020 tax year, for employees who were required to work from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Should you be eligible for home office expenses greater than $2 a day under the simplified method, you will need to have all supporting home expense documents. Go to the CRA website for information on the detailed method.

The CRA has created tools to assist in estimating detailed work from home expense deductions. Use the CRA tools to assist you in estimating your detailed work from home expense deductions. The following tools are available from CRA:

• A comprehensive list of eligible home office expenses; and
• A calculator to assist you in determining the eligible claim amount

Upon individual requests from employees and academic colleagues, CUE will issue T2200S Declaration of Conditions of Employment for Working at Home Due to COVID-19 form for employees and academic colleagues who are using the detailed method to claim home expenses deductions for the 2020 tax year.

Please email hr@concordia.ab.ca to request a signed T2200S Declaration of Conditions of Employment for Working at Home Due to COVID-19 form and include the email address you would like the T2200S to be sent to.

Canada Revenue Agency Home Office Expenses website: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/news/2020/12/simplifying-the-process-for-claiming-a-deduction-for-home-office-expenses-for-employees-working-from-home-due-to-covid-19.html

Statement of Employment Expenses for Working at Home due to COVID-19 T777S form: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/craarc/formspubs/pbg/t777s/t777s-20e.pdf