Home office expenses for employees eligible to claim on 2020 tax return.

Employees who worked from home more than 50% of the time over a period of a least four consecutive weeks in 2020 due to the pandemic will be eligible to claim the home office expenses deduction for 2020.

There are two options for employees when claiming these expenses on their 2020 tax return. The temporary flat rate method and the detailed method.

Temporary flat rate method

Applies to: Eligible employees working from home in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With this method:

• you can claim $2 for each day you worked from home in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, up to a maximum of $400 by completing Form T777S and attaching it to you tax return.
• your employer is not required to complete and sign Form T2200
• you are not required to keep documents to support your claim

Eligibility: To use this method to claim the home office expenses, you must meet all of the following conditions:

• You worked from home in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• You worked more than 50% of the time from home for a period of at least four consecutive weeks in 2020
• You are only claiming home office expenses and are not claiming any other employment expenses
• Your employer did not reimburse you for all of your home office expenses

Detailed method

Applies to: eligible employees working from home in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic who’s employer required them to work from home or gave them the choice to work from home.

With this method:

• you can claim the actual amounts you paid, supported by documents
• you must have a completed and signed Form T2200S / Form T2200 from your employer

Eligibility for the detailed method can be found here

Self-employed individuals should refer to Business-use-of-home expenses.

New eligible expenses for claiming the detailed method:

The CRA has expanded the list of eligible expenses that can be claimed as work-space-in-the-home expenses to include reasonable home internet access fees. A comprehensive list of eligible home office expenses has also been created. For employees choosing the detailed method, simplified Forms T2200S and T777S are required.

More information about this tax deduction can be found directly on the canada.ca website.