Canadians Could Get A Tax Break For Working From Home & That Means More Money Back (VIDEO)

Could this be the one good thing to come out of 2020? For tax deductions, work from home costs is one thing that Canadians might be able to claim. There are some requirements that need to be met though.

Canada has a work-space-in-the-home deduction that you can use if you work out of your house.

Expenses paid for the workspace at your place during the year you're filing your taxes for can be deducted if they meet one of two conditions.

The workspace has to be where you mainly do your work, more than 50% of the time.

Or, it has to be used only to earn employment income and it's used on a regular basis for meeting with clients, customers or other people as part of your employment duties.

As long as one of those conditions is met, you're on your way to a tax break. 

The other step, however, is that your employer would have to complete and sign Form T2200 which proves that working from home is a condition of your employment.

With work-space-in-the-home expenses, you can deduct part of the costs that relate to your home office like electricity, heating, property taxes, insurance and maintenance.

So the things you had to pay for to maintain where you work at home like cans of paint can be deducted if it was only used in your workspace and no other rooms.

Armando Minicucci, a partner with accounting firm Grant Thornton, told CBC that he expects there will be a big increase in how many Canadians claim this deduction.

For people who started to work remotely in March because of COVID-19, they will have worked at least half of the year from their houses by September.

"We're getting further and further along in this pandemic where a lot of employees are going to have exceeded the six-month mark, and in that situation, they should qualify," said Minicucci.

It's still unclear if those who haven't worked a full six months at their place during the pandemic will be allowed to claim the deduction.

Tax experts have asked the Canada Revenue Agency to clarify the rule.

However, even if you don't reach six months, you can still deduct some of the costs of supplies you needed to work.

"You're looking at things like pens, paper, ink cartridges for your printer at home," Minicucci said.

He said that items like printers and laptops aren't deductible.

Canada Revenue Agency had pushed back the filing deadline for 2019 income tax returns to June because of the pandemic.

Though you won't be charged late-filing fees or interest if your return and payment are made before September 1.