Form T2200: Claim Your Home Office Expenses
If your employer required you to work from home, you may be able to deduct part of your rent, utilities, and internet. This guide walks you through Form T2200 step by step.
What is a T2200?
Form T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment, is the paper trail for employment expenses. Your employer completes it. Your employer signs it. The form certifies that your job required you to pay certain expenses yourself.
You do not send the T2200 to the CRA with your return. Keep it with your records in case the CRA asks to see it.
Your expenses are calculated on Form T777, Statement of Employment Expenses. The total from line 9368 of Form T777 goes on line 22900 of your tax return. That is how the claim reaches your return.
This guide is based on the CRA's T4044 Employment Expenses guide for the 2025 tax year (dated 2026-01-20). Its home-office rules cover 2023 or later tax years, which includes 2026. 2026-tax-year editions of the T4044, T777, and T2200 have not been published yet [VERIFY].
Who can claim? The detailed method
All home-office claims now use the detailed method: a signed T2200, your actual expenses, and documents to back them up. Work through each check below. You need "yes" all the way down.
The requirement does not have to be in your employment contract. A written or verbal agreement is enough. If you voluntarily entered a formal telework arrangement with your employer, you count as required to work from home.
Move to check 2.
A requirement is needed. If working from home was purely your own choice with no agreement, you do not qualify.
You had to cover these costs yourself — out of your own pocket.
Move to check 3.
You cannot claim expenses you were not required to pay.
You meet this check through either branch: you worked more than 50% of the time from your home work space for at least 4 consecutive weeks in the year — or you use the work space only to earn employment income, and you use it regularly and continually for in-person meetings with clients, customers, or other people while doing your work.
Move to check 4.
You do not meet the home-office test for this year.
You cannot claim any expense your employer has reimbursed or will reimburse.
You can likely claim. Ask your employer to complete and sign Form T2200.
Reimbursed amounts are not claimable.
What you can claim
You claim a portion of each expense, based on the share of your home used for work (see How to calculate). In short:
- Rent — your share based on work-use percentage
- Electricity, heat, and water
- The utilities portion of condo fees
- Home internet access fees
- Maintenance and minor repairs
- Office supplies used up doing your job
If you earn a salary
| Expense | Notes |
|---|---|
| Rent | Rent paid for the house or apartment where you live, prorated by work use. |
| Electricity, heat, water | Claim the work-use portion of each bill. |
| Condo fees | Only the utilities portion (electricity, heat, water) of the fees. |
| Home internet access fees | Your monthly access fees, prorated. See the "can't claim" list for what is excluded. |
| Maintenance and minor repairs | Small fixes that keep the space working, prorated by work use. |
| Office supplies | Items used up while directly doing your job: pens, paper, envelopes, toner, and similar. |
| Cell phone — basic plan | Claimable only if all conditions are met: the plan cost is reasonable, the cost is reasonably split between work and personal use, and you can show the minutes or data used directly for work (and what they cost). |
| Long-distance calls | Calls made for employment purposes are claimable. |
Extra items if you earn commissions
| Expense | Notes |
|---|---|
| Home insurance | Work-use portion. Salaried employees cannot claim this. |
| Property taxes | Work-use portion. Salaried employees cannot claim this. |
| Equipment lease | Lease of a cell phone, computer, laptop, tablet, or fax machine that reasonably relates to earning commission income. |
| Advertising and promotion | Business cards, promotional gifts, and advertisements. |
| Client entertainment | Food, beverages, tickets, and entrance fees — 50% of the lesser of what you paid or a reasonable amount. |
Office supplies — examples. The CRA lists items that are used up while directly performing your job:
- Envelopes, folders, and stationery items
- Highlighters, pens, and pencils
- Ink cartridges and toner
- Notebooks and sticky notes
- Paper clips and binder clips
- Printer paper and specialty paper
- Stamps and postage
What you can't claim
These are off the table, even with a signed T2200:
- Mortgage interest and principal mortgage payments
- Home internet connection fees — the cost to set up or install the service. (Monthly access fees are claimable.)
- Furniture, including desks and chairs
- Capital expenses — for example, replacing windows, flooring, or a furnace
- Wall decorations
- Commuting — travel to and from your regular workplace
- Most tools and clothing
- Buying equipment — if you are salaried, you cannot deduct the cost of a cell phone, computer, or fax machine you bought, nor the capital cost allowance or interest on money borrowed to buy it
- Property taxes and home insurance — if you are salaried (commission employees can claim a portion)
The internet wording matters. "Home internet access fees" (your monthly bill) can be claimed. "Home internet connection fees" (installation or hookup) cannot. Use the CRA's exact words on your records.
Commission employees: the extra rules
If part or all of your pay is commission, a few extra rules apply on top of everything above.
Entertainment. For client entertainment — food, beverages, tickets, entrance fees — the maximum deduction is 50% of the lesser of what you actually paid and an amount that is reasonable in the circumstances.
Meals while travelling. Food and beverages are deductible only if your employer requires you to be away for at least 12 consecutive hours from the municipality or metropolitan area where you normally work. The 50% limit applies here too.
The commission cap. Except for interest and capital cost allowance (CCA) on your vehicle, the total expenses you deduct cannot be more than the commissions (or similar amounts) you received in the year.
An alternative. You may instead claim as a salaried employee. That removes the commission cap — but you give up the advertising and promotion claim.
How to calculate your claim
Step 1 — work-use percentage. Divide your work-space area by your home's total finished area.
Work-use % = workspace square footage ÷ total finished square footage.
Only count finished areas — not the garage, unfinished basement, or outdoor space.
Step 2 — shared space. If the room doubles as a living space (say, the kitchen table), adjust for the share of time it is used for work. A space used only for work needs no adjustment.
Step 3 — apply the percentage to each claimable expense, add them up on Form T777, and enter the total from line 9368 on line 22900 of your return.
Worked example
Example — illustrative numbers, not tax advice.
Want this math done for you? The eligibility checker and home office calculator runs the work-use percentage and the line items, and you can print the result as a PDF.
Carryforward: a narrow rule
The carryforward rule is narrower than many people think:
- It applies only to work-space-in-the-home expenses — not to every employment expense.
- You can deduct the carried amount in a later year only if you report income from the same employer.
Work-space expenses are limited to your employment income after all other employment expenses are deducted. They can never create or increase a loss from employment — not in the current year, and not through the carryforward.
The GST/HST rebate for employees
If you deducted employment expenses (line 21200 or line 22900), you may be able to get back some of the GST/HST you paid on those expenses.
How to claim. Complete Form GST370, Employee and Partner GST/HST Rebate Application. The rebate is claimed on line 45700 of your return.
Employer condition. Your employer must be a GST/HST registrant — but not a listed financial institution.
Timing. The rebate is reported as income on line 10400 of your return in the year you receive it.
Limit. You cannot claim a rebate for expenses for which you received a non-taxable allowance.
Motor vehicle and travel expenses
Driving for work has its own set of conditions. You can deduct motor vehicle expenses only if all of these are true:
- You were normally required to work away from your employer's place of business, or in different places.
- Your contract required you to pay your own motor vehicle expenses.
- You did not receive a non-taxable allowance for motor vehicle expenses. (An allowance based only on a reasonable per-kilometre rate is non-taxable.)
- You keep Form T2200 with your records.
One exception. If you received a non-taxable allowance but can show your expenses were higher — and you voluntarily include the allowance in your income — you can still deduct, if the other conditions are met.
Your trip record. The CRA does not use the word "logbook," but it does require a complete record. For each trip to earn employment income, record the date, destination, purpose, and number of kilometres. Also record your total kilometres for the year and the kilometres driven to earn employment income, plus each vehicle's odometer reading at the start and end of the year.
Parking. Parking costs related to earning your employment income are claimable on the "Parking" line of Form T777. Parking at your employer's office — monthly or daily fees — is generally not deductible, and neither are traffic tickets.
Assistant's salary. You can deduct the salary you paid (or that was paid for you and included in your income) to a substitute or assistant if your contract required you to pay for extra help, the helper is your employee, your employer will not repay you, and you keep Form T2200.
Tradesperson's tools. Separate rules apply. An eligible tool must be bought new for the job, certified by your employer as necessary (T2200, question 12), and must not be a communication or data device. The maximum deduction is the lesser of $1,000 and (A − $1,471), where A is the lesser of your total eligible tool cost and your tradesperson employment income. Enter it on the "Tradesperson's tools expenses" line of Form T777.
For employers: completing the T2200
What you are certifying. By completing and signing Form T2200, you confirm the employee's conditions of employment — for example, that the employee was required to work from home and was required to pay for expenses related to the work space. Only certify what is true.
Keep records. Keep a copy of each signed T2200 and the supporting details, in case the CRA asks.
Common mistake. Signing a T2200 when the conditions are not actually met — for example, when working from home was the employee's own choice with no requirement or agreement. If the conditions are not met, do not sign.
Quebec. In Quebec, the provincial counterpart is form TP-64.3-V, General Employment Conditions. The employer completes and signs it to certify that the employee meets the general conditions for employment.
The old simplified method (2020–2022)
During the pandemic, the CRA offered a temporary flat-rate method: $2 for each day worked from home, up to $400 per person for 2020 and $500 per person for 2021 and 2022. A shorter employer form, the T2200S, went with it.
The flat-rate method and the T2200S applied only to the 2020, 2021, and 2022 tax years. They do not apply to 2023 or later. Employees claiming home-office expenses for the 2026 tax year must use the detailed method: a signed T2200, actual expenses, and Form T777.
T2200 FAQs
Quick answers to the questions we hear most. More in the full FAQ.
No. Keep the signed T2200 with your records in case the CRA asks to see it. If you file a paper return, include Form T777 with it — the T2200 stays with you.
The detailed method requires a completed and signed T2200. Without it, you cannot claim these employment expenses. Talk to your employer or payroll team — they may simply be unfamiliar with the form. If the conditions on the form are not true for you, they should not sign it.
You need a requirement — but it does not have to be in your contract. A written or verbal agreement with your employer counts, and a formal telework arrangement counts as being required to work from home. If working from home was purely your own choice with no agreement at all, you do not qualify.
Keep your signed T2200, receipts, bills, and your work-use calculation. Generally, keep all records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. If you file late, the six years run from the date you file.
Yes. Quebec residents file a separate provincial return (form TP-1) alongside the federal return. For employment expenses, the provincial counterpart to the T2200 is form TP-64.3-V, General Employment Conditions, which the employer completes and signs to certify the employee's conditions of employment.
Still not sure you qualify?
Answer a few plain-language questions and get a clear read on your T2200 eligibility — plus an estimate of your home-office claim. No sign-up, no data stored.
Ready to file? See How to File for the full return walkthrough, or grab the Tax Season Checklist so nothing slips through the cracks.
This is general information, not tax advice. For your situation, consult a tax professional or the CRA.