# Employment expenses you can deduct

> Most employees can't deduct work costs, but some can. The T2200 your employer signs, salaried and commission rules, vehicles, tradespeople's tools and records.

- Web page: https://taxnotes.ca/guides/employment-expenses/
- For: Individuals & families · Topic: Work and pay
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-10

Most employees can't deduct the costs of their job. You can deduct certain expenses only if your employment contract required you to pay them and your employer didn't pay you back, and for most claims your employer has to sign Form T2200 confirming it.

## The basic test

You may be able to deduct expenses you paid to earn your employment income, including the GST/HST on them, if your employment contract required you to pay them and you didn't receive an allowance for them (or the allowance is included in your income). Travel between home and work, and most tools and clothing, aren't deductible: they're personal costs.

For most employment expenses, your employer completes and signs **Form T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment**. Keep it with your records rather than sending it in. Legal fees you paid to collect salary or wages owed to you are an exception: they don't need one.

## If you're paid a salary or wages

If you meet the conditions for each, you may be able to claim:

- **Vehicle, travel and parking costs**, if you were normally required to work away from your employer's place of business or in different places and had to pay these costs yourself. Travel covers fares, lodging and meals. Meals count only if you were away at least 12 hours in a row from the municipality (and metropolitan area) of the workplace you normally report to, and at most 50% of the cost (or of a reasonable amount, if less) is deductible. Parking at your employer's office generally isn't.
- **Supplies** you use up directly in your work, such as paper, pens, ink and postage, but not equipment such as a computer, printer, desk or software.
- **Office rent**, or **pay for an assistant or substitute**, if your contract requires it.
- **Work-space-in-the-home costs**: see [working from home](https://taxnotes.ca/guides/working-from-home-expenses/).

If your employer paid you a non-taxable vehicle allowance (generally one based only on a reasonable per-kilometre rate), you can't also claim vehicle costs unless they were higher than the allowance and you choose to include the allowance in your income.

## If you earn commissions

If you sell goods or negotiate contracts for your employer, are paid at least partly by commission, normally work away from your employer's place of business and must pay your own expenses, you can claim more, including advertising and promotion, half of what you spend entertaining clients, licences you need for the job, training that maintains or upgrades your existing skills, and the work share of leasing a computer or cell phone.

The catch: apart from interest and capital cost allowance (CCA) on your vehicle, your total claim can't be more than the commissions you received in the year. If your expenses are higher, you can claim as a salaried employee instead: you lose items like advertising, but your claim isn't capped. Use whichever method gives the larger deduction.

## Your vehicle

You can deduct the employment share of fuel and electricity, maintenance and repairs, insurance, licence and registration fees, CCA, interest on a loan to buy the vehicle and leasing costs. CCA, interest and leasing costs on a passenger vehicle are capped.

Your employment share comes from your kilometres, and driving between home and work counts as personal. Log each work trip (date, destination, purpose and distance) and the odometer reading at the start and end of the year.

## Tradespeople's tools

If you're employed in a trade, you can deduct part of the cost of eligible new tools you bought in the year, including a toolbox and similar equipment, if your employer certifies on Form T2200 that you had to provide them. You can deduct only the part of the cost above a threshold amount, up to $1,000, and your income from the trade also limits it; the CRA's line 22900 page has the formula. Cell phones and computers don't qualify unless they can only measure, locate or calculate. Attach a list of the tools and your receipts to the T2200 and keep them. If you later sell a tool you claimed, part of the price may be income.

Apprentice mechanics, transport employees, forestry workers and employed artists and musicians have their own rules.

## Records and how to claim

Keep a daily record of your expenses with receipts, travel ticket stubs, invoices, credit card statements and your vehicle log, for at least six years from the end of the tax year. Receipts should show the date, the seller's name and address, your name and address, what you bought and the GST/HST paid. If you can't support a claim, the CRA may reduce it.

Fill out Form T777, Statement of Employment Expenses, and enter the total as other employment expenses (line 22900). If your expenses included GST/HST, you may be able to get that tax back with Form GST370. What the deduction saves depends on your tax rate; try the [income tax calculator](https://taxnotes.ca/calculators/income-tax/).

## If you live in Quebec

If you're a salaried or commission employee deducting expenses on your Quebec return, your employer must also fill out Revenu Québec's Form TP-64.3-V, General Employment Conditions, which you enclose with Form TP-59-V or a detailed statement of your expenses. Other employees, such as transport employees, forestry workers and tradespeople, use their own Quebec forms.

## In short

- Your contract must require the expense, and it can't be reimbursed or covered by a non-taxable allowance.
- Get a signed T2200 (and a TP-64.3-V in Quebec).
- Commission employees can claim more, but generally only up to their commissions.

## Sources

1. [Line 22900 – Other employment expenses](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-22900-other-employment-expenses.html) (canada.ca)
2. [Motor vehicle expenses (employment expenses)](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-22900-other-employment-expenses/motor-vehicle-expenses.html) (canada.ca)
3. [T2200 Declaration of Conditions of Employment](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/forms/t2200.html) (canada.ca)
4. [Guide to the Income Tax Return 2025, TP-1.G-V (Revenu Québec)](https://www.revenuquebec.ca/documents/en/formulaires/tp/2025-12/TP-1.G-V%282025-12%29.pdf) (revenuquebec.ca)
5. [Employment Expenses 2025, IN-118-V (Revenu Québec)](https://www.revenuquebec.ca/documents/en/publications/in/IN-118-V%282025-12%29.pdf) (revenuquebec.ca)

Tax figures in this guide come from the TaxNotes.ca rates tables (https://taxnotes.ca/rates/), which cite the Canada Revenue Agency and, for Quebec, Revenu Québec.

Last reviewed: October 10, 2026

How to cite: "Employment expenses you can deduct", TaxNotes.ca, last reviewed 2026-10-10, https://taxnotes.ca/guides/employment-expenses/. For a figure or rule, also cite the official source listed above.

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