Tax exemptions and write offs?

[Rowdy]

Just wondering what can be written off and how to go about doing it?

Uniforms? medical fees? Headsets? charts etc?

Not even sure if it's 100% possible.. could someone shed some light on this for me?

Cheers,
Rowds

[Widow]

Just wondering what can be written off and how to go about doing it?

Uniforms? medical fees? Headsets? charts etc?

Not even sure if it's 100% possible.. could someone shed some light on this for me?

Cheers,
Rowds

I used to work at H&R Block as a tax preparer, so I can help with this a little. Any expenses that were required in order to carry out your job may be claimed. Your employer will have to fill out and sign a T2200 "Declaration of Conditions of Employment". Any reimbursements for said expenses also have to be claimed.

[xsbank]

There's not much, unless you work in the woods and can claim your chainsaw, or you're a musician and you can claim your cello.

When I go to work, I drive a car (the lease is not deductable) and I frequently wear a suit (the suit, shirts, tie, underwear and dry cleaning are not deductable) and I have a headset (which I claimed and got away with a long time ago). Once, I claimed a helmet which they swallowed too. Frequently you can get away with it, but if you get audited, except for the form that Widow suggests, you're toast.

This is why some contract out and pay all their own expenses, making it possible to deduct more, but the scumsuckers at RevCan declare that if you do most of your work with one firm, you are deemed to be an employee and will get screwed that way too.

[Rowdy]

The cat 1 medical is a requirement.. Without it I hold no licence.. So I'm assuming I can write that off with said form?

[xsbank]

Driver's license - without it I can't work (because of shifts/on call etc.) but try and write off your d/l.

RevCan is there to suck the life out of your income - good luck with getting away with it.

Problem is, if they find out, you will get audited for the rest of your life. I have a friend who has a family member that is permanently disabled, every year RevCan audits him and makes him get a letter to prove she is disabled. They haven't found a cure for what ails her, but RevCan thinks they have! They screw him over for documentation, causing more work for doctors, long delays etc., every year.

Morons. The government is the one reason why I want to fly in another country - Canada is deluxe until you rub up against the MORONS who populate Ottawa. Morons.

Is it time for gin yet?

[C-GPFG]

Mom's an accountant, here's what I've been given the go ahead to claim for employment expenses over the years...

Medicals
Charts/plates
Written exams, flight test fees
Any other fees related to licensing (like the $55 thing)
Any purchase related to uniform: shirts, sweaters, pants, dress shoes, winter boots, winter gloves, touque, socks, belts (company gave me winter coat otherwise that would have been claimed)
Headset and headset repair
Watch and watch repair
Sunglasses
Flashlight and batteries for flashlight
Canadian Passport, including the $18 passport photos, will be claimed this year as it is now required for entry to the US

As a flight instructor, this usually adds up to $700 worth of refunds a year.

[klimman123]

Can I claim the puchace of my gps??? That would be nice??

[Rowdy]

Mom's an accountant, here's what I've been given the go ahead to claim for employment expenses over the years...

Medicals
Charts/plates
Written exams, flight test fees
Any other fees related to licensing (like the $55 thing)
Any purchase related to uniform: shirts, sweaters, pants, dress shoes, winter boots, winter gloves, touque, socks, belts (company gave me winter coat otherwise that would have been claimed)
Headset and headset repair
Watch and watch repair
Sunglasses
Flashlight and batteries for flashlight
Canadian Passport, including the $18 passport photos, will be claimed this year as it is now required for entry to the US

As a flight instructor, this usually adds up to $700 worth of refunds a year.

So you just require that form widow was talking about for the exemptions? Or is there another? Would have to keep the receipts obviously.

The rotten scoundrels have audited me every year for the past 3 years.. and can't seem to find anything wrong. I wonder if they'll ever get the message

[C-GPFG]

Yes, just the form signed off by my company. Receipts are kept in a 2006 claims folder if the tax man comes knocking.

That's all there is to it.

[C-GPFG]

Can I claim the puchace of my gps??? That would be nice??

Do you use it while flying for hire?

If yes, claim it.

[Lommer]

What if you use the GPS, but aren't required to have it by the company/SOPs? Wouldn't that make a difference? I'm required to have a medical and a uniform, but I'm not required to have a GPS, leatherman, or an ipod even if they do make my life easier/safer. Where do you draw the line?

I'm no accountant but I think that RC might take issue with a GPS.

[Widow]

What if you use the GPS, but aren't required to have it by the company/SOPs? Wouldn't that make a difference? I'm required to have a medical and a uniform, but I'm not required to have a GPS, leatherman, or an ipod even if they do make my life easier/safer. Where do you draw the line?

I'm no accountant but I think that RC might take issue with a GPS.

As an employee, you cannot claim it unless your employer indicates it is a requirement of your employment. As a consultant, or contractor, you could.

[stratcat]

you can write off meals if your in the transportation business. Your allowed 17 bucks a meal for everyday your gone,thats 51 a day. If you get perdiems you can claim the difference.It can be quite good. I forget the form,its a T something on revenue canadas website.

[4hrstovegas]

Careful, guys. What you CAN write off and what people get away with are 2 different things. Here is some stuff from last year's CRA site (haven't checked if things have changed yet):

Uniforms, etc.

The following information is taken from the CRA's General Income Tax and Benefit Guide.
You can deduct certain expenses (including any GST/HST) you paid to earn employment income. You can claim the expenses only if your employment contract required you to pay them, and either you did not receive an allowance for the expenses, or the allowance you received is included in your income.

Note
Most employees cannot claim employment expenses. You cannot deduct the cost of travel to and from work, or other expenses, such as most tools and clothing.

Attach to your paper return a completed Form T777, Statement of Employment Expenses, to give us details of your expenses and to calculate how much you can deduct. Guide T4044, Employment Expenses, contains Form T777 and other forms you may need. The guide also explains the limits and conditions that apply when you claim these expenses.

Meals

You can deduct the cost of meals and lodging if you meet all the following conditions:

you work for an airline, railway, bus or trucking company, or for any other employer whose main business is the transport of goods, passengers or both;

you travel in vehicles your employer uses to transport goods or passengers;

you regularly have to travel away from the municipality and the metropolitan area (if there is one) where your employer's relevant establishment (home terminal) is located; and

you incur meal and lodging expenses while travelling away from the municipality and the metropolitan area (if there is one) where your employer's relevant establishment (home terminal) is located.

If your employer's business is not transporting goods, passengers, or both, you may still be able to claim expenses. For more details, get Information Circular 73-21, Away-from-Home Expenses.

Note: If your employer has repaid or will repay you for your meal and lodging expenses, subtract from your claim the amount of the repayment.

If you are a transport employee, calculate your meal expenses using one of the following methods:

The detailed method - requires you to keep a record book itemizing each expense. You also have to keep receipts to support the amount you deduct.

The simplified method - is based on a daily meal rate of $15 for each meal. You do not have to keep receipts for your meals, but you do have to keep a detailed list of the trips you take.

The batching method - When you are part of a work crew, such as on a train, your employer may provide you with cooking facilities. If you buy groceries and cook meals either by yourself or together, each person can claim up to $30 for each day. As long as you do not claim more than this amount, you do not have to keep receipts.

Under either the detailed or simplified method, you can claim one meal after every four hours from the check-out time, to a maximum of three meals per day. For the purposes of calculating the maximum number of meals allowed, a day is considered to be a 24-hour period that begins at the check-out time.

Workers on scheduled runs of 10 hours or less during their normal working hours (e.g., 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) are generally expected to eat their breakfast and dinner at home. Therefore, lunch is the only meal claim allowed per day in these circumstances.

The most you can deduct for meal expenses is 50% of your actual claim. For example, if you use the simplified method, which is based on a daily rate of $15 per meal, the most you can deduct for each meal is $7.50 ($15.00 X 50%) for each meal.

Travelling Expenses

Travelling expenses
Travelling expenses include food, beverage, and lodging expenses but not motor vehicle expenses. You can deduct travelling expenses as long as you meet all the following conditions:

You were normally required to work away from your employer's place of business or in different places.
Under your contract of employment, you had to pay your own travelling expenses.
You did not receive a non-taxable allowance for travelling expenses. Generally, an allowance is non-taxable as long as it is a reasonable amount and is for travelling away from the municipality and metropolitan area (if there is one) of your employer's location where you normally work, or to which you normally report.
You keep with your records a copy of Form T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment, that has been completed and signed by your employer.
You can deduct food and beverage expenses if your employer requires you to be away for at least 12 consecutive hours from the municipality and the metropolitan area (if there is one) of your employer's location where you normally report for work. The most you can deduct for food and beverage expenses is 50% of the lesser of:

the amount you actually paid; or
an amount that is reasonable in the circumstances.
The 50% limit also applies to the cost of food and beverages you paid for when you travelled on an airplane, train, or bus, as long as the ticket price did not include such amounts.

If you are a transport employee claiming a deduction for meals and lodging, see Form TL2, Claim for Meals and Lodging Expenses, and Information Circular IC73-21, Claims for Meals and Lodging Expenses of Transport Employees.

If you want more information about travelling expenses, see Interpretation Bulletin IT-522, Vehicle, Travel and Sales Expenses of Employees, or Interpretation Bulletin IT-518, Foods, Beverages and Entertainment Expenses.

Hope this helps a bit.

[corporate joe]

Careful, guys. What you CAN write off and what people get away with are 2 different things. Here is some stuff from last year's CRA site (haven't checked if things have changed yet):

(...)

Good post, nice info.

[4hrstovegas]

Thanks, glad it might help. May not be what everybody wants to hear, but it might save you from being scrutinized.

Here's a bit more stuff I found:

Licencing

The following information is taken from the CRA's Employment Expenses Guide (T4044).
Licences
Deduct annual licence fees if you must have a licence to perform your work. For example, real estate and insurance salespeople can deduct the cost of their annual licences.

Training Costs

You can deduct the cost of a training course as an employment expense. The course has to maintain, upgrade, or update your existing skills or qualifications that relate to your employment.

You cannot deduct the cost of a training course as an employment expense if the course is for personal reasons, the cost is unreasonable, or you receive a lasting benefit from the course. For example, you receive a lasting benefit when you take a course to get a credit towards a degree, diploma, professional qualification, or similar certificate.

If you cannot deduct the cost of a training course as an employment expense, you can claim it as a tuition amount as long as you meet the conditions described in pamphlet P105, Students and Income Tax.

For more details, see Interpretation Bulletin IT-357, Expenses of Training.

More on meals

The number has gone from $15 to $17 for the simplified method of claiming meals in the 2006 tax year. However, it is really intended for people who are away for 12 hours or more, and generally for people who have to overnight and are not reimbursed for their expenses:

Transport Employees
This Circular applies to transport employees in the following three groups:

Employees of Transport Businesses (claiming a deduction under paragraph 8(1)(g) of the Income Tax Act)
3. Employees of employers whose principal business is to transport goods, passengers, or both (such as, airline, railway, bus and trucking companies), who in the course of their work, must regularly travel away from the municipality and the metropolitan area, if there is one, where their employer’s establishment to which they report for work is located, on vehicles used by the employer to transport goods or passengers, may deduct amounts they pay for meals and lodging while so away, to the extent they have not been reimbursed and are not entitled to be reimbursed for any part of the amounts deducted. This deduction is authorized by paragraph 8(1)(g) of the Income Tax Act.

Paragraph 8(1)(g) of the Income Tax Act contemplates journeys of such substantial distance and duration as to require disbursements for both meals and lodging while away from the relevant municipality and metropolitan area, if there is one. Therefore, to make a claim under paragraph 8(1)(g) of the Income Tax Act, employees must generally be away from home overnight in the performance of their employment duties. The deduction claimed under paragraph 8(1)(g) of the Income Tax Act is not intended for employees who return to their homes at the end of each day, and make disbursements for meals only as a matter of course.

However, the CRA is prepared to allow a deduction for meals only, even though no disbursement has been made for lodging, provided the duties of employment required the employee to stay away overnight and the employee can demonstrate that, rather than paying for lodging, he or she used other facilities. This may be the case where a transport employee uses a truck equipped with a sleeper cab.

A deduction for meals only may also be allowed (to the extent of a reasonable number of meals) where a transport employee, although regularly required to travel away on journeys of substantial distance and duration so as to require disbursements for both meals and lodging, occasionally travels, as part of the employment, on journeys of shorter distance and duration not requiring him or her to stay away from home overnight. Where the shorter journey is scheduled for ten hours or less, the CRA would expect the transport employee to eat breakfast and dinner meals at home, as is the case with most other employees. Accordingly, only one meal per day, namely lunch, will be permitted in these circumstances and only to those transport employees claiming meal expenses under paragraph 8(1)(g) of the Act.

When making a claim under paragraph 8(1)(g) of the Income Tax Act, transport employees must use Form TL2, Claim for Meals and Lodging Expenses, to summarize trip information. Both the employee and the employer should complete this form.

Where the conditions of paragraph 8(1)(g) of the Income Tax Act have not been met, the transport employee may be entitled to claim a deduction for travel expenses under paragraph 8(1)(h) of the Income Tax Act if all the conditions of that provision have been met. (See paragraph 6). Note that if a deduction is claimed in the year under paragraph 8(1)(h) of the Income Tax Act, no deduction can be claimed under paragraphs 8(1)(g) or (e) of the Income Tax Act for that year.

Uniforms, supplies, etc.

You can deduct the cost of supplies if you meet all the following conditions:

Under your contract of employment, you had to provide and pay for the supplies.
You used the supplies directly in your work.
Your employer has not repaid and will not repay you for these expenses.
You keep with your records a copy of Form T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment, that has been completed and signed by your employer.
Supplies are only those materials you use directly in your work, and for no other purpose.

Supplies include items such as pens, pencils, paper clips, stationery, stamps, street maps, and directories. Supplies do not include items such as briefcases or calculators.

You can deduct expenses you paid for telegrams and long-distance telephone calls, as long as you paid them to earn employment income. However, you cannot deduct the monthly basic rate for a telephone.

You can also deduct the portion of the airtime expenses for a cell phone that reasonably relates to earning your employment income. However, you cannot deduct amounts you paid to connect or license the cell phone or the cost of fees for Internet service.

If you buy or lease a cell phone, fax machine, computer, or other such equipment, you cannot deduct the cost. Also, you cannot deduct capital cost allowance or interest you paid on money borrowed to buy this equipment.

You cannot deduct the cost of special clothing you wear or have to wear for your work. Also, you cannot deduct the cost of any tools that are considered to be equipment. However, under proposed legislation, if you are a tradesperson (including an apprentice mechanic) as described in Chapter 6, you may be able to deduct the cost of eligible tools you bought to earn employment income as a tradesperson.

For more information, see Interpretation Bulletin IT-352, Employee's Expenses, Including Work Space in Home Expenses.

I'll post more as I find out what else I've done wrong.

[4hrstovegas]

UPDATE (2008)

RE: Headsets, GPS

After buying a new headset this year, I called the CRA helpline to get specific info from the horse's mouth... and good news! According to a government listing of employment types, pilots are considered "tradespeople". As such, we can write off the costs for certain "tools" under certain conditions:

You may be able to deduct the cost of eligible tools you bought in 2007 to earn employment income as a tradesperson. This cost includes any GST and provincial sales tax, or HST, you paid. You may be able to get a rebate of the GST/HST you paid. This rebate is discussed in Chapter 10. When completing Form GST370, Employee and Partner GST/HST Rebate Application, see if Situation 6 in this linked topic applies to you.

An eligible tool is a tool (including associated equipment such as a toolbox) that:

■ you bought to use in your job as a tradesperson and was not used for any purpose before you bought it;

■ your employer certified as being necessary for you to provide as a condition of, and for use in, your job as a tradesperson; and

■ is not an electronic communication device (like a cell phone) or electronic data processing equipment (unless the device or equipment can be used only for the purpose of measuring, locating or calculating).

Your employer has to complete and sign Form T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment. Have your employer complete question 11 of Part B of the form to certify that the tools being claimed were bought and provided by you as a condition of your employment as a tradesperson. Attach to Form T2200 a list of the tools being claimed, as well as the related receipts. You do not have to include Form T2200, your receipts, or your list of tools with your return, but you should keep them in case the Canada Revenue Agency asks to see them.

[rotorfloat]

When I asked about claiming the difference between my company per diem ($45) and RevCan's meal allowance ($51) I was told that I could only claim the difference if I was not receiving a 'reasonable' amount from my employer. In his humble opinion $45 was reasonable and the difference was not deductable.

Over 100 days away from base last year, at a difference of 6 bucks a day...would have been nice.