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Remote work expenses can lower your tax, but only if your employer required you to work from home and signs Form T2200. Without that form, you can’t claim anything for your home office. With it, a $1,200 claim saves an Ontario employee on $70,000 about $356.
Who can claim remote work expenses?
The CRA sets a short list of conditions, and you need all of them. Your employer required you to work from home. You had to pay the costs yourself. And you either worked from home more than half the time for at least four weeks in a row, or you used the space only for work and met clients or customers there on a regular basis.
Then comes the paperwork. Your employer completes and signs Form T2200, the Declaration of Conditions of Employment, and you attach your own claim on Form T777. Keep a copy of the T2200 in case the CRA asks for it.
What about the flat $2-a-day method from the pandemic years? It’s gone. The CRA’s page on home office expenses for employees says it plainly:
The temporary flat rate method does not apply to the 2023 and later tax years.
CRA, Home office expenses for employees, canada.ca
The detailed method is the only route now.
What home office costs count?
It depends on how you’re paid. Salaried employees get a shorter list than employees paid mainly by commission.
| Expense | Salaried | Commission |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity, heat and water | Yes | Yes |
| Home internet access fees | Yes | Yes |
| Maintenance and minor repairs | Yes | Yes |
| Rent, if you rent | Yes | Yes |
| Home insurance and property taxes | No | Yes |
| Mortgage interest or principal | No | No |
| Furniture, flooring, new windows | No | No |
Pens, paper, ink and stamps count as office supplies for both groups. Computers, chairs, desks and printers don’t. That surprises people, because a $600 chair feels like a work cost. The CRA still treats it as something you own.
How do you work out the amount?
Start with the share of your home used for work. Divide the size of the work space by the finished area of the home. If the space also serves as a spare bedroom, you then work out the share of the week it was used for work, out of 168 hours.
Say you use 100 square feet of a 1,000 square foot home, and the room is only ever an office. Your share is 10%. If eligible rent, utilities and internet came to $12,000 for the year, your claim is $1,200.
What does that do to your tax? We ran it through the income tax calculator for an Ontario employee earning $70,000. Income tax without the claim is $11,133.91. With a $1,200 deduction it’s $10,778.11, a saving of $355.80. The calculator treats it as a plain deduction, which gives the same tax result as the employment expense line. So the claim is worth a few hundred bucks, not a windfall, which is still nicer than leaving it on the table.
One limit to know about. Home office costs can’t push your employment income below zero. They reduce what’s left after your other employment expenses, and no further.
What is the step-by-step routine?
- Ask your employer early in the year whether they’ll sign a T2200 for you, and what they need from you.
- Measure the work space and the finished area of the home once, and write the numbers down.
- Keep every bill that qualifies: rent, utilities, internet, small repairs, office supplies.
- At tax time, add up the eligible costs, multiply by your work-space share, and subtract anything your employer already paid you for the same thing.
- Complete the T777, and keep the T2200 and your bills with your records.
Where do people go wrong?
The biggest slip is claiming costs your employer already paid back. If your company gives you a monthly internet allowance, you can’t also deduct that internet bill. Only the part you paid yourself counts.
Next, the mortgage. People assume a share of the interest is fair game, and the CRA says no.
Then there’s the hybrid worker. Think of Sam in Calgary, who is in the office two days and home three days a week. Three days of five can pass the more-than-half test, but a company that lets you work from home by choice hasn’t required it. That is the question your T2200 answers, and the employer decides how to answer it. We couldn’t find a CRA rule that forces an employer to sign, so ask your payroll team early in the year, not in April.
Keep the T2200, your floor area and your bills for six years, which is the CRA’s general rule for tax records. If you’re self-employed rather than an employee, none of this applies as written, and the self-employed tax calculator is the better start.
Want to see the refund effect of the whole return? The tax refund calculator takes deductions and tax already withheld. Other deductions, such as an RRSP contribution, are worked out in the RRSP calculator.
Our sources
The rules above come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s guidance on home office expenses for employees, which applies to the 2023 and later tax years. The tax figures use the 2026 federal and Ontario rates, which we checked in September 2026. This is an independent guide, separate from any government body.
Frequently asked questions
Can I deduct remote work expenses without a T2200?
No. The CRA requires Form T2200, signed by your employer, for an employee's home office claim.
Is the $2 a day flat rate still available?
No. The CRA says the temporary flat rate method does not apply to 2023 and later tax years.
Can I claim my mortgage interest?
No. Neither salaried nor commission employees can claim mortgage interest or principal payments.
Can I claim my desk and computer?
No. The CRA lists computers, chairs, desks and printers as items you can't claim, though pens, paper and ink count as supplies.
How much tax does a home office claim save?
It depends on your income. On $70,000 in Ontario, a $1,200 claim lowers income tax by $355.80.
- Self-employed taxes in Canada: income, CPP and GST
How tax works when you are self-employed in Canada: reporting income and expenses, paying both halves of CPP, instalments and when to register for GST