Employee
For a federal employee claim, the employer-required work-from-home and work-space conditions apply. The employee needs a signed T2200 and calculates the detailed-method claim on Form T777. The amount goes to line 22900.
03 / Canadian tax explainer
Home office deduction in Canada
The federal home-office rules depend on whether you are an employee or self-employed. Their eligibility tests, eligible expenses, forms, and limits differ. Quebec also has a separate provincial employee claim, described below.
Start with your work status
Self-employed
Business-use-of-home expenses are calculated on Form T2125, line 9945. The tests and allowed costs come from the business rules; a T2200 or T777 is not used for this claim.
There is no single home-office calculation for everyone. Keep employee and business expenses separate, and do not claim the same expense twice.
Federal employee expenses
To calculate the work-space share, divide the work-space area by the home’s total finished area. If the space is also used for personal or family life, multiply its area share by the hours of employment use out of 168 hours in a week. CRA’s hours adjustment applies to shared common space.
| Expense | Salaried and commission employees | Commission employees only |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity, heat, water | May claim work-space share | May claim work-space share |
| Home internet access fees | May claim eligible work share | May claim eligible work share |
| Maintenance and minor repairs | May claim work-space share | May claim work-space share |
| Rent for the home | May claim work-space share | May claim work-space share |
| Home insurance and property taxes | Not listed as claimable | May claim work-space share |
| Mortgage interest and capital cost allowance (CCA) | Not claimable | Not claimable |
CRA limits the employee deduction to income from that employment. Amounts barred only by this limit can carry forward to the next year. Expenses that were or will be reimbursed by an employer cannot also be claimed.
Federal self-employed expenses
The work space must be the principal place of business, or be used only to earn business income and regularly and continuously to meet clients, customers, or patients. Use a reasonable basis, such as work-space area divided by total home area. For a room also used for living, CRA’s business guide says to adjust for the hours used for business out of 24 hours in a day.
Depending on the home and claim, CRA’s business guide includes a share of maintenance, heating, electricity, home insurance, cleaning materials, property taxes, mortgage interest, CCA, or rent. Business-use-of-home expenses are entered on T2125 line 9945 and cannot also be claimed elsewhere on that form.
The deduction cannot create or increase a business loss. Amounts limited by that rule can carry forward to a later fiscal period if the qualifying condition continues. Claiming CCA on a home can bring capital-gain and recapture rules into play when the home is sold.
Quebec has a separate provincial employee claim
Quebec residents claiming employment expenses use the provincial process as well as the federal one. Revenu Québec’s 2025 guide says to enclose Form TP-64.3-V, completed by the employer, and Form TP-59-V or a detailed statement with the Quebec return. The federal Form T2200 is kept by the employee and is not filed with the federal return.
The Quebec guide’s home-office time test says more than 50% of employment duties were performed in the office space, or the space was used exclusively to earn employment income and regularly and continuously for in-person meetings in the normal course of work. It does not add the federal four-consecutive-week wording.
For Quebec salaried employees, the guide allows the eligible share of maintenance and rent, but not home insurance, property taxes, mortgage interest, or CCA. For internet, it allows only the portion of an internet service package reasonably attributable to work and lists connection charges as not deductible. Quebec caps the claim at employment income less other employment expenses and related deductions; the same-job excess can carry forward. Keep records for at least six years.
What this review does not cover
The source review did not check separate provincial or territorial employee rules for Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut. This page does not infer that those jurisdictions have no additional forms or rules. Check the appropriate tax authority for your province or territory.
The owner’s planned home-office bills and floor-area case study has no supplied measurements or bills. No worked claim or first-hand result is presented here. The CRA guide and forms available in the source review were for earlier tax years; verify current forms and rules before filing a 2026 return.
Sources (checked 2026-10-28)
The cited primary sources were retrieved 2026-10-28.
- CRA employee detailed-method criteria: canada.ca detailed method. Retrieved 2026-10-28; page modified 2026-01-20.
- CRA employee expense list: expenses you can claim. Retrieved 2026-10-28; page modified 2026-01-20.
- CRA employee area and hours calculation: calculate your expenses. Retrieved 2026-10-28; page modified 2026-01-20.
- CRA, Guide T4044(E), Employment Expenses 2025. Retrieved 2026-10-28; Rev. 25.
- Department of Justice Canada, Income Tax Act, section 8. Retrieved 2026-10-28; Act current to 2026-09-30.
- CRA, Guide T4002, Chapter 3: Business expenses. Retrieved 2026-10-28; page modified 2026-04-16 (2025 fiscal period).
- CRA, Business-use-of-home expenses. Retrieved 2026-10-28; page dated 2026-08-31.
- Department of Justice Canada, Income Tax Act, section 18. Retrieved 2026-10-28; Act current to 2026-09-30.
- Revenu Québec, IN-118-V, Employment Expenses, 2025-12. Retrieved 2026-10-28; 2025-12 version.
- Revenu Québec, General Employment Conditions TP-64.3-V. Retrieved 2026-10-28; 2023-10 form version shown.
- Revenu Québec, Self-employed persons: determining your net income. Retrieved 2026-10-28; no page date shown.
This page is general information from the cited sources, not an individual tax calculation or advice about a particular return.