KenA

I just got a letter from CRA asking for documents to explain "Other employment expenses (line 22900/229)"

As I worked from home for most of 2021, my claim contains part of my rental, part of my electricity, part of my internet etc.

as per the letter they gave me 30 days to submit my documents which should include a breakdown of work-from-home calculations such as floor plan!! and size in square feet!!

I used to rent in 2021 and currently, there is a court case between me and that house's landlord ( so there is no way he will provide me with any documents)

add to that I lost my job this week and cannot afford an accountant.
also, I checked my CRA account and could not find a copy of my Tax file there! not sure how to get it?!!


Has anyone been through this before? not sure what to do and this is the last thing i need in my situation

Thanks

dbd33

One of my pimps went through it. He'd used the size of a room from the builder's plans, declared that an office and proportioned all expenses accordingly. He somehow pissed the tax man off so they came and measured, declared the proportions wrong and went after him for back tax and penalties. He's dead now.

A colleague received one of these notices. He fled the country rather than deal with it but then he had already left the UK, Australia and South Africa over tax issues. I think the authorities would find it easier to chase someone now and would likely do it. He's dead now, too.

I've been audited a few times and survived. The worst case being an unexplainable cash deposit years before on which I paid tax and penalties before remembering that it wasn't income at all. I don't proportion anything though, I know I won't keep adequate records or log books or whatever and I'll end up paying whatever amount the CRA chooses. I take the one car for work, one car for domestic, approach and write off 100% of one car, office is a separate building and so on.

If you don't have the documents you don't have a case to claim the deductions. Your best course might be to work out how much tax is due without the deductions and offer to pay it in installments so as to minimize penalties.

Muskoka

Try not to worry . For some unknown reason they used to audit me every damn year. I've always found them very helpful when you call them.

bc2015

If you worked from home because COVID-19 closed your office then the CRA offered a flat rate of $2 per day for expenses with no calculations/receipts. They also offered a detailed method which is what it sounds like you used which does require receipts/calculations. Now CRA are asking to see your calculations of how you arrived at the figure for line 22900 (they always say to keep docs in case they need to see them). Not sure why you would need your landlord for this.

Note the detailed method also requires a signed T2200(S) from your employer.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...html#Covide_19

KenA

They are asking for my house Floor Plan (the house i used to live in)

bc2015

Right so how did you arrive at what proportion of rent to allocate to working from home?

KenA

House has 4 rooms, I made one room as a home office, so rent and other expenses divided by 4 (except for the internet)

BristolUK

So it sounds like they want to be sure your 'office' is really a quarter of floor space. Which could be no more accurate a representation than just dividing it by four.

On the one hand, major power costs might involve stove, washer&dryer and dishwasher which are not office expenses (but nor would a floor space calculation sort it) while on the other hand your internet costs might exclusively be (or at least heavily) work related.

Perhaps it might be easiest to go for that $2 daily option.