Policy Forum: Write it Off (and Start Again)—Adapting Home Office Deductions for the Digital Era

Canadian Tax Journal/Revue fiscale canadienne, Vol. 69, No. 2, 2021, pp. 487-511

26 Pages Posted: 9 Aug 2021

Date Written: August 3, 2021

Abstract

This article examines the current and historical legal schemes for deducting employment expenses—particularly those associated with a home office—under Canada's Income Tax Act, and concludes that the current legal test for such deductions is inequitable, ineffective, and imprecise. The author reviews the employment expense deductions available to taxpayers in other jurisdictions and proposes options for modifying Canada's employment expense deduction. The proposed changes would account for increasingly digital modes of working, advance equity, and add to taxpayer certainty.

Keywords: Deductions, expenses, employees, tax policy

Suggested Citation

Rai, Bhuvana, Policy Forum: Write it Off (and Start Again)—Adapting Home Office Deductions for the Digital Era (August 3, 2021). Canadian Tax Journal/Revue fiscale canadienne, Vol. 69, No. 2, 2021, pp. 487-511, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3894562

Bhuvana Rai (Contact Author)

Ernst & Young LLP

EY Tower
100 Adelaide Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5H 0B3
Canada

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