Tax Tips: What Expenses Can Employees Claim On The Tax Return?

According to Statistics Canada¹, 95% of Canadians age 15 years and older have some form of income. There are over 28 million tax filers and two-thirds of them pay income taxes, on average 16% of total income. Fully 70% of that income came from employees, whose earnings are subject to tax withholdings that employers make on their behalf.

Unfortunately, most costs of going to work are not individually deductible, unless you are required to negotiate contracts in return for a commission. But a non-refundable tax credit, the Canada Employment Amount, provides $1146 in 2015 to acknowledge the normal costs of going to work. That includes the costs of driving to and from work.

And you will also want to save receipts for transit costs. Another non-refundable tax credit, the Public Transit Amount, will provide tax relief. These amounts may be claimed by either spouse so long as the same expense is not claimed twice and the total claim is not more than the maximum allowed. The credit is 15% of your monthly expenditures. All the travel-pass costs for every member of the family who is under age 19 at the end of the year can be claimed by one parent. There is no maximum claim.

¹ 2011 National Household Survey: Income of Canadians, released September 11, 2013, based on 2010 tax filing statistics.

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