I have now heard from a few clients about their employer saying that I don’t need the T2200S to claim my home office expenses. Is that correct?

There are a couple of points that I would like to make about employers telling their employees that they don’t need the T2200S.

One, the employers do not have the right to instruct their employees on how they are to file the tax return. If they do, they are over-reaching their authority as an employer. No employer has the right to instruct their employees what they are to do outside of work, unless that behaviour reflects badly on the employer. Equally, by doing so, the employer is opening themselves up to being sued by their employees for providing bad advice if the method that the employer wants the employees to use isn’t to the advantage of the employee.

Would you be willing to commit fraud because your employer instructs you to do so?

Two, the CRA requires that you provide the T2200S later, if they then demand the T2200S from the employer to prove that you can claim the deduction. All that they have said that you don’t need the T2200S at the time of filing. They said nothing about requiring it later. They can ask for it up to six years after they issued the Notice of Assessment.

Finally, the CRA has privately indicated to tax preparers that we are required to ask for the T2200S before we file the tax return. Otherwise, they will charge us!

So I recommend that all employees ask their employer for the T2200S automatically if they were moved to working from home due to COVID-19 on or after March 15, 2020.