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

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.