Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Did you work from home in 2023, or have you been working from home this year?
While many companies in Canada have begun reverting back to in-office work policies, a fair number of people still work from home as employees, freelancers, or small business owners.
Working from home certainly has some perks and benefits, like the ability to work in your pajamas or do your housework while you’re taking business calls. However, it can change the way you file your tax returns. Here’s a quick guide on what to be prepared for.
As of Nov. 2023, roughly 20 per cent of Canadians were still working from home, down from 30 per cent in Jan. 2022 and 40 per cent in April 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
The work-from-home business model was great for some companies, as it allowed them to downsize office space and create a more efficient operating model. Other companies found that they operated more efficiently by requiring employees to work in a central office, if not full-time then at least part-time with a hybrid business model.
Those who work from home as employees have fewer tax implications compared to independent contractors or small business owners who work from home. Employees who work from home may be able to deduct a portion of their home office expenses, such as:
The CRA differentiates between salaried employees and those who are paid on commission. Since commissioned employees often have less income stability, the CRA grants them some additional deductions, such as property taxes, home insurance, and the lease of consumer electronics.
You can see a full list of the CRA’s allowable deductions for home employees.
Freelancers or independent contractors are not employed by a single company. While they may choose to work for one client or business, they are taxed differently compared to a standard wage-earning employee. The same goes for small business owners who operate from home.
When self-employed contractors are paid, their taxes aren’t automatically taken out of their cheques as employee taxes usually are. Instead, freelancers are required to pay their taxes periodically throughout the year (quarterly) or annually.
This requires a bit more organization and discipline, and many self-employed independent contractors and business owners work with a bookkeeper or accountant to help them stay on top of their taxes.
Self-employed independent contractors and small business owners must also register for GST/HST if their business operations generate more than $30,000 in revenue in a quarter, or over four consecutive quarters.
While self-employed individuals bear more financial responsibilities than employees, they’re also given a wider range of deductions that they can claim on their tax returns, such as:
You can see the full list of allowable business-use-of-home deductions by the CRA.
Here are some common pitfalls to avoid in order to make filing your taxes easier and keep you in line with the CRA’s tax laws and regulations.
The most common mistake that work-from-home employees, independent contractors, and small business owners make is overclaiming expenses and deductions. The CRA has clearly outlined regulations regarding how much you can deduct from your taxes.
For example, you can’t deduct your entire mortgage payment or your entire electricity bill if you only use your home office space for business.
You’ll need to calculate the percentage (based on the square footage) of your housing costs that are used by your home office for work or business income and then use that information to claim deductions according to CRA regulations.
One of the simplest ways to make filing your quarterly or end-of-the-year tax returns easier is to stay organized. Keep your receipts, paperwork, paid invoices, and any other documents that you may need.
I recommend keeping a small file cabinet and organizing it month by month. It’s also a great idea to keep digital copies of everything. Bookkeeping programs like Freshbooks or Quickbooks have features that allow you to easily store digital copies of invoices paid, receipts, and other important tax documents.
Whether you’re an employee, independent contractor, or small business owner, keeping track of your home office expenses can become difficult. This is especially true if you're a small business owner who primarily operates from home.
The best thing you can do is to stay organized and keep records of all of your receipts, expenses, and income.
If you find yourself struggling to file your own taxes at the end of the year, don’t be afraid to reach out to a tax professional and ask for help. The small amount you’ll pay them to help you stay on top of your taxes is often well worth the headache and potential penalties they can save you from.
Still want to take a shot at filing your taxes yourself? Keep on reading for an overview of some of the best self-filing tax software in Canada.
Christopher Liew is a CFA Charterholder and former financial advisor. He writes personal finance tips for thousands of daily Canadian readers on his Wealth Awesome website.
Do you have a question, tip or story idea about personal finance? Please email us at dotcom@bellmedia.ca.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Auston Matthews will miss the Maple Leafs' must-win Game 6 against the Boston Bruins.
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.