What Moving Expenses Can You Claim?

If you moved to be closer to where you study, work, or run a business, it is possible that you can deduct certain costs from your income.

Where and when to claim your expenses

While there are different tax obligations associated with moving, it’s only when you file your tax return that you can claim the amount spent on moving expenses. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) as well as Revenu Québec both allow certain eligible expenses that you can deduct from your income.

Revenu Québec form

CRA form

However, if you received a reimbursement or an allowance from your employer for your eligible moving expenses, you can either include the amount received in your income or subtract it from your moving expenses.

Conditions

To be able to deduct eligible moving expenses, you must meet both of the following conditions:

1. you moved in order to study (post-secondary), work, or run a business
2. your new residence is at least 40 kilometres closer to your new place of study or work (even if your work is seasonal)

Students enrolled full-time in a post-secondary program can deduct various eligible expenses from the financial assistance declared for the current year, and even carry forward the unused portion (if their expenses are greater than the amount received) to subsequent years.

Eligible workers, meanwhile, can also deduct qualifying expenses from their income at tax time. Note that it is possible to defer the expenses to following years.

Eligible moving expenses

Eligible moving expenses include:

• cost of movers
• truck or trailer rental
• storage of household goods
• temporary living expenses (accommodations and meals for you and your family during the move to your new place of residence for a maximum of 15 days)
• meal and vehicle expenses
• up to $5,000 in costs to maintain your old home left vacant (interest, property taxes, insurance premiums, heating, and utilities), insofar as you have made reasonable efforts to sell it.
• cost of cancelling your lease
• certain costs associated with the sale of your former residence (lease termination fees, advertising, notary or legal fees, commission paid to a real estate broker, mortgage penalty)
• certain costs related to the acquisition of a new residence (fees of legal professionals, transfer of the right of ownership, etc.)
• certain incidental costs (replacing your driver’s license, utility hook-ups, change of address)

You can get the complete list of eligible expenses on the CRA website.

However, some expenses are not eligible:

• mail-forwarding costs
• expenses related to a job search
• any loss from the sale of your home

The Canada Revenue Agency permits two different methods of calculating eligible meal and vehicle expenses: the detailed method and the simplified method. With the first one, you must keep all receipts and claim the actual amount. With the simplified method, you can claim a flat rate of $23 per meal (to a maximum of $69 per day per person). For vehicle expenses, multiply the number of kilometres travelled by the set provincial rate to determine the amount you can deduct.

Don’t forget that an unused amount (your expenses must not exceed your income) can be carried forward to a subsequent year. If you think about it, this can mean money in your pocket!