T2200 - remote non-sales employee - OFFICE IN HOME -

QUESTION:
I'm a remote employee working out of a home office. I'm not a
commissioned sales person. I would select yes to question 9.a on the
T2200 form where asked if I am required to rent or use my home office
away from ones place of business. the question is "Can i claim
mortgage interest and home insurances as a deductible expense?"
thank you
=======================
david ingram replies:
In Canada, an employee can NOT deduct mortgage interest and home
insurance as the following extract from page 9 of the Employment
expense guide shows:
Chapter 3 - Employees Earning a Salary
On this page...
Deductible expenses
Accounting and legal fees
Allowable motor vehicle expenses (including capital cost allowance)
Travelling expenses
Parking
Supplies
Other expenses
Work-space-in-the-home expenses
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
This chapter describes the expenses you can deduct if you earn a
salary. If you earn commission income, see Chapter 2.
Work-space-in-the-home expenses
You can deduct expenses you paid in 2004 for the employment use of a
work space in your home, as long as you had to pay for them under your
contract of employment. These expenses must be used directly in your
work and your employer has not reimbursed and will not reimburse you.
Also, you must meet one of the following conditions:
The work space is where you mainly do your work.
You use the work space only to earn your employment income. You also
have to use it on a regular and continuous basis for meeting clients
or customers.
You can deduct a part of your maintenance costs, such as the cost of
electricity, heating, and cleaning materials. However, you cannot
deduct mortgage interest, property taxes, home insurance, or capital
cost allowance.
To calculate the percentage of work space expenses you can deduct, use
a reasonable basis, such as the area of the work space divided by the
total area.
If your office space is in a rented house or apartment where you live,
deduct the percentage of the rent and any maintenance costs you paid
that relates to the work space.
The amount you can deduct for work-space-in-the-home expenses cannot
be more than your employment income after you deduct all employment
expenses except work space expenses. You cannot use work space
expenses to increase or create a loss from employment.
You can only deduct work space expenses from the income to which the
expenses relate, and not from any other income.
If you cannot deduct all your work space expenses in the year, you can
carry forward the expenses to the following year, as long as you are
reporting income from the same employer. However, you cannot increase
or create a loss from employment by carrying forward work space
expenses.
Interpretation Bulletin IT-352, Employee's Expenses, Including Work
Space in Home Expenses, has more information.
 You can read the whole bulletin at:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/t4044/t4044-04-e.html#P348_27523
Answers to this and other similar  questions can be obtained free on
Air every Sunday morning.
Every Sunday at 9:00 AM on 600AM in Vancouver, Fred Snyder of Dundee
Wealth Management and I, David Ingram  host a LIVE talk show called
"ITS YOUR MONEY"
Those outside of the Lower Mainland will be able to listen on the
internet at
www.600AM.com <http://www.600am.com/>
Local calls are taken at (604) 280-0600 and Long Distance calls (BC
only) are taken at 1( 866) 778-0600
Callers to the show are invited to attend free seminars on financial
planning with such specialities as deductible mortgage interest. They
are held at Fred Snyder's Office at 1764 West 7th in Vancouver - (604)
731-8900 for more information.
=========================================
David Ingram's US/Canada Services
US / Canada / Mexico tax, Immigration and working Visa Specialists
US / Canada Real Estate Specialists
4466 Prospect Road
North Vancouver,  BC, CANADA, V7N 3L7
Res (604) 980-3578 Cell (604) 657-8451
(604) 980-0321 Fax (604) 980-0325
Email to taxman at centa.com <mailto:taxman at centa.com>
www.centa.com <http://www.centa.com>  www.david-ingram.com
<http://www.david-ingram.com/>
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