Expenses Related to the Business Use of Your Home
You can deduct expenses relating to the business use of a portion of your home, provided one of the following conditions is met:
- That portion of your home is your principal place of business.
- You use that portion of your home only to earn business income, and you meet clients, customers or patients there on a regular and ongoing basis.
These expenses are divided into general expenses, which apply to the entire home, and expenses related only to the portion of the home used for business purposes (referred to as the “office” in the sections below).
General expenses
These expenses, which apply to both the office and the other portion of your home, include:
- heating;
- lighting;
- insurance premiums;
- maintenance and repairs;
- mortgage interest, property taxes and CCA related to the home, if you own or co-own the home;
- rent, if you rent the home.
Only the portion of the general expenses that relates to the office is deductible.
Percentage of your home used as an office
To determine the deductible portion of an expense, you must first determine the portion of the expense that is for the office portion of your home and the portion of the expense that is for the personal-use portion of your home. This must be done using a reasonable basis, such as the percentage of the total surface area occupied by the office.
If you are a co-owner or co-tenant, only the personal portion of these expenses can be deducted.
For information on how to calculate your general deductible expenses, refer to the guide Business and Professional Income (IN-155-V).
Expenses related to the office only
Current expenses pertaining only to the office portion of your home are fully deductible. For example, you can deduct 100% of the cost of having your office walls painted, if that room is used exclusively for work.
Partnerships
The partnership of which you are a member can deduct the rent relating to an office or other work space that it uses in your home if:
- that portion of your home is the partnership's principal place of business; or
- the partnership uses that portion of your home exclusively to earn income from a business and to meet clients, customers or patients on a regular and ongoing basis.
For more information about the expenses that may be deducted by a partnership that uses the home of a member to carry on a business, refer to guide IN-155-V.