🚚 Line 21900 – Moving Expenses (Employed or Self-Employed)

📌 Who Can Claim Moving Expenses?

You can claim moving expenses if all of the following apply:

• 👤 You are an employee or self-employed individual;
• 📍 You moved to a new home to work or operate a business at a new location;
• 📈 You earned employment or self-employment income at the new work location; and
• 📏 Your new home is at least 40 kilometres closer to your new work location than your former home.

If you moved to a location outside Canada or back to Canada and meet these conditions as a resident or deemed resident, you may still qualify.

📋 Eligible Moving Expenses

If you qualify, eligible expenses you paid for yourself, your family, and your household items may include:

• 🚛 Transportation and storage costs (packing, hauling, movers, in-transit storage, insurance);
• 🚗 Travel costs for you and your household (vehicle expenses, meals, accommodation);
• 🏨 Temporary living expenses (up to 15 days for lodging/meals near the old or new home);
• 📄 Lease cancellation costs for your old home;
• 🏠 Costs maintaining your old home while vacant (up to $5,000);
• 🔑 Costs of selling your old home (legal fees, commissions, mortgage penalties);
• 🧰 Some costs of buying your new home (legal/notary fees and land transfer taxes).

❌ What Cannot Be Claimed

Expenses that you cannot deduct include:

• 🏡 Costs to make your old home more saleable (repairs, staging);
• 📦 Loss on sale of your home;
• 🛫 Travel for job hunting before the move;
• 📬 Mail-forwarding costs;
• 🪑 Personal-use item replacement (curtains, carpets);
• ⚙️ Costs of replacing household appliances or items that movers won’t take.

📌 Employer Reimbursements

If your employer reimbursed you for moving expenses or provided an allowance, you can only claim a deduction if:

• ✔ You included the reimbursement in your income; or
• ✔ You reduce your deductible moving expenses by the amount reimbursed.

The CRA may ask you to provide a letter from your employer confirming your reimbursement status.

🧠 How to Claim – Form T1-M

To calculate and claim your moving expenses:

• 📄 Complete Form T1-M – Moving Expenses Deduction for each eligible move;
• 📊 Carry the amount from Line 29 of Form T1-M to Line 21900 of your tax return;
• 🗂 Keep all supporting documents (receipts, contracts) in case the CRA asks to see them later — you do not send them with your tax return.

🔁 Carrying Forward Unused Expenses

If your net moving expenses are greater than your net eligible income earned at the new work location in the year you moved, you can carry forward unused amounts. These can be deducted from the same type of income (employment or self-employment) in future years.

📍 Practical Tips

• 📅 Your move must generally involve establishing a new home — selling, renting, or advertising your old home helps demonstrate this;
• 📦 You cannot carry back moving expenses to a prior year;
• 💡 Keep detailed receipts and records, especially for travel and storage costs, to support your claim if the CRA requests them.