By Caduck | September 4, 2026
You may look at your salary and assume you earn too much for an income-tested benefit. But your salary is not always the number that matters.
The Canada Revenue Agency uses Line 23600 net income as part of the calculation for benefits such as the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) and Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB). Line 23600 is your net income after applicable deductions on your tax return.
Did you already pay an expense that CRA rules allow you to deduct?
A tax deduction reduces income used in your tax calculation. It is different from a tax credit. A $1,000 deduction does not mean a $1,000 refund.
Why These Deductions Can Matter Beyond Your Tax Bill
↓
Eligible deductions
↓
Line 23600 Net Income
↓
Adjusted Family Net Income (AFNI)
↓
Income-tested benefit calculations
AFNI means adjusted family net income. CRA generally starts with Line 23600 for you and, if applicable, your spouse or common-law partner, then makes specific adjustments required by the benefit program.
That is why an eligible deduction can affect more than income tax. It can also change an income-tested benefit when your family sits in a benefit reduction range.
1. Child Care Expenses — Line 21400
CRA allows child care expenses that you paid to have an eligible child looked after so you could earn income, attend school or conduct grant-funded research.
Expenses you can claim
- Daycare and day nursery fees
- Caregiver or babysitter costs that meet CRA requirements
- Child-care portions of fees charged by an educational institution
- Day camps and day sports schools where the primary purpose is child care
- Eligible boarding school, overnight camp and overnight sports-school costs, subject to CRA limits
A day camp can qualify when its primary purpose is caring for children. A regular tennis lesson, recreational class or sports training program does not become a child-care deduction simply because a child attends it.
📁 Keep these records
Provider receipt · amount and date paid · description of the child-care service · Form T778 · camp or program invoice
If an individual provided the child care, CRA says the receipt must show that person’s Social Insurance Number (SIN).
🔗 CRA — Child Care Expenses, Line 21400
2. Moving Expenses — Line 21900
You can claim eligible moving expenses when you establish a new home to work or run a business at a new location and meet CRA’s distance test. Full-time post-secondary students can also qualify under separate rules.
Your new home must be at least 40 kilometres closer to your new workplace or school than your old home was. CRA measures the distance using the shortest usual public route.
Expenses you can claim
- Transportation and storage of household belongings
- Travel from the old home to the new home
- Meals during the move under CRA’s detailed or simplified method
- Temporary lodging and meals near the old or new home for up to 15 days
- Cost of cancelling the lease on your old home
- Eligible incidental moving costs, including certain utility connection/disconnection and document-change costs
- Eligible costs connected with selling an old home
- Other home-related costs specifically allowed under CRA moving-expense rules
🏠 Renters: Monthly Rent vs. Lease Cancellation
| Expense | Moving deduction |
|---|---|
| Monthly rent for the new apartment | ❌ No |
| Regular rent paid before cancelling the old lease | ❌ No |
| Cost charged to cancel the old lease | ✅ Yes, for an eligible move |
| Moving company and storage | ✅ Eligible moving costs |
| Temporary lodging during the move | ✅ Up to 15 days under CRA rules |
📁 Keep these records
Moving-company invoices · storage receipts · travel and lodging records · old lease · lease-cancellation invoice or receipt · old and new addresses · new-job or school documents · distance calculation
🔗 CRA — Moving Expenses, Line 21900
3. Employment Expenses — Line 22900
Employees can deduct specific employment expenses when their job conditions meet CRA rules. For many claims, the employment contract must require the employee to pay the expense, and the employer must not reimburse it.
Expenses CRA recognizes for eligible employees
- Supplies used directly in the employee’s work
- Eligible motor-vehicle expenses for employment use
- Eligible home-office expenses
- Office rent when the employment conditions meet CRA requirements
- Salary paid to a qualifying substitute or assistant when the job requires it
- Other employment expenses listed for the employee’s specific occupation or work arrangement
Form T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment, records employment conditions that support many employment-expense claims. Your employer completes it. You keep it with your records rather than automatically sending it with an electronic return.
📁 Keep these records
T2200 when required · Form T777 · itemized receipts and invoices · employment agreement · mileage log for a vehicle claim · home-office calculations · reimbursement records
🔗 CRA — Employment Expenses, Line 22900
4. Tradesperson’s Tools — Line 22900
An employed tradesperson can claim the CRA tradesperson’s tools deduction for eligible tools bought for the job.
For the 2025 tax year, the maximum tradesperson’s tools deduction is the lesser of $1,000 and the amount calculated under CRA’s formula. That formula uses eligible tool costs and a $1,471 threshold.
What counts as an eligible tool?
The tool must be new to you when you buy it for your job, and your employer must certify that you needed to provide it as a condition of employment. CRA excludes ordinary electronic communication and data-processing devices unless they serve only a qualifying measuring, locating or calculating purpose.
Eligible apprentice mechanics have a separate calculation that can provide an additional tools deduction.
📁 Keep these records
Tool receipts · purchase dates · list of tools claimed · T2200 with the employer certification · Form T777 · tradesperson employment-income records
🔗 CRA — Employed Tradespersons and Line 22900
5. Union and Professional Dues — Line 21200
Before searching through old receipts, check Box 44 of your T4. Box 44 reports eligible union dues that your employer reported on the slip.
Amounts CRA lists for Line 21200
- Annual trade-union dues
- Annual dues for an association of public servants
- Professional board dues required under provincial or territorial law
- Professional membership dues required to maintain a professional status recognized by law
- Professional or malpractice liability insurance premiums required to maintain that recognized professional status
- Qualifying parity or advisory committee dues required under provincial or territorial law
📁 Keep these records
T4 showing Box 44 · union receipt · professional organization receipt · payment record
🔗 CRA — Union and Professional Dues, Line 21200
6. Investment Carrying Charges and Interest — Line 22100
Carrying charges are specific costs connected with earning or managing investment income. They are not the same as the trading commissions you pay to buy or sell an investment.
Expenses CRA lists for Line 22100
- Fees to manage or take care of eligible investments outside listed registered plans
- Certain fees for investment advice or recording investment income
- Most interest on borrowed money used to try to earn investment income such as interest or dividends
- Certain tax-preparation fees when you have qualifying business or property income
- Certain legal fees related to support payments payable to you
It is an investment account outside registered plans such as an RRSP, RRIF, TFSA or FHSA. The tax rules for fees and investment income differ from those registered accounts.
📁 Keep these records
Investment statements · management or advice fee statements · loan agreement · interest statements · records tracing borrowed money to the investment
🔗 CRA — Carrying Charges and Interest, Line 22100
7. Certain Legal Fees — The Purpose Determines the Tax Line
Some personal legal bills have no tax deduction, but CRA specifically allows several types of legal fees. The reason you hired the lawyer determines where the claim belongs.
| Legal expense | CRA treatment |
|---|---|
| Collecting or establishing a right to salary or wages owed to you | Line 22900 |
| Responding to a CRA review of your income, deductions or credits | Line 23200 |
| Objecting to or appealing an assessment or decision under specified tax, EI, CPP or QPP legislation | Line 23200 |
| Collecting or establishing a right to a retiring allowance or pension benefit | Line 23200, subject to CRA limits |
| Legal fees relating to support payments that a current/former spouse, common-law partner or the natural parent of your child paid or must pay to you | Line 22100 |
An objection formally asks CRA to review a tax assessment or decision. An appeal takes an eligible dispute to the next formal review stage, such as the Tax Court of Canada for an income-tax assessment dispute.
📁 Keep these records
Detailed lawyer invoice · proof of payment · description of legal services · CRA correspondence or dispute documents · court order or agreement when relevant · pension or support documents when relevant
🔗 CRA — Legal Fees and Other Deductions, Line 23200
One More Deduction Worth Checking: Disability Supports — Line 21500
A person with an impairment in physical or mental functions can deduct specified disability-support expenses paid so they could work, attend school or conduct research supported by a grant.
CRA lists eligible expenses individually and sets medical-prescription or certification requirements for some items. Only the person with the disability claims the disability supports deduction.
🔗 CRA — Disability Supports Deduction, Line 21500
A Receipt Alone May Not Tell the Whole Story
Good records show both what you bought and why the expense qualifies.
- Invoice — the goods or services provided
- Proof of payment — bank, credit-card or payment record
- Contract or agreement — why you had to pay the expense
- Tax or employer document — T4, T2200 or another required form
- Calculation records — mileage, business-use percentage, 40-km calculation or other supporting math
- Correspondence — documents that explain the purpose of the expense when relevant
A credit-card statement proves that a payment happened. An itemized receipt or invoice identifies what you actually purchased.
CRA generally requires taxpayers to keep supporting tax records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. Different retention rules apply in some situations, including late-filed returns.
🔗 CRA — How Long to Keep Tax Records
Already Filed and Then Found a Missed Deduction?
You do not need to ignore an eligible deduction simply because CRA has already assessed your return.
Could a Deduction Also Change Your CCB or Groceries Benefit?
Yes, when the deduction changes the income figure CRA uses and your household is in a benefit reduction range.
For the July 2026 to June 2027 CCB period, CRA uses 2025 AFNI. With one eligible child, CCB starts declining once AFNI exceeds $38,237. Between $38,237 and $82,847, CRA reduces the one-child CCB by 7% of income above the threshold.
$70,000Eligible deduction:
− $4,000
Revised AFNI:
$66,000
At that CCB income range, a $4,000 reduction in AFNI changes the annual CCB calculation by:
$4,000 × 7% = $280
CGEB also uses adjusted family net income. For the July 2026 to June 2027 payment period, CRA bases the calculation on the 2025 tax return. The actual change depends on marital status, number of children and AFNI.
A deduction therefore does not guarantee a larger benefit. Its effect comes from the actual reduction in the income figure used by that benefit’s formula.
🔗 CRA — Current CCB Calculation
🔗 CRA — Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit Calculation
Don’t Spend Money Just to Get a Deduction
The goal is not to create expenses for a tax deduction. Start with money you already needed to spend and check whether CRA rules give you a deduction for it.
Look through last year’s daycare receipts, moving invoices, T4, professional dues, employment records, tool purchases, investment statements and legal bills. One document you forgot about can change a line on your return.
Sources & Further Reading
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
Child Care Expenses — Line 21400
Other Employment Expenses — Line 22900
Annual Union and Professional Dues — Line 21200
Carrying Charges and Interest Expenses — Line 22100
Other Deductions and Certain Legal Fees — Line 23200
Disability-Related Information
Canada Child Benefit — How Much You Can Get
Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit — How Much You Can Get