Quick answer: Form T2200 is signed by the employer and filed by nobody. The employee keeps it and produces it only if the CRA asks. What actually goes with the return is form T777, and the deduction lands on line 22900.
If you are the employer being asked to sign one, the wording is what you are certifying. Ask what you can safely put your name to.
On this page
What the form is
T2200 is the Declaration of Conditions of Employment. The CRA puts its purpose plainly: the form “must be completed by employers in order for their employees to deduct employment expenses from their income”.
It certifies, not claims: the employer confirms the employee had to pay certain expenses, work away from the place of business, or keep a home work space. The form deducts nothing.
The claim is made separately by the employee on form T777, Statement of Employment Expenses, and the resulting deduction is reported on line 22900 of the personal return.
Who files it
The employer completes and signs it. The employee requests it, keeps it, and claims on it.
For an incorporated owner-manager taking a salary, both roles are you: the corporation is the employer that signs, and you are the employee who keeps it.
The form at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| What it is | The employer’s certification of the conditions of employment |
| Who signs | The employer |
| Filed with the return? | No. The employee keeps it and produces it only if the CRA asks |
| What is filed instead | Form T777, Statement of Employment Expenses |
| Where the deduction goes | Line 22900 of the personal return |
What to have ready before you file
The delay is usually assembling what the form asks for. Have ready the employment contract or a written statement of conditions, the period covered, the expenses the employee must pay personally, and any allowance or reimbursement received.
Gathering it first also surfaces the problems early: a missing account number, a balance nobody has actually calculated, a date that does not line up. There is still time to fix them, rather than finding them after a filing has been rejected.
What catches people out
The commonest mistake is sending it in. The CRA is explicit that the T2200 is kept by the employee and not included with the return. Attaching it does not strengthen a claim; that is simply not how the form works.
The second commonest is the mirror image, not having one at all. The deduction depends on the employer’s certification existing. If the CRA reviews the claim and no signed T2200 can be produced, the expenses come out.
Signing one is not a formality for the employer either. It certifies conditions of employment that the CRA can test, so an employer signing a T2200 that does not reflect the actual arrangement is certifying something untrue.
How it is filed
The employer completes and signs it; the employee keeps it. It is not filed with the return, but the CRA can ask for it, so keep a copy for the retention period. A signing employer certifies conditions that actually existed, not a favour, and a certification that contradicts the contract is what a review finds first.
Keep the signed copy with its working papers. A review asks for the file showing how the figures were reached, and the election is only as defensible as that file.
Common questions about T2200
Do I file the T2200 with my tax return?+
Who has to sign the T2200?+
Which form do I actually file?+
I pay myself a salary from my own corporation, do I need one?+
Where this comes from
General information current as of , not advice for your situation. Elections are unforgiving about dates — confirm yours before you file. Please speak with a CPA about your circumstances.
Related reading
- The labour mobility deduction
- Home office expenses for an incorporated owner
- Cellphone and internet business use
- All CRA forms we cover
Other CRA forms
Who does this work
A signed T2200 is the permission slip, not the claim. The expenses themselves go on the personal return, and which of them survive depends on what the form actually certifies.
If that is where you are, the service page for claim employment expenses on a personal return sets out what the engagement covers and how it is quoted.
Elections are date-driven and unforgiving. Email us before the deadline rather than after — we quote the work in writing first.
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A T2200 is signed by an employer, which means it arrives with every other obligation that comes from having staff. the payroll side of employing people covers those.
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