“In response to the Covid-19 pandemic the government introduced the temporary flat rate method to simplify the calculation of home office expenses when claiming the employment expenses deduction,” the CRA wrote in a submission to the Commons government operations committee, obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.
The flat rate “home office expense” credit allowed federal staff to claim a maximum $400 on their 2020 tax return, which was raised to $500 in subsequent years.
The CRA information came in response to a question raised by Conservative MP Kelly Block, who inquired, “Can you tell us what the cost ramifications are to the treasury from all the public servants working from home who are now eligible to claim home office deductions on their income tax?”
The CRA did not provide a cost estimate to the treasury. However, approximately 287,978 employees were directed by cabinet to work from home as a COVID precaution, according to Blacklock’s. By June 10, 2022, cabinet estimated 240,000 employees were still working remotely, based on how many federal servers were receiving remote log-ins.
The Treasury Board has said it does not maintain statistics on how many employees are still working remotely from home. “The information is not systematically tracked,” the Board wrote in a May 23 submission to the Senate national finance committee.
If all 240,000 employees took advantage of the home office expense credit, the cost to the government over two years would equal $216 million.
The work-from-home program for federal employees also included a $36.3 million budget from Public Works Canada, for chairs, desks, furniture and other equipment for public servants to build home offices.
“The provision of this support continues and is based on employee needs,” cabinet stated in a 2021 Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons, Blacklock’s reported.
In a speech to the government operations committee on May 8, 2020, then-Treasury Board president Jean-Yves Duclos said that “federal employees are continuing to be productive in their efforts to provide Canadians with the government services they depend on,” regardless of where they work.
“While many public servants have the necessary tools to do this, some require additional equipment such as laptops, tablets and monitors as well as specific accommodations to allow them to do their work.”
The Agriculture Department spent $179,925 on headsets, while Indigenous Services spent $72,960 on laptops. Health Canada spent $30,744 on ergonomic chairs and Finance Canada spent $3,029 for “anti-fatigue mats.”Earlier this year, on April 19, the largest union representing federal employees from the CRA and the Treasury Board Secretariat went on strike, with one of their demands being able to maintain work-from-home arrangements.
In a deal reached May 1 between the union and the government, public servants were given new rights around remote work introduced during the pandemic, including a grievance process.
