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kivacin
Level 4

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

I was well versed in how to handle this previously but just cannot wrap my head around the changes they've put in this year.  I get that everyone can claim the $1,200 benefit.  What I don't understand is who can claim what?  ex. It used to be that, if one parent had the Box 32 travel deduction, you could claim those amounts (lowest of the three things) as follows:

Mom, Dad, and Child A, B, and C could all travel together twice

OR

Mom and Child A could travel once

Mom and Child B could travel once

Dad and Child A and B could travel once

Dad and Child C could travel once

Child C could travel once alone

and all of these could be claimed on the parent with the Box 32 travel deduction.

 

But I don't know how it is meant to be split up now - is there a difference?

And lastly, is there an age limit before you can claim the $1,200 amount?

Solved
Best answer March 06, 2022

Best Answers
yukonk8
Level 2

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

there's no real change to that part - it's still that each human in the family can only have TWO of their trips claimed by anyone.  The goofy part is how Profile is set up.  If you look at the paper T2222 it's a little more clear.  EITHER you do the 1200/person limitation (so you complete the chart) OR you do the Box 32 as you always did and you ignore that little chart altogether.  So far, they've been accepted okay!

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11 Comments 11
yukonk8
Level 2

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

there's no real change to that part - it's still that each human in the family can only have TWO of their trips claimed by anyone.  The goofy part is how Profile is set up.  If you look at the paper T2222 it's a little more clear.  EITHER you do the 1200/person limitation (so you complete the chart) OR you do the Box 32 as you always did and you ignore that little chart altogether.  So far, they've been accepted okay!

kivacin
Level 4

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

Thanks Yukon (living in the Yukon I assume?  I lived there for about 11 years).  They've just worded it in a way that makes it sound incredibly complicated!  So far I've been treating it as I always have or just putting in the amounts for the 2x$600 trips if they don't have a box 32.  As you say, it seems to work. 

 

One thing though is that, if I used to have a family of four and both parents receive the travel benefit of $2,500 in their box 32, I claimed two trips PER PERSON on each return (as long as they took four trips of course) So I guess that could be considered as something different.  Curious how you would handle one single person's file where the box 32 has $850 in it?

yukonk8
Level 2

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

If I have a box 32, I just ignore that little chart where it wants you to put everyone's name in and allocate the portion of the 1200.   The paper T2222 makes it a little more clear.  You can choose if you want to use the box 32 or the $1200/person...just not both!

kivacin
Level 4

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

I just edited my earlier response.  In response to this one though, I figure with the $850 in box 32, it just makes more sense to claim the 2x$600.

yukonk8
Level 2

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

(btw...how the heck did you start a new question?!  I looked for way too long, gave up and will message them when they're live tomorrow; there's a glitch in the Canada Training Credit...)

kivacin
Level 4

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

Believe me, they make it difficult.  I've only had to come in and ask a question a few times but, each time I did, I struggled just like you have.  I finally made myself instructions so I'll share them here.  Hope it helps!


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kivacin
Level 4

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

Do you know if each person in the family, including children, qualify for the $1,200 amount or is it just the people who actually file a tax return?  I don't see anything anywhere regarding an age requirement.

yukonk8
Level 2

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

Here's how I describe this benefit simply to my clients:

You're allowed to write off Transportation (eg airfare or a flat rate of $0.58/km if you drive),
Meals (or a flat rate of $69/day) and Accommodation (receipts required), up to $896.19 per person per trip ("Lowest Return Airfare"). And you're allowed to write off a maximum of 2 trips per year per person, up to the amount you received in box 32 on your T4 OR (and this is new in 2021...) if you DON'T get a number in box 32 of your T4, you can still claim up to $1200 in travel for each person in your household.

 

So Joe and Jane have two kids, aged 8 and 10.  Joe gets a box 32 of $2242; Jane does not have a Box 32.

 

So, the total travel that can be claimed by either Joe or Jane is as follows:

 

Joe can claim up to two trips per person in his family, so 4 people, two trips, up to 944.20 per person per trip (that figure is the Yukon Lowest Return Airfare in 2021), up to $2242 in total.

Jane can claim up to two trips per person in her family, so 4 people two trips, up to 944.20 per person per trip, up to $1200 in total.

 

Now, the only caveat is that you've got to divide the trips so there are no more than 2 trips being claimed per person by anyone.  So Joe can claim one trip with all 4 of them and another trip he took with only the one kid, and then Jane can claim one trip with her and the other kid....so each person in the family has 2 of their own trips written off by someone.

 

Make sense?

kivacin
Level 4

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

Thanks for this; however, I'm not entirely sure it does answer it exactly.  Let's look at another scenario.  Say Joe and Jane EACH have a box 32 with $2,000 in it.  The way I've claimed it in the past, and been reviewed for and okayed, is that Joe can claim two trips per person, so say all four of them travel in January and December up to the total of the $2,000 benefit and Joe claims that on his tax return.  And perhaps all four of them travel in the summer, maybe June and August.  Jane could then claim those two trips per person on her tax return as they are different trips than the ones Joe claimed (meaning that no person is claiming twice for the same trip).  Of course she would also be limited to the $2,000 benefit amount.

with me so far :-)

That's how I've done it in the past.  Now though, with this $1,200 per person, I would think that the total for all four people is $4,800.  As that is more than the total of $4,000 that each Joe and Jane can claim, they would be better off using this method for the deduction and it could then be put on either return.  Do you agree with this so far?

I won't continue yet as it would cloud the situation, so I'll let you respond to this first....

Thanks Yukon!

yukonk8
Level 2

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

It has always been my interpretation that the most that could be claimed by any taxpayer was 2 trips per person in their family.   Here's the blurb that is on the actual paper T2222 (which is usually the best way to figure out odd forms) 

"Under proposed changes, you can claim, for other (non-medical) reasons, up
to two trips that you took and up to two trips taken by each eligible family
member. You also can claim any number of medical trips taken by you or an
eligible family member. However, no more than two non-medical trips taken
by any individual (themselves or an eligible family member) in a year can be
claimed by all taxpayers combined"

I don't think I've ever not done it this way, so I can't say if it'd fly under scrutiny, but I think that my interpretation is correct.  

Kathi

kivacin
Level 4

NEW Northern Resident's deduction travel benefit

"Interpretation" is exactly the correct word.  I once had a couple who both had their returns reviewed for travel and they had exactly the same stuff, but for different trips of course.  One was accepted as filed and the other was not and was reassessed.  So even they don't know exactly what it means! LOL 

 

One thing you wrote there totally stood out to me and I don't think I noticed it when I read through the T2222 form.  The last line says "...by all taxpayers COMBINED".  Despite the fact that I actually highlighted that line when I went through it originally, it must not have sunk in because I never got that from it.  So thank you.  According to that then, the way I've done it for the last 20 years has been wrong! LOL  Unless that particular part is new.  The only physical copy I have is from back in 2003 and it wasn't stated near that clearly.

 

So thank you so much for the input.  I do appreciate it.  Now it's time to get my act together and get to work.  Sitting on about 20 files at the moment, all waiting to be done.  And I'm sure you have them as well as that is what we do at this time of year!  So take care, have a good season, and thank you again!