The Northern Residents Deduction has expanded to include a travel deduction for all residents who qualify for the residency deduction. Prior to 2021, the travel deduction was only available if you received a travel benefit from your employer.

The travel deduction can be claimed for up to two personal trips or unlimited medical trips, but the trip must have started from a northern zone and been taken by either you or a family member.

But don’t get too excited! The maximum deduction you can claim for each eligible trip is the lowest of the following three amounts:

• Either the standard amount of $1,200 or the travel benefit received by your employer, divided by the number of trips you are claiming,
• The total travel expenses paid for the trip, or
• The cost of the lowest return airfare available at the time of the trip between your closest airport and Vancouver (available on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website as a table).

And remember, we live in a Zone B, so the actual deduction is only 50% of that!

Travel expenses include air, train and bus fare, vehicle expenses, meals, accommodations, camping fees, and other incidentals such as taxis and road/ ferry tolls.

The good news is that this does not need to be complicated. Keep all your receipts of course, in case you get audited, but the CRA allows the use of a simplified method to claim meals and mileage. For each trip, put your receipts in an envelope and note your dates of departure and reåturn and the destination on the outside. When it comes to tax time, it will then be easy to determine the meal expense ($23/meal) and a quick google search will give you the number of km you can claim for mileage ($0.58/km). Add your flight and/or ferry and accommodation costs and voila! you have your total travel expenses.

For more information, go to: www. canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/ tax/individuals/topics/about-your-taxreturn/ tax-return/completing-a-taxreturn/ deductions-credits-expenses/line- 25500-northern-residents-deductions.html J. Pigeon Bookkeeping & Accounting Services has been preparing tax returns for Haida Gwaii residents for over 10 years and can be reached by email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone: 250.626.7478