⚡ Quick Summary
Who Qualifies: You can deduct moving expenses if you moved for a new job, business, or full-time post-secondary studies.
The 40km Rule: Your new home must be at least 40 km closer to your new work or school than your old home was, measured by the shortest normal driving route, not a straight line.
The Limit: You can only deduct expenses up to the income you earned at the new location that year. Extra amounts carry forward.
The Action: Keep every receipt from your move and file Form T1-M with your tax return.
Table of Contents
Who Can Claim Moving Expenses in Canada
The CRA allows you to deduct eligible moving expenses if you moved to work at a new job or business location, or to attend full-time post-secondary studies. A move for purely personal reasons, without a new job or school tied to it, generally doesn’t qualify.
This makes it a genuinely useful deduction for a lot of people relocating within Montreal for a new job, or moving from another city to attend a Montreal university.
The 40km Rule, Explained Properly
This rule trips a lot of people up, so let’s be precise. It is not simply “your new home must be 40 km closer to work.” The actual calculation is: the distance from your old home to your new work or school, minus the distance from your new home to that same new work or school, must be at least 40 kilometres.
The distance is measured using the shortest normal driving route, highways and main roads, not a straight line “as the crow flies.” Standard driving-direction tools like Google Maps are generally accepted as evidence of the distance.
If your move doesn’t clear that 40 km threshold under this calculation, the moving expense deduction won’t apply, even if the move still felt significant to you personally.
What Expenses Are Eligible
Eligible expenses generally include transportation and storage costs for your household goods, professional moving services, temporary living expenses near your old or new home for a limited period, and certain costs tied to selling your old home or buying your new one, like real estate commissions and legal fees.
Keep every receipt tied to your move. If the CRA reviews your claim, you’ll need documentation to back it up.
The Income Limit
You can only deduct moving expenses up to the amount of income you earned at your new work location, or the amount of taxable scholarship or grant income if you moved for school, in that same tax year.
If your eligible expenses are higher than that income in the year you moved, the leftover amount can be carried forward and deducted against income from that same location in a future year.
How to File the Claim
You’ll need to complete Form T1-M, Moving Expenses Deduction, and file a separate T1-M for each eligible move. The result from that form is what you enter on line 21900 of your income tax and benefit return.
Since tax rules can shift from year to year, it’s worth confirming the current details on the CRA’s own page for line 21900, or with an accountant, before you file.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does my new home need to be exactly 40 km from my old one?
No. What matters is the difference between your old home’s distance to your new work or school and your new home’s distance to that same location, which must be at least 40 km.
2. Can students claim moving expenses?
Yes, if you’re a full-time post-secondary student and the 40 km distance test is met, moving expenses can be deducted against scholarship, bursary, or grant income.
3. What documentation do I need?
Keep every receipt tied to your move, and use a driving-directions tool to document the distances for the 40 km calculation.
4. What form do I use to claim moving expenses?
Form T1-M, Moving Expenses Deduction, with the result reported on line 21900 of your tax return.
5. What if my expenses are more than my new income?
The unused portion carries forward and can be deducted against income from that same new location in a future year.
Sources
- Canada.ca: Line 21900, Moving expenses (official CRA guidance).
