Moving is expensive — and the federal moving expense deduction can be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. If you forgot to claim it on a prior year’s return, the good news is you can go back and fix it.
Who Can Claim Moving Expenses?
To claim moving expenses on line 21900 of your T1 return, you must meet all three conditions:
- You moved to be closer to a new job, self-employment location, or post-secondary school
- Your new home is at least 40 kilometres closer (by the shortest public route) to your new work or school location than your old home was
- You have eligible income at the new location — employment income, self-employment income, or taxable scholarship/bursary income
The 40-kilometre rule is calculated by road distance, not straight-line.
What Moving Expenses Are Eligible?
CRA allows deductions for a wide range of costs, tracked on Form T1-M:
| Expense Category | Notes |
|---|---|
| Transport and storage of household effects | Moving trucks, pods, storage fees |
| Travel costs (vehicle, meals, accommodation) | For you and your household members during the move |
| Temporary lodging | Up to 15 days at old or new location |
| Selling your old home | Real estate commissions, legal fees, mortgage penalty |
| Purchasing your new home | Legal fees only — only if old home was also owned |
| Lease cancellation costs | Penalty to break a lease at old residence |
| Changing your address | Utility hook-up fees, Canada Post forwarding |
Not eligible: Loss on sale of old home, expenses to clean or repair old home for sale, mail forwarding after the year-end.
How Much Can You Deduct?
Moving expenses can only be deducted against income earned at the new location — employment income, business income, or student scholarship/bursary income. You cannot use moving expenses to create a loss.
Example: If you moved in August and earned $20,000 at the new job before year-end, you can claim up to $20,000 in moving expenses, even if your total moving costs were $25,000. The remaining $5,000 carries forward to next year automatically.
How to Fix a Missed Claim
Step 1: Gather your documentation
Collect receipts for all eligible expenses for the year of the move: invoices from movers, gas receipts, hotel bills, real estate statements, lawyer fees.
Step 2: Complete Form T1-M
Download Form T1-M (Moving Expenses Deduction) from CRA’s website and complete it for the year of the move.
Step 3: File a T1 Adjustment
Online (fastest): Log in to CRA My Account, go to “Change my return,” select the tax year, and update line 21900 with the correct deduction amount.
By mail: Complete Form T1-ADJ (T1 Adjustment Request), attach the completed T1-M, and mail it to your tax centre. Processing takes 8–12 weeks.
You can adjust returns going back up to 10 tax years. A 2026 return can be adjusted back to 2016.
Step 4: Wait for reassessment
CRA will issue a Notice of Reassessment. If you’re owed a refund, it will arrive by direct deposit or cheque within a few weeks of the reassessment.
Carrying Forward Unused Amounts
If you couldn’t deduct all your expenses because your income at the new location wasn’t high enough, CRA automatically allows you to carry the unused amount forward. However, you must have claimed the expenses on the year-of-move return first — the carryforward only works if the original deduction was already claimed.
If you never claimed them at all, file the T1 adjustment for the year of the move first, then adjust the following year’s return if there’s a carryforward.
Provincial Moving Expense Treatment
Federal moving expense rules apply to your federal return. Most provinces follow the same rules for provincial tax, since provincial income is calculated from your federal net income. Quebec has its own rules under Revenu Québec — Quebec residents should also complete the equivalent provincial form.