Can IL&M from Pers be claimed as taxes?

[EO TECH]

Hello all,

well i am in a totally different boat here and really need some advice. I sold my house here in Gagetown. Packers are in on the 25 July and leave on the 28th. During that time i leave for Kingston with travel dates up to the 2nd of Aug. I don't take my PMQ till the 8th of Aug.

Now the question, during my time in hotels from the 2-8 i have to pay from my pers envelope. Now this is at zero since i used it for MIB on my new house being built now. So basically from 2-8 aug i am on my own (my dime).  I know i can't claim it under core (i asked) cant do custom either. Can i claim everything from 2-8 Aug on my income taxes as moving expenses?

tks much

 

[SeaKingTacco]

That is question you need to pose to your accountant or to CRA.

 

[Pusser]

You can claim anything you like.  It will be up to CRA whether they allow it.  As you long as you don't lie on your tax return, you're not doing anything illegal.  In other words, claiming things you're not entitled to on your income tax return is not illegal.  Lying in order to make something look like something else is.  If CRA deems your living expenses for this interim period as legitimate moving expenses that have not been reimbursed by your employer, then they are claimable.

What I'm curious about is why Brookfield has said you're not entitled to IL&M for 2-8 August.  It's not your fault the PMQ is not available before that.  Or are there more details to this story?  Have you asked for adjudication?

 

[SeaKingTacco]

The ILM refusal seems to be BGRS/DCBA default setting.

The OP needs to seek adjudication through the local IRP coordinator to DCBA.

Keep in mind, DCBA still has 900ish file from last APS to adjudicate...

 

[Blackadder1916]

. . . . Now the question, during my time in hotels from the 2-8 i have to pay from my pers envelope. Now this is at zero since i used it for MIB on my new house being built now. So basically from 2-8 aug i am on my own (my dime).  I know i can't claim it under core (i asked) cant do custom either. Can i claim everything from 2-8 Aug on my income taxes as moving expenses?

It is not so simple as claiming only those expenses incurred in that narrow time frame.  If you were to claim moving expenses as a deduction on your income taxes, all the expenses and reimbursements related to your move would have to be taken into account.  If, at the end of the calculation, you paid out more for eligible expenses than you were reimbursed, then that amount could reduce your taxable income.  Of course, not every expense that an employer may reimburse is automatically deemed an eligible expense by CRA.

T1-M Moving Expense Deduction

 

[EO TECH]

Tks for replies.

as far as asking IRP that is what they said, can't claim nothing.

Now for the tax part on there website it says that you will have to claim everything of your move. Guess i will be calling them on Monday for clarify that.

The only other option was what Tacco said. But maybe payment for when? to save a few bucks? Not worth my time.

Just wanted clarification if somebody else did this.

Nick

 

[SeaKingTacco]

EO Tech,

You do need to speak to your IRP coordinator about this.  DCBA is (supposedly) very interested in cases where soldiers have had to dip into their own pocket during a move (I know of a Capt that is out $13K for ILM expenses this year).

You may not care about your own case, but how about the soldiers that have to move in subsequent years, if this sort of thing becomes "normalized"?

 

[EO TECH]

Tacco,

that makes total sense to me. I think i will put in a memo. Might get back a couple of bucks but hey in 5 years when i get posted again, maybe i won't have this problem.

tks for the tip on this.

Nick

 

[Tewkster]

Packers are in on the 25 July and leave on the 28th. During that time i leave for Kingston with travel dates up to the 2nd of Aug. I don't take my PMQ till the 8th of Aug.

To avoid all this headache, was it not possible to coincide your move dates with the possession of your PMQ?  You're only looking at a few days here and I am sure that these are negotiable with enough notice in advance.

 

[Pusser]

Any expense that is paid for through Brookfield, be it from core, custom or personalized funds, will already have all the tax issues taken care of (i.e. if it's a taxable benefit, it will be covered by a T4).  In short you need not do anything special for any of these expenses.  No need to declare them or claim them on your income tax return.

A little bit of history here:  Before the IRP, there were no core, custom or personalized envelopes.  Everything was either paid for by the Crown or not.  There was much confusion over a number of common expenses that were covered in some cases, but not in others.  There was much ad hockery and it was very frustrating.  Today's "personalized" envelope is largely made up of two longstanding benefits, the Posting Allowance and the Movement Expense.  The Posting Allowance has always been taxable as it is simply money (one could say "hush money") designed to compensate you for the inconvenience of having to move.  In other words it is pay (and is in fact equal to a half month or a full month's pay).  The Movement Expense was designed as a simple means to reimburse people for all the piddly little expenses that come with moving (e.g. lock changes, new driver's licence, curtains, phone hook-up, etc) that we didn't want to bother including in claims.  Movement Expense was not taxable.  When the IRP was set up, CRA was involved and it was revealed that we had in fact been handing out money for years incorrectly.  An employer cannot simply hand out money to cover "stuff."  It has to be for a specific purpose, otherwise it is considered pay and pay is taxable.  In other words,  Movement Expense is and always should have been a taxable benefit.  The dilemma is that it is also designed to cover tax-deductable expenses.  The way around this was to create the "personalized" envelope.  In this way, running any tax-deductable movement expense through Brookfield takes care of all the tax issues and is to your advantage.  For this reason, when you spend money on ANYTHING related to your move, it is worthwhile to run it through Brookfield and have them pay it or reimburse you through your personalized envelope (unless it can be covered under core or custom, which are even better).  Any money left over in your personalized envelope is fully taxable so it is actually better to spend as much as possible through IRP in order to get more bang for your buck.

In summary, the only expenses you will want to think about in terms of your tax return are those that you paid our of your own pocket and for which you did not receive anything from Brookfield.