• T1223 Clergy residence deduction

If you are a member of the clergy, complete Form T1223, Clergy Residence Deduction, to find out what you can deduct. If your are a resident of Québec, also complete the provincial form TP-76.

A person who is employed, or has an office, as a member of the clergy or a religious order or as a regular minister of a religious denomination may be entitled to claim a clergy residence deduction in respect of his or her residence, when calculating the income from that employment or office. In order to qualify for the deduction, the person must satisfy both the status and function tests discussed below.

Eligibility requirements

You are eligible to claim the clergy residence deduction on line 23100 of your return if you were a member of the clergy or a religious order or a regular minister of a religious denomination, who was:

• in charge of a diocese, parish or congregation;
• ministering to a diocese, parish or congregation; or
• engaged exclusively in full-time administrative service by appointment of a religious order or religious denomination.

If you received free accommodation for your residence, the value of it is shown as a taxable benefit in box 30 of your T4 slip. Report this taxable benefit on line 10400 of your return. Claim this amount as a deduction on line 23100 of your return. Subtract this taxable benefit from the amount in box 14 of your T4 slip and enter the difference on line 10100.

If you owned or rented the residence being claimed, enter on line 23100 the amount from line 11 of Part C of Form T1223.

If you received free accommodation for a residence and also owned or rented the residence being claimed for a different part of the year, add the amounts together and claim that total on line 23100 of your return. The amount claimed for the clergy residence deduction can never exceed income from qualifying employment from all eligible employers.

Note

The actual rent and utilities paid, or if the residence is owned, the fair rental value including utilities, must be reduced by all amounts, other than your clergy residence deduction, that is claimed by you, your spouse or common-law partner, or any other person in respect of the same accommodation, if the other amounts deducted are for the same months or period. This could arise, for example, when your spouse or common-law partner claims work-space-in-the-home expenses.

If both you and your spouse are claiming clergy residence deductions, and provided there are no other deductions for accommodations other than clergy residence, the spouse with the higher salary should complete the calculation on the Form T1223 first. The spouse with the lower salary should then take into consideration the deduction with respect to the clergy residence for the same accommodation.

If you are filing a paper return, do not include Form T1223, but keep it in case we ask to see it. If you are filing electronically, keep all of your documents.

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