Most Canadians miss at least 5 of these. The full Form T1-M deductible list, the 40 km rule explained, and a free refund estimator.
Canada Revenue Agency lets you deduct moving expenses from your taxable income if your move qualifies under Form T1-M. The rule that catches most people is not the distance between your old and new home. It is the distance between your new home and your new job, business, or school.
✓ Correct: Your new home is at least 40 km closer to your new workplace, business, or school than your old home was.
✗ Wrong: Your old home and new home are 40 km apart from each other. This fails the test.
You also need to have moved within Canada for one of three qualifying reasons: starting a new job, starting or running a business, or attending a Canadian post-secondary school full-time. Keep every receipt for amounts over $50, since CRA can ask for proof up to 6 years after filing.
Verified against current CRA Form T1-M instructions
The full cost of hiring a Canadian moving company including labour, truck rental, fuel surcharge, and packing services. If you drove a rental truck yourself, the rental fee plus fuel and insurance qualifies. Personal vehicle mileage to transport household goods also qualifies at the CRA simplified rate.
Most missed: The CRA simplified vehicle rate for 2026 is around 70 cents per km in most provinces. Track your mileage from old home to new home for both vehicles if you used two.
Short-term storage of your household effects between leaving the old home and reaching the new one. Self-storage units, mover-provided warehousing, and portable container storage fees all qualify, including the cost of insurance on the storage period.
Watch for: Storage costs only qualify if they are clearly part of the move. Long-term storage you keep using after settling does not qualify.
Costs for you and your household members to travel from the old home to the new one. Includes plane tickets, train, bus fares, gas for personal vehicles, parking, ferries, and tolls. CRA accepts either detailed receipts or the simplified per-km method, whichever you prefer.
Detailed vs simplified: Detailed needs every receipt but can claim more. Simplified uses the flat per-km rate but requires no fuel receipts.
Meals for you and your family during the move are deductible. CRA accepts the simplified method of $23 per meal, up to a maximum of $69 per person per day, with no receipts required. Or you can claim actual costs with receipts if higher.
For long moves: A family of four driving Toronto to Vancouver over 4 days could claim up to $1,104 in meals using the simplified method alone.
Up to 15 days of temporary living expenses near either the old or the new home. Hotel rooms, short-term rentals, and meals during this period all qualify. The 15 days can be split between origin and destination.
Common scenario: 2 nights at a hotel before your old home closes, plus 8 nights of Airbnb while waiting for the new home possession date.
Penalties paid to break a residential lease at your old home. Includes the lease cancellation fee, any forfeited last month's rent if it was applied as a penalty, and lawyer fees if needed to negotiate the early termination.
Renter-only: If you owned your old home, this does not apply. See expense 7 instead.
If you owned your old home and it had not sold by the move date, you can deduct up to $5,000 of carrying costs. This includes mortgage interest, property taxes, home insurance, heating, and electricity for the period after you moved out and before it sold.
$5,000 cap: CRA limits this category to a $5,000 maximum total, regardless of how long the old home took to sell.
Real estate commissions, advertising costs, legal fees, and mortgage discharge penalties paid when selling your old principal residence. Realtor commission is usually the largest line item here, often 4 to 5 percent of the sale price.
Big number: A $700,000 home sale with 5% commission means $35,000 in deductible commission alone.
Lawyer or notary fees to close on your new home, plus provincial land transfer tax. Available only if you sold your old home as part of the move. Title insurance, registration fees, and disbursements are also included.
Ontario buyers: Land transfer tax on a $700,000 home is around $10,475 provincially, plus $10,475 if buying in Toronto. Both qualify.
Connection fees at the new home for hydro, gas, water, internet, phone, and cable. Disconnection or transfer fees at the old home also qualify. Most utilities charge $50 to $300 per service for connection.
Add it up: Hydro, gas, internet, and phone connection fees easily reach $400 to $600 for a typical household setup.
Canada Post mail forwarding fees, driver's licence updates, vehicle registration changes, and replacing other government-issued documents that require an address update. Usually around $200 to $400 total for a typical Canadian household.
Often forgotten: Canada Post mail forwarding is $110 for 6 months and qualifies in full.
Free Canadian moving cost calculator. Real 2026 rates by city, home size, and date. No email, no login, 30 seconds.
Calculate Your Moving Cost →CRA can ask for proof of any expense over $50. Keep all original receipts for at least 6 years after filing. For meals and vehicle costs, you can choose the simplified method which does not require receipts but uses fixed CRA rates instead.
Only the portion you paid out of pocket. If your employer reimbursed $5,000 of a $7,000 move, you can claim the remaining $2,000 on Form T1-M. Reimbursed amounts are not deductible.
Unused moving expenses can be carried forward to the next year if you have employment or self-employment income at the new location. Students moving for full-time school can carry forward unused amounts against future taxable scholarship income.
Only if the family member is a dependant moving with you and the move qualifies for you under the 40 km rule. Helping a parent or adult child move on its own is not deductible.
Yes, full-time students at a Canadian post-secondary school can claim moving expenses against scholarship, fellowship, bursary, research grant, and prize income. The 40 km rule still applies, measured from the school location.