For tradespeople and apprentices in construction who take a temporary job far from home: the 150 km and 36-hour tests, what counts, the limits, and a calculator.
| Who | Tradespeople and apprentices with employment income whose work is construction activities. |
| The distance test | Your temporary lodging is at least 150 km closer to each temporary work location than your home, and you are away from home for at least 36 hours. |
| How much | Up to $4,000 of eligible expenses a year. For each relocation, also no more than 50% of your employment income that year from construction work at that location. |
| What counts | Temporary lodging (if your home stays your principal residence and is not rented out), one round trip home to lodging, and the meals on that trip. |
| Not counted | Getting around at the work location, anything your employer reimburses, and anything already deducted elsewhere, such as moving expenses. |
| Where it goes | Calculate it on page 2 of Form T777, enter it on page 1 line 11, and the total goes on line 22900 of your return. |
| Left over | Unused expenses carry forward to the next year against income from the same relocation. |
The calculator follows the rules in Guide T4044 for one relocation. The $4,000 limit is for the whole year, so with several relocations in a year the total of all of them cannot pass $4,000. It does not check the other conditions, such as a temporary employment contract or the work location being outside the locality where you ordinarily work.
CRA’s eligible tradesperson is a tradesperson or an apprentice who has employment income and whose employment duties are construction activities. Construction activities cover the erection, excavation, installation, alteration, modification, repair, improvement, demolition, destruction, dismantling or removal of all or part of a building, structure, surface or sub-surface construction, or similar property. Self-employed income does not qualify; the deduction is against employment income.
The relocation has to be temporary and meet all of these:
CRA’s example: you live and work in Toronto and take a 3-week contract on a construction site in Montreal, 550 km away, renting a short-term apartment 10 km from the site. Home is more than 150 km further from the site than the apartment, so the relocation qualifies.
The expenses must be reasonable and can be incurred in the previous year, the current year or before February 1 of the next year. They cannot have been deducted before, deducted in another way such as moving expenses, or be something you are entitled to have reimbursed or paid by an allowance.
The deduction is at most $4,000 a year. For each relocation it is also limited to 50% of your employment income that year from construction activities at that relocation’s work location, counting any expenses carried forward. Each relocation is worked out separately, so you can have more than one in a year. Whatever you cannot deduct, because the income from that relocation was too low or the $4,000 was reached, carries forward to the next year against income from the same relocation.
CRA’s example: a relocation starts on December 28, 2025, with a $1,000 return flight, $100 of meals on the way and $400 of lodging in December. No pay from that job arrives until January 2026, so nothing is deductible for 2025 and the $1,500 carries forward. In 2026 the job pays $7,000, and $650 of lodging and $100 of meals on the flight home are added, for $2,250 in all. Under the limits above, the 2026 deduction is the lesser of $2,250, $4,000 and half of $7,000, which is $2,250.
Employed tradespeople who buy their own tools can also look at the tradesperson’s tools deduction. Apprentices in technical training can borrow through the Canada Apprentice Loan, and journeypersons certified on or after April 1, 2025 can look at the $5,000 Red Seal Completion Bonus.
Free practice questions for 11 Red Seal trades, with a written explanation on every answer. Pick your trade to start a free quiz. Each trade’s bank is also sold as a printable PDF with revision notes, if you would rather study on paper.
A deduction from employment income for tradespeople and apprentices in construction who temporarily relocate to work at a site far from home. It covers temporary lodging, one round trip and the meals on that trip, up to $4,000 a year. You calculate it on Form T777 and claim it on line 22900.
Your temporary lodging has to be at least 150 kilometres closer to each temporary work location than your ordinary residence, you have to be away from home for at least 36 hours, and the work location has to be outside the locality where you ordinarily work.
Up to $4,000 of eligible temporary relocation expenses a year. For each relocation the claim, including any amount carried forward, is also limited to 50% of your employment income that year from construction activities at that relocation's work location.
Temporary lodging, as long as your home stays your principal residence, available to you and not rented out; transportation for one round trip between home and the temporary lodging; and the meals you eat during that round trip. Getting around at the work location, such as a rental car there, does not count, and neither does anything your employer reimburses.
Yes. CRA defines an eligible tradesperson as a tradesperson or an apprentice who has employment income and performs employment duties in construction activities.
The unused part carries forward to the following year and can be deducted against employment income from the same relocation, for example when the work and the pay continue into January.
Read on November 5, 2026. CRA’s guide is the authority; if it changes, it wins.
Independent guide. Not affiliated with the Canada Revenue Agency or the Government of Canada, and not tax advice. Checked against canada.ca again before the 2026 tax season.
This site is free. If it helped your studies, a coffee keeps it running ☕
☕ Buy Me a Coffee