Employed artists

You can deduct expenses you paid in 2023 to earn employment income from an artistic activity if you did any of the following:

These expenses include any GST and provincial sales tax (PST), or HST, you paid. You may be able to get a rebate of the GST/HST you paid. For more information, see Employee GST/HST Rebate.

The amount you can claim is limited to the lesser of:

a) the expenses you actually paid in 2023 plus any amounts you carried forward from previous years

b) the lesser of:

minus the following amounts you deducted from your income from an artistic activity:

If you have expenses you cannot claim because of the 20% or $1,000 limit, you can deduct them from artistic income you earn in a future year.

Enter the amount you can deduct on the “Artists’ employment expenses” line of Form T777, Statement of Employment Expenses.

If you earn artistic income from more than one employer, total your income and expenses before you calculate your claim. In other words, you cannot make a separate claim for each employer.

Note

As an employed artist, you can deduct expenses described in Salaried employees, if you meet the required conditions of an employee earning a salary. If this is the case, you can choose to deduct these expenses separately from the other expenses you paid to earn artistic income. However, choose the option that gives you the greatest deduction in 2023, since you cannot carry forward any unused expenses that you can deduct in 2023.

Completing your tax return

Enter the amount you can deduct on the Artists' employment expenses line (9973) of Form T777, Statement of Employment Expenses.

Enter the amount from the Total expenses line (9368) on line 22900 of your return.

Forms and publications

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