Quick answer
Accommodation is fully deductible when you travel away from your usual work area overnight for business, unlike meals, which are capped at 50%. Canadian accommodation carries the GST or HST of the province where the hotel sits, from 5% to 15%, and a registrant can claim that as an input tax credit. The stay must be for genuine business, with any personal nights apportioned out.
Is work accommodation tax deductible in Canada?
Yes, when the overnight stay results from genuine business travel. If a project, client, or conference requires you to stay away from your usual work area, the accommodation is fully deductible. This is a useful contrast with meals, which stay at the 50% limit even when you are travelling: the room is fully deductible, the dinner is half. It follows the same logic as business travel generally.
Canadian accommodation carries GST/HST at the rate of the province where the hotel is located, so a work stay is a cost where there is tax to claim as an input tax credit. Where a stay mixes business with a holiday, you apportion between the business nights and the personal nights. See the wider Canadian expense rules for context.
How much can you claim?
You claim the actual, reasonable cost of the accommodation, with any personal nights removed. The tax rate depends on the province where you stay:
| Province of stay | GST/HST on accommodation |
|---|---|
| Ontario | 13% HST |
| Nova Scotia | 14% HST |
| New Brunswick, NL, PEI | 15% HST |
| Alberta, BC, the territories | 5% GST (plus any provincial tax) |
Worked example. An engineer stays two nights in Toronto for a temporary project. The hotel is $200 per night plus 13% HST, totalling $452 with $52 of HST. Because both nights are for work, the full $400 room cost is deductible and the $52 HST is claimable as an input tax credit. Any meals charged to the room are separated out and deducted at 50%.
Record-keeping requirements
Keep the hotel folio, not just the card receipt, and for amounts of $100 or more make sure it shows the supplier’s GST/HST number so you can claim the input tax credit. Note the business purpose and dates, and keep enough detail to apportion any personal nights. Records must be kept for six years.
How to claim, step by step
- Confirm the stay results from genuine business travel away from your usual work area.
- Obtain an itemised folio showing the supplier’s GST/HST number.
- Deduct the room cost in full and claim the GST/HST input tax credit at the province’s rate.
- Separate any meals charged to the room and deduct them at the 50% limit.
- Apportion out any personal or holiday nights.
- Keep records for six years.
Common mistakes
- Treating accommodation like meals and capping it at 50%. The room is fully deductible.
- Keeping only the card receipt, which lacks the supplier tax number needed for the input tax credit.
- Applying your home province’s tax rate instead of the rate where the hotel is located.
- Failing to separate room-charged meals, which belong at 50%.
- Claiming personal nights added to a work trip.
Software that helps
Hotel folios bundle the room, the tax, and any meals on one document, and the province’s rate has to be applied correctly.
- TravelPerk itemises booked stays and separates accommodation from extras.
- ExpenseFlow reads the folio, separates the fully deductible room cost from the 50% meals, applies the correct provincial GST/HST, and syncs the coded stay to Xero or QuickBooks.
- Expensify matches the hotel card transaction to the uploaded folio.
FAQ
See the answered questions above for deductibility, GST/HST on hotels, room-charged meals, mixed stays, and which province’s tax applies.