CRA Changes Clergy Residence Deduction Form T1223

As you may be aware, Canada Revenue Agency has made a change with regards to the Clergy Residence Deduction requirements. Previously, a list of duties was required for completing the T1223. As of 2012 it is required that we will be required to provide a numeric value (percentage of time spent at a particular category of duties) as part of the “function test”. However, at this time, they are not requiring that the document with the percentages be submitted at the time of filing income tax forms. They reserve the right to contact you for the information and you are strongly advised to have this completed in your files and ready to submit. For your information, we have posted here a summary on the topic from the Canadian Council of Christian Churches.

In the attachments also found here, you will find that there are four separate ministry descriptions with blank spaces for the insertion of the amount of time. Please feel free to use the appropriate form, to complete the percentages and retain with your documents. It is possible that you might also find this a helpful tool to have discussions about your ministry with your corporation or others. For those in community ministries who do not find that one of these tools fully meets their needs, feel free to adapt the form for your context.

We thank the team from the Diocese of Toronto and Niagara who worked to put together the draft of these forms and for their willingness to share with other dioceses.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Executive Archdeacon, the Venerable Janet Griffith at jgriffith@montreal.anglican.ca or by phone (514) 843-6577, #233.