Income Tax Act

Marginal note:Amounts not included in income

• 81 (1) There shall not be included in computing the income of a taxpayer for a taxation year,

  • Marginal note:Statutory exemptions

    (a) an amount that is declared to be exempt from income tax by any other enactment of Parliament, other than an amount received or receivable by an individual that is exempt by virtue of a provision contained in a tax convention or agreement with another country that has the force of law in Canada;

  • Marginal note:War Savings Certificate

    (b) an amount received under a War Savings Certificate issued by His Majesty in right of Canada or under a similar savings certificate issued by His Majesty in right of Newfoundland before April 1, 1949;

  • Marginal note:Ship or aircraft of non-residents

    (c) the income for the year of a non-resident person earned in Canada from international shipping or from the operation of aircraft in international traffic, if the country in which the person is resident grants substantially similar relief for the year to persons resident in Canada;

  • Marginal note:Service pension, allowance or compensation

    (d) a pension payment, an allowance or compensation that is received under or is subject to the Pension Act,the Civilian War-related Benefits Act or the War Veterans Allowance Act, an amount received under the Gallantry Awards Order or compensation received under the regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act;

  • Marginal note:Canadian Forces members and veterans amounts

    (d.1) the total of all amounts received or enjoyed by the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse or common-law partner or survivor (as defined in subsection 146.2(1)) in the year on account of

    • (i) a Canadian Forces income support benefit payable to the taxpayer under Part 2 of the Veterans Well-being Act,

    • (ii) pain and suffering compensation, additional pain and suffering compensation or a critical injury benefit, disability award, death benefit, clothing allowance or detention benefit payable to the taxpayer under Part 3 of the Veterans Well-being Act,

    • (iii) a caregiver recognition benefit payable to the taxpayer under Part 3.1 of the Veterans Well-being Act,

    • (iv) an amount payable to the taxpayer under subsection 132(1) of the Veterans Well-being Act,

    • (v) a benefit provided under the Veterans Health Care Regulations,

    • (vi) a benefit provided in respect of Rehabilitation Services and Vocational Assistance under Part 2 of the Veterans Well-being Act,

    • (vii) a benefit provided to a member of the Canadian Forces under the Compensation and Benefit Instructions for the Canadian Forces that is

      • (A) a home modifications benefit,

      • (B) a home modifications move benefit,

      • (C) a vehicle modifications benefit,

      • (D) a home assistance benefit,

      • (E) an attendant care benefit,

      • (F) a caregiver benefit,

      • (G) a spousal education upgrade benefit,

      • (H) a funeral and burial expenses benefit, or

      • (I) a next of kin travel benefit, or

    • (viii) a benefit provided by the Department of National Defence as an education expense reimbursement for ill and injured members;

  • Marginal note:War pensions

    (e) a pension payment received on account of disability or death arising out of a war from a country that was an ally of Canada at the time of the war, if that country grants substantially similar relief for the year to a person receiving a pension referred to in paragraph 81(1)(d);

  • Marginal note:Halifax disaster pensions, grants or allowances

    (f) a pension payment, a grant or an allowance in respect of death or injury sustained in the explosion in Halifax in 1917 and received from the Halifax Relief Commission the incorporation of which was confirmed by An Act respecting the Halifax Relief Commission, chapter 24 of the Statutes of Canada, 1918, or received pursuant to the Halifax Relief Commission Pension Continuation Act, chapter 88 of the Statutes of Canada, 1974-75-76;

  • Marginal note:Compensation by Federal Republic of Germany

    (g) a payment made by the Federal Republic of Germany or by a public body performing a function of government within that country as compensation to a victim of National Socialist persecution, where no tax is payable in respect of that payment under a law of the Federal Republic of Germany that imposes an income tax;

  • Marginal note:Income from personal injury award property

    (g.1) the income for the year from any property acquired by or on behalf of a person as an award of, or pursuant to an action for, damages in respect of physical or mental injury to that person, or from any property substituted therefor and any taxable capital gain for the year from the disposition of any such property,

    • (i) where the income was income from the property, if the income was earned in respect of a period before the end of the taxation year in which the person attained the age of 21 years, and

    • (ii) in any other case, if the person was less than 21 years of age during any part of the year;

  • Marginal note:Income from income exempt under para. (g.1)

    (g.2) any income for the year from any income that is by virtue of this paragraph or paragraph 81(1)(g.1) not required to be included in computing the taxpayer’s income (other than any income attributable to any period after the end of the taxation year in which the person on whose behalf the income was earned attained the age of 21 years);

  • Marginal note:Certain government funded trusts

    (g.3) the amount that, but for this paragraph, would be the income of the taxpayer for the year if

    • (i) the taxpayer is the trust established under

      • (A) the 1986-1990 Hepatitis C Settlement Agreement entered into by Her Majesty in right of Canada and Her Majesty in right of each of the provinces,

      • (B) the Pre-1986/Post-1990 Hepatitis C Settlement Agreement entered into by Her Majesty in right of Canada,

      • (C) the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement entered into by Her Majesty in right of Canada on May 8, 2006,

      • (D) the Settlement Agreement entered into by Her Majesty in Right of Canada on September 15, 2021 in respect of the class action relating to long-term drinking water quality for impacted First Nations, or

      • (E) the Settlement Agreement entered into by His Majesty in right of Canada on January 18, 2023 in respect of the class action relating to the attendance of day scholars at residential schools, and

    • (ii) the only contributions made to the taxpayer before the end of the year are those provided for under the relevant Agreement described in subparagraph (i);

  • Marginal note:Relief for increased heating expenses

    (g.4) an amount received pursuant to the Order Authorizing Ex Gratia Payments for Increased Heating Expenses;

  • Marginal note:Energy cost relief

    (g.5) an amount received pursuant to Part 1 of the Energy Costs Assistance Measures Act;

  • Marginal note:Ontario Electricity Support Program

    (g.6) an amount of rate assistance received under section 79.2 of the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 15, Sch B, as amended from time to time;

  • Marginal note:Social assistance

    (h) where the taxpayer is an individual (other than a trust), a social assistance payment (other than a prescribed payment) ordinarily made on the basis of a means, needs or income test under a program provided for by an Act of Parliament, a law of a province or a law of an Indigenous governing body (as defined in section 2 of the Children’s Special Allowances Act), to the extent that it is received directly or indirectly by the taxpayer for the benefit of another individual (other than the taxpayer’s spouse or common-law partner or a person who is related to the taxpayer or to the taxpayer’s spouse or common-law partner), if

    • (i) no family allowance under the Family Allowances Act or any similar allowance under a law of a province that provides for payment of an allowance similar to the family allowance provided under that Act is payable in respect of the other individual for the period in respect of which the social assistance payment is made, and

    • (ii) the other individual resides in the taxpayer’s principal place of residence, or the taxpayer’s principal place of residence is maintained for use as the residence of that other individual, throughout the period referred to in subparagraph 81(1)(h)(i);

  • Marginal note:Social assistance for informal care programs

    (h.1) if the taxpayer is an individual (other than a trust), a social assistance payment ordinarily made on the basis of a means, needs or income test provided for under a program of the Government of Canada, the government of a province or of an Indigenous governing body (as defined in section 2 of the Children’s Special Allowances Act), to the extent that it is received directly or indirectly by the taxpayer for the benefit of a particular individual, if

    • (i) payments to recipients under the program are made for the care and upbringing, on a temporary basis, of another individual in need of protection,

    • (ii) the particular individual is a child of the taxpayer because of paragraph 252(1)(b) (or would be a child of the taxpayer because of that paragraph if the taxpayer did not receive payments under the program), and

    • (iii) no special allowance under the Children’s Special Allowances Act is payable in respect of the particular individual for the period in respect of which the social assistance payment is made;

  • Marginal note:R.C.M.P. pension or compensation

    (i) a pension payment or compensation received under section 5, 31 or 45 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Pension Continuation Act, chapter R-10 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, or section 32 or 33 of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act, in respect of an injury, disability or death;

  • Marginal note:Memorial grant

    (j) an amount received under the Memorial Grant Program for First Responders established under the authority of the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act in respect of individuals who die in the course of, or as a result of, their duties or as a result of an occupational illness or psychological impairment;

  • Marginal note:Employees profit sharing plan

    (k) a payment or part of a payment from an employees profit sharing plan that section 144 provides is not to be included;

  • Marginal note:Prospecting

    (l) an amount in respect of the receipt of a share that section 35 provides is not to be included;

  • Marginal note:Interest on certain obligations

    (m) interest that accrued to, became receivable or was received by, a corporation resident in Canada (in this paragraph referred to as the “parent corporation”) on a bond, debenture, bill, note, mortgage or similar obligation received by it as consideration for the disposition by it, before June 18, 1971, of

    • (i) a business carried on by it in a country other than Canada, or

    • (ii) all of the shares of a corporation that carried on a business in a country other than Canada, and such of the debts and other obligations of that corporation as were, immediately before the disposition, owing to the parent corporation,

    if

    • (iii) the business was of a public utility or public service nature,

    • (iv) the business or the property described in subparagraph 81(1)(m)(ii), as the case may be, was disposed of to a person or persons resident in that country, and

    • (v) the obligation received by the parent corporation was issued by or guaranteed by the government of that country or any agent thereof;

  • Marginal note:Governor General

    (n) income from the office of Governor General of Canada, other than salary under the Governor General’s Act;

  • (o) and (p) [Repealed, 1998, c. 19, s. 14(1)]

  • Marginal note:Provincial indemnities

    (q) an amount paid to an individual as an indemnity under a prescribed provision of the law of a province;

  • Marginal note:Foreign retirement arrangements

    (r) an amount that is credited or added to a deposit or account governed by a foreign retirement arrangement as interest or other income in respect of the deposit or account, where the amount would, but for this paragraph, be included in the taxpayer’s income solely because of that crediting or adding;

  • Marginal note:Salary deferral leave plans

    (s) an amount paid to the taxpayer in the year under an arrangement described in paragraph 6801(a) of the Income Tax Regulations to the extent that the amount may reasonably be considered to be attributable to amounts that

    • (i) were included in the taxpayer’s income for a preceding taxation year and were income, interest or other additional amounts, described in subparagraph 6801(a)(iv) of the Income Tax Regulations, and

    • (ii) were re-contributed by the taxpayer under the arrangement in a preceding taxation year; or

  • Marginal note:Dental benefits

    (t) an amount received under the Dental Benefit Act.

• (2) and (3) [Repealed, 2017, c. 20, s. 6]

• Marginal note:Travel expenses

  (3.1) There shall not be included in computing an individual’s income for a taxation year an amount (not in excess of a reasonable amount) received by the individual from an employer with whom the individual was dealing at arm’s length as an allowance for, or reimbursement of, travel expenses incurred by the individual in the year in respect of the individual’s part-time employment in the year with the employer (other than expenses incurred in the performance of the duties of the individual’s part-time employment) if

  • (a) throughout the period in which the expenses were incurred,

    • (i) the individual had other employment or was carrying on a business, or

    • (ii) where the employer is a designated educational institution (within the meaning assigned by subsection 118.6(1)), the duties of the individual’s part-time employment were the provision in Canada of a service to the employer in the individual’s capacity as a professor or teacher; and

  • (b) the duties of the individual’s part-time employment were performed at a location not less than 80 kilometres from,

    • (i) where subparagraph (a)(i) applies, both the individual’s ordinary place of residence and the place of the other employment or business referred to in that subparagraph, and

    • (ii) where subparagraph (a)(ii) applies, the individual’s ordinary place of residence.

• Marginal note:Payments for volunteer services

  (4) Where

  • (a) an individual was employed or otherwise engaged in a taxation year by a government, municipality or public authority (in this subsection referred to as “the employer”) and received in the year from the employer one or more amounts for the performance, as a volunteer, of the individual’s duties as

    • (i) an ambulance technician,

    • (ii) a firefighter, or

    • (iii) a person who assists in the search or rescue of individuals or in other emergency situations, and

  • (b) if the Minister so demands, the employer has certified in writing that

    • (i) the individual was in the year a person described in paragraph (a), and

    • (ii) the individual was at no time in the year employed or otherwise engaged by the employer, otherwise than as a volunteer, in connection with the performance of any of the duties referred to in paragraph (a) or of similar duties,

    there shall not be included in computing the individual’s income derived from the performance of those duties the lesser of $1,000 and the total of those amounts, unless the individual makes a claim under section 118.06 or 118.07 for the year.

• Marginal note:Election

  (5) Where a taxpayer or a person described in paragraph 81(1)(g.1) has acquired capital property under the circumstances described in that paragraph, the taxpayer or the person may, in the return of income of the taxpayer for the taxation year in which the taxpayer attains the age of 21 years, elect to treat any such capital property held by the taxpayer or person as having been disposed of on the day immediately preceding the day on which the taxpayer attained the age of 21 years for proceeds of disposition equal to the fair market value of the property on that day and the person or taxpayer making the election shall be deemed to have reacquired that property immediately thereafter at a cost equal to those proceeds.