From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   12 unusual Canadian tax deductions that filers have tried to claim  :CRA SOTW   
      
   By Jesse Ferreras National Online Journalist  Global News    
      
   So you’re filling out your tax form and you have an idea.   
      
   You run your own business and you’re deducting expenses – office   
   equipment, say, or travel costs.   
      
   At one point in the past year, you had to travel to Silicon Valley to meet   
   with a potential client. But you’ve been tired lately, and you need to   
   unwind. So you take a little detour to Palm Springs for some R and R.   
      
   When it comes time to file your taxes, you try to deduct your first-class   
   flight and stay in a five-star hotel as travel expenses.   
      
   Five years go by, and you hear nothing from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).   
   You think you’ve beaten the system.   
      
   Then one day the CRA calls you, saying auditors found some irregularities in   
   your filing. Suddenly, you’re on the hook for 50 per cent of the tax on the   
   income you didn’t declare.   
      
   Carol Bezaire has a simple solution for Canadians to avoid this situation.   
      
   “Don’t guess. Never guess.”   
      
   “Because it is an honour system, the penalties can be pretty severe when   
   CRA, which is the enforcer, thinks you have tried to cheat the Canadian   
   government,” the VP of tax and estate planning at Mackenzie Investments told   
   Global News.   
      
   Anyone who makes a false statement or any omissions on a return can face a   
   penalty of $100, or 50 per cent of any understated tax or overstated credits   
   related to it — whichever is more.   
      
   “The thing is, if you get away with it and you think it’s really funny,   
   you’re going to get audited at some point and then there’s all the   
   penalties,” Bezaire said.   
      
   The penalties, however, don’t prevent people from trying to make dubious   
   claims on their tax forms.   
      
   Some get away with it. Some turn out to have perfectly legitimate expenses.   
      
   Others don’t.   
      
   Here are 12 unusual Canadian deductions that people have tried to claim on   
   their tax forms:   
      
   Trips to Las Vegas and Arizona   
   A man with a skin condition tried to claim almost $1,500 in trips to Las Vegas   
   and Arizona as medical expenses on his tax form, according to a legal decision   
   in the case of Goodwin v. The Queen, as cited in a list of uncommon tax   
   deductions by H&R Block.   
   His dermatologist had recommended that he travel to warmer climates in April   
   and November so that he could be exposed to natural sunlight as a form of   
   treatment.   
   A court shot him down after the judge determined that the man would have had   
   to receive a medical service from a health care professional in these   
   locations in order to claim the trips as expenses.   
      
   Breast implants   
   A man tried to claim his wife’s breast implants on his taxes, according to a   
   TurboTax spokesperson.   
   The authorities, according to Turbo Tax, told him he couldn’t do this. He   
   countered by saying that they “cured my depression!”   
      
   Iguanas   
   An in-home daycare operator wanted to claim expenses related to two iguanas   
   that she bought for her business, a TurboTax spokesperson said.   
   The operator reasoned that she would never have bought them had she not been   
   caring for kids.   
   The CRA, however, says that you can’t deduct pet expenses unless the animals   
   assist the owner with a specific medical condition.   
   Beats by Dre   
   Someone tried to claim Beats by Dre headphones as “hearing aids,” said a   
   TurboTax spokesperson.   
      
   Footballs thrown into the stands   
   A football player with the Edmonton Eskimos deducted $596 in expenses from his   
   income as “Entertainment for Clients,” among other things, according to a   
   tax court decision in the case of Ellis v. The Queen, as cited by H&R Block.   
   These expenses included footballs he threw into the stands after scoring   
   touchdowns.   
   A tax court judge determined that he could only claim these costs if they   
   “contributed towards his personal popularity for sponsorship purposes.”   
   In this case, they didn’t, and the deduction was denied.   
      
   Holt Renfrew clothing   
   A dentist set up a practice in his own home and claimed clothing he had bought   
   from luxury retailers Holt Renfrew and Georges Rech as expenses, according to   
   the 2011 case of Rail v. The Queen, as cited by Mackenzie Investments.   
   He claimed clothing costs of over $13,000 between 2001 and 2003.   
   This expense was disallowed in court.   
      
   Gambling funds   
   CIBC worker Brian Molony embezzled over $10 million from the bank to fund a   
   gambling addiction in the early 1980s, The Globe and Mail reported.   
   He claimed this money as income on his tax returns for three years; he also   
   claimed gambling losses of about the same amount, according to a research   
   paper in the Canadian Tax Journal.   
   His losses were disallowed on the basis that he was “not in the business of   
   gambling.”   
   This case inspired a book and the 2003 film Owning Mahowny, starring Philip   
   Seymour Hoffman.   
      
   Wrap parties   
   A woman who worked as a narrator, actress and voiceover artist claimed the   
   costs of attending wrap parties, among other deductions, according to a   
   decision in the case of Riley v. The Queen, also cited by H&R Block.   
   A tax court judge decided that she hadn’t given enough evidence to prove   
   which parties she attended for business reasons and which were personal.   
   So that particular part of her claim was denied.   
      
   Hashish   
   A man was arrested after trying to bring hashish across the Canada-U.S.   
   border, according to Carol Bezaire at Mackenzie Investments.   
   He tried to claim the seized drugs, and his legal fees, as business losses on   
   his taxes. He was denied.   
      
   Airline food alternatives   
   An Air Canada pilot had a condition known as hemochromatosis, which required   
   him to eat low-iron food, says a court decision in the case of Elwood v. The   
   Queen.   
   In 2010, the airline didn’t provide low-iron meals, so he bought his own   
   food or made it at home. He claimed $3,264 for meals in that tax year.   
   The pilot explained in tax court that he could have eaten Air Canada’s   
   vegetarian options, but that they might not always be available to him. He   
   would have been able to eat fish, chicken, fruit and yogurt that were   
   available on board Air Canada planes,   
    but not their side dishes, such as rice or pasta, as they might be   
   “iron-fortified.”   
   A judge, however, dismissed the claim.   
      
   Oxygen   
   Vegas again!   
   A man tried to claim oxygen bar sessions as medical expenses… after he used   
   them to help him recover from hangovers in Sin City, said a representative for   
   TurboTax.   
      
   Bermuda trip   
      
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