Respecting the deductibility of home office and automobile expense of an independent contractor where such taxpayer owns the property and another person (who might be a spouse) pays such expenses, CRA stated:
For an expense to be considered to have been incurred for the purposes of paragraph 18(1)(a), it is not necessary that the expense be paid by the person incurring the expense. Consequently, the CRA is of the view that the mere fact that a taxpayer does not himself or herself pay an expense incurred by the taxpayer and that is instead paid by a third party is irrelevant in itself in determining whether paragraph 18(1)(a) prevents the deduction of the expense by the person who incurred it. …
Where business expenses have been paid by someone other than the taxpayer carrying on the business, the amounts so paid could, depending on the circumstances, be included in the income of the taxpayer's business or give rise to the application of section 80.