Employees who are provided with electric vehicles for use in performing their employment duties are required to recharge the vehicle battery at home, and may not be able to identify the portion of their monthly electricity bill pertaining to such charging. Before addressing this uncertainty, CRA noted:
- the electricity costs paid by the employee that are established to be attributable to the personal use of the vehicle reduce the operating expense benefit under s. 6(1)(k)
- employer reimbursements for reasonable employment-related electricity costs paid by the employee generally are not a taxable benefit
- where there is no such reimbursement, employment-related electricity costs that are established may be deductible by the employee as motor vehicle travel expenses under s. 8(1)(h.1), where its documentary requirements are met
CRA then stated:
Where it is not possible to produce supporting documentation showing the exact amount of electricity expenses incurred for an electric vehicle, other means for establishing the amount of employment-related electricity costs may be acceptable. For example, the establishment of an average per-kilometre electricity cost could be a reasonable method. However, an employee would need to take into account the use of paid and free charging stations when establishing this cost.