topic Lease Cancelation Payment Calculation - Rental in Deductions & credits

Lease Cancelation Payment Calculation - Rental

Pauly R — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:58:16 GMT

According to CRA, paying a tenant to cancel a lease is a claimable expense. However the calculation they have on their site doesn’t make sense.
re:

Calculation of the amount of the cancellation payment you can deduct if you made the payment in the year

Cancellation payment × Number of days to the end of the year when payment is made ÷ Number of days left on the lease.

so in my case, payment $5000 was made Feb 15, 2023, lease was valid til Oct 1, 2023. Based on the calculation provided by CRA: $5000x(319/272) =$5863

it makes no sense? Should one assume that if time remaining in the year is greater then time remaining on the lease then it would be a 100% claim of $5000 ? Just doesn’t add up , any insight ?

Re: Lease Cancelation Payment Calculation - Rental

DavidD66 — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 04:39:18 GMT

The lease termination payment is an expense incurred in ordinary course of business. You can deduct what you paid - $5,000. You can't deduct something you didn't pay, and you should deduct the full amount that you paid - no more, no less. Claim an expense deduction for $5,000.

Re: Lease Cancelation Payment Calculation - Rental

Pauly R — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 05:21:05 GMT

David, totally agree, I had no intention of claiming more then what I actually paid, but the example provided by CRA could cause issues and really wanted clarification.

thanks again 👍