CRA finds that an Indian who is now working at a home office on the reserve for COVID reasons has become exempt from the resulting employment earnings

CRA’s Guideline 3 exempts from tax all income earned by a status Indian from employment if more than 50% of the duties of the employment are performed on a reserve and the employer or employee lives on a reserve.

Applying this Guideline, CRA found that the employment income of an employee, who previously worked at a location of the employer that was not on a reserve, but is now working from home on a reserve due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has now become tax exempt.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of 4 February 2021 External T.I. 2020-0875231E5 F under Indian Act, s. 87.