Pintal – Court of Quebec finds that the work space percentage of home expenses was based only on the actual hours of business use

The taxpayer operated a daycare center in the basement of the home of her and her partner and, following their move to a second home, the daycare was operated in the basement and part of the first floor of the second home.

She claimed expenses (such as utilities, insurance, maintenance, municipal taxes, and mortgage interest) relating to the use of the residence, based on the relative daycare floor area of 30.2% and 38.5% for the two homes, respectively. Revenue Quebec reduced these deductible expense proportions to 7.5% and 9.6%, respectively, on the basis that the daycare spaces had annual business-use hours of 9.5 hours per day for 228 days of the year which, expressed as a percentage of the total hours in the year, should be applied to the above floor-area percentages.

In confirming the application of the Revenue Quebec percentages, Huppé JCQ stated:

Whether or not she chose to use the spaces dedicated to the daycare for personal purposes does not change the fact that these spaces were located in the very place where she lived and were immediately available to her if she wished. Those spaces were, first and foremost, a residence. It was only incidentally that they also served for daycare during certain specific periods.

He fully confirmed her claims for various other expenses such as food, furniture costs and expenses for taking the children on outings.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Pintal v. Agence du revenu du Québec, 2025 QCCQ 2913 under s. 18(12).