What Is Line 23200 on a Canadian Tax Return?

Line 23200 on a Canadian tax return is the “Other deductions” line on the T1, a catch-all where you claim specific amounts that reduce your total income down to net income at Line 23600. The amounts that belong here fall into three groups: repayments of income you previously reported, certain legal fees, and a handful of specialized deductions that don’t have their own line. Because net income drives income-tested benefits like the Canada Child Benefit and the GST/HST credit, a legitimate claim on Line 23200 can affect more than your tax bill.¹

Repayments of Income You Already Reported

The most common reason to use Line 23200 is that you paid back money the CRA already taxed. You reported the payment as income in an earlier year, then had to return some or all of it. Claiming the repayment here prevents you from being taxed on money you no longer have.

Employment Insurance overpayments repaid directly to the payer. The amount appears in box 30 of your T4E slip.²
Old Age Security overpayments the government recovered from a previous period. Look in box 20 of your T4A(OAS).³
Repayments of CPP, QPP, registered pension plan, or pooled registered pension plan amounts you had previously reported as income.¹
Amounts returned from a Registered Disability Savings Plan or Registered Education Savings Plan that you had reported as income.¹
Scholarships, fellowships, bursaries, or artists’ project grants repaid in the current year, to the extent you originally reported the amount as income.¹

Two repayments do not belong here. Repaid salary or wages go on Line 22900, and support payments you were ordered by a court to return, if you had reported them on Line 12800, go on Line 22000.¹

Legal Fees That Belong on Line 23200

Only certain legal fees fit here, and this is where people get it wrong most often. Line 23200 covers:¹

Fees, including accounting fees, paid for advice or help when the CRA reviewed your income, deductions, or credits for a year.
Fees to object to or appeal an assessment or decision under the Income Tax Act, the Employment Insurance Act, the Canada Pension Plan, or the Quebec Pension Plan.
Fees to collect or establish a right to a retiring allowance or pension benefit. This one has a cap: you can only deduct fees up to the retiring allowance or pension income you actually received in the year, minus any portion transferred to an RRSP or RPP. Fees you cannot use in the current year carry forward for up to seven years.
Certain fees paid to try to make child support payments non-taxable.

Some legal fees that look similar go elsewhere. Fees to collect or establish a right to salary or wages belong on Line 22900.⁴ Fees for collecting support payments owed to you go on Line 22100.⁵ And legal fees for separation, divorce, or custody and visitation arrangements are not deductible at all.¹

Other Amounts That Fit Here

A few specialized deductions without their own line on the return also flow through Line 23200. The CRA groups these under “other deductible amounts” and includes items such as depletion allowances for resource-related investments and certain rollover amounts.⁶

One that catches people out: if you are subject to the tax on split income (TOSI), you report the split income on the appropriate income lines and then claim a matching deduction on Line 23200. That offsets the amount so it is not effectively taxed twice.⁷

Line 23200 Is Not Line 23500

Both lines deal with government benefit repayments, but they cover different situations, and putting an amount on the wrong one will cause problems.

Line 23200 is for voluntary overpayment repayments — you paid back excess benefits directly to the payer. For EI, that is box 30 of the T4E. For OAS, that is the overpayment recovery in box 20 of the T4A(OAS).¹

Line 23500 is for the mandatory social benefits repayment, the clawback that kicks in when your income exceeds set thresholds. For EI, you use the chart on the back of the T4E if your net income on Line 23400 is above $82,125. For OAS, the CRA states plainly that the clawback does not go on Line 23200; use the chart for Line 23500 on the Federal Worksheet. The two lines also work differently on the return: Line 23200 lowers your net income, while Line 23500 increases your total payable.⁸

Why Getting Line 23200 Right Affects Your Benefits

Line 23200 reduces net income at Line 23600, and net income drives the CRA’s income-tested benefits.

The Canada Child Benefit is calculated from adjusted family net income (AFNI), which starts from Line 23600 on both spouses’ returns. For the July 2025 to June 2026 payment period, the CCB begins to phase out once AFNI exceeds $37,487. With one child the reduction is 7% of the amount over the threshold; with two children it is 13.5%. Above $81,222, additional reduction rates apply.⁹ Every legitimate dollar deducted on Line 23200 lowers the figure the phase-out is applied to.

The GST/HST credit also turns on AFNI. For the 2024 base year, a single individual with no children qualifies with AFNI under $56,181; a couple with no children qualifies under $59,481, with higher thresholds for families with children.¹⁰ A missed Line 23200 deduction can push family net income past a cutoff and cost the credit entirely.

Documents to Keep

The CRA already has copies of your tax slips, so any mismatch between your return and their records will raise questions. Pull the paperwork before you enter a number.

For benefit repayments, your slips carry the figure: box 30 of the T4E for EI, box 20 of the T4A(OAS) for OAS.² CPP, QPP, and pension plan repayments appear on the relevant T4A or plan administrator statement.

For legal fees, keep detailed invoices that describe what the lawyer or accountant actually did. An invoice that just says “legal services” will not support the claim; the description has to tie to a qualifying category, such as responding to a CRA review, appealing an assessment, or collecting a retiring allowance. If you are claiming fees against a retiring allowance or pension, keep records of the income you received in the year and any amount transferred to an RRSP or RPP, since those determine your cap.

All Line 23200 amounts are added together on the Federal Worksheet (form 5000-D1), and the combined figure is transferred to your T1 return.¹¹ Tax software handles the arithmetic once you enter the slip boxes and fee amounts. Keep your receipts, invoices, slips, and worksheets for six years after the end of the tax year they relate to, in case the CRA asks to see them.¹²

1
Canada.ca. Line 23200 – Other deductions
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Canada.ca. T4E Slip: Statement of Employment Insurance and Other Benefits
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Canada.ca. T4A(OAS), Statement of Old Age Security
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Canada Revenue Agency. Line 22900 – Other Employment Expenses
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Canada Revenue Agency. Line 22100 – Carrying Charges, Interest Expenses, and Other Expenses
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Canada.ca. All Deductions, Credits and Expenses – Personal Income Tax
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Canada.ca. Line 40424 – Federal Tax on Split Income
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Canada Revenue Agency. Line 23500 – Social Benefits Repayment
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Canada.ca. How Much You Can Get – Canada Child Benefit
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Canada.ca. Who Is Eligible – GST/HST Credit
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Canada Revenue Agency. 5000-D1 Federal Worksheet (For All Except Non-Residents)
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Canada Revenue Agency. Where to Keep Your Records, for How Long and How to Request the Permission to Destroy Them Early