Business Expense Policy

Policy Owner: Finance
Approval: Board of Directors
Effective Date: July 1, 2026

Purpose

Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) will reimburse legitimate, reasonable, necessary, modest and approved business expenses incurred by authorized claimants while conducting approved TCHC business. All expense decisions must demonstrate accountability, transparency, value for money, fairness, compliance with approved budgets, and alignment with TCHC's mandate to provide safe, well-managed and affordable housing.
No claimant is entitled to reimbursement solely because an expense was incurred. Expenses must comply with this Policy, the related Procedure, the Financial Signing Authority, procurement rules, conflict-of-interest requirements, collective agreement requirements where applicable, records requirements, applicable legislation and any Board or shareholder direction.

Scope and Application

This policy applies to all out-of-pocket business expenses incurred by:

members of the Board of Directors and Board committee members;
TCHC employees, including permanent, temporary, contract, student and part-time employees;
consultants, contractors, secondees, volunteers and interns, where reimbursement is explicitly authorized in writing; and
any other person acting on behalf of TCHC and authorized to incur reimbursable business expenses.

This Policy applies regardless of the funding source. Where a grant, program, development agreement, collective agreement, procurement contract or external funder imposes stricter requirements, the stricter requirements apply. This Policy does not override any legal entitlement, human rights accommodation, collective agreement right under Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Where the CBA is silent on a particular expense, this policy and related procedures will apply

This policy does not cover tuition reimbursement. *(1)
This policy does not cover employee appreciation events. **(2)
This policy does not apply to TCHC tenants. ***(3)

Core Principles/ Mandatory Requirements

This policy establishes the rules for the types of business-related expenses that are legitimate. Its related procedures guide TCHC Claimants in how to pay for or claim reimbursement for legitimate business expenses incurred for approved TCHC-related activities, provided that it meets the core principles/ mandatory requirements.

The core principles/ mandatory requirements are:

Principle	Requirement
Public purpose	The expense must directly support approved TCHC business, Board duties or operational requirements.
Necessity	The expense must be required to perform assigned duties, not merely convenient or preferred.
Reasonableness	The amount and nature of the expense must be prudent, modest and defensible in a public-sector setting.
Value for money	Claimants must select the lowest practical cost option consistent with business need, safety, accessibility and service requirements.
Budget accountability	Expenses must be within approved budget or specifically pre-approved by the proper authority.
Transparency	Claims must be documented clearly enough to be audited and publicly explained.
No personal benefit	TCHC will not reimburse personal, entertainment, political, social, companion, excessive or reputationally risky expenses.
No duplicate reimbursement	An expense may be reimbursed once only and may not be paid by another funder, vendor or TCHC payment channel.
No self-approval	No claimant may approve their own expense or indirectly cause an approver to approve their own expense.
Compliance	Manager, executive or Board approval does not override this Policy. Ineligible claims may be denied, recovered or escalated.

Standards

Claimants must submit required receipts and documentation to their Approver within ten (10) business days of the end of the month in which the expense was incurred.
TCHC must ensure that all expense-related documentation is retained in accordance with TCHC's Records Retention Schedule.
Claimants who are provided with a PCard will be held to a high standard of ethics and responsibility and are expected to use good judgement in all spending decisions.
Claimants who pay out-of-pocket for approved, business-related expenses while performing their duties on behalf of TCHC will be reimbursed in a fair, consistent and transparent manner.
Claimants' expenses may not be reimbursed by any entity or individual other than TCHC.
Expenses paid or reimbursed by TCHC may not be claimed as deductions for personal income tax purposes.
The expense does not exceed the allowable limits set out in Appendix A of the Business Expense Procedure.
Finance Division will update the allowable limits annually as necessary, with appropriate approval.
TCHC's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) have discretion to approve changes to the maximum reimbursable amount as required, subject to budget availability.

Compliance and Monitoring

Both Claimants and Approvers must ensure spending is responsible, meets TCHC policies and guidelines, and is within the Approvers' delegated authority.
If an employee is found to be in non-compliance with this policy, actions may be taken that may include seeking reimbursement and/or taking disciplinary action up to and, in the case of employees, termination of employment.
TCHC will conduct reviews and periodic audits to ascertain compliance with this policy and related procedures.
The Business Expense Procedures will be reviewed annually as required to ensure that they support the purpose of this policy and keep rates current.

Governing and Applicable Legislation

As per the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, 1996, certain expenses of TCHC employees making a salary of over $100,000 must be disclosed online.
Business expenses paid to employees may be designated as a taxable benefit based on the Income Tax Act. If an expense is deemed to be a non-taxable benefit, employees cannot deduct any non-taxable expenses reimbursed or paid by TCHC (such as professional membership fees) from their employment income.

Related Polices and Procedures