This page summarises the per-kilometre vehicle reimbursement most commonly used in Nova Scotia (a Canadian province), with Halifax as the operating reference point. The headline rate follows the Canada Revenue Agency reasonable allowance: $0.72 per kilometre for the first 5,000 km in a calendar year and $0.66 per kilometre for every kilometre beyond that. Travel inside the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut attracts an additional four cents per kilometre. Employers headquartered in Halifax use this reference to standardise expense policy across teams, keep allowances tax-free for employees and avoid disputes during a CRA payroll review. The page also lists the five most-searched road trips that begin or end in Halifax, three concrete use cases — field sales, home-care professionals and civil servants — and answers to the three questions readers ask most often about tolls, taxability and territorial premiums. Figures are reviewed every quarter and can be downloaded as PDF to attach to a corporate travel policy.
Nova Scotia, with Halifax as the operating reference point, is an Atlantic province with shipbuilding in Halifax, fisheries and a growing tech sector. The leading population centres beyond Halifax are Dartmouth, Sydney and Truro, which together account for most corporate driving in the province. Geography, climate and the balance between toll highways, twinned freeways and gravel access roads define the true per-kilometre cost of each business trip across Nova Scotia.
The sectors that consume the most mileage in Nova Scotia are shipbuilding, fisheries and finance. Field sales reps, home-care nurses and project auditors drive commutes around Halifax Regional Municipality and the 102 corridor to Truro, with weekly averages between 500 and 1,200 km per employee. The headline rate follows the Canada Revenue Agency reasonable allowance: C$0.72 per kilometre for the first 5,000 km in a calendar year and C$0.66 per kilometre thereafter, with an additional C$0.04/km surcharge for travel to or within Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
From a tax standpoint, mileage reimbursement paid in Nova Scotia stays free of income tax and CPP/EI when it is paid at or below the CRA reasonable rate and supported by a logbook covering date, origin, destination, distance and business purpose. Employers headquartered in Halifax typically require odometer photos at week start and end so the reimbursement holds up under a CRA payroll review (T4 / T2200 documentation).
Local nuance: Bridge tolls on the MacDonald and MacKay bridges between Halifax and Dartmouth should be reimbursed separately. As a result, the expense policy applied in Nova Scotia should split out tolls (Highway 407 ETR, Confederation Bridge, Marine Atlantic ferries), parking and winter top-ups from the per-km figure. Typical trips — commutes around Halifax Regional Municipality and the 102 corridor to Truro — should be pre-approved when they exceed 350 km per day, so an overnight allowance can be budgeted instead of inflating the monthly mileage claim.
To see the current rates that apply in Nova Scotia, follow the related links at the foot of this page: the full Canadian rate table by year, the most-searched road routes that begin or end in Halifax, and blog articles on logbook discipline, CRA evidence and exporting expense reports. The free mileage calculator simulates any trip from Halifax using the figures above and produces a PDF receipt ready to attach to a monthly expense submission.
In summary, a mileage policy that fits the reality of Nova Scotia combines three pillars: the CRA reasonable allowance ceiling indexed to the headline C$0.72 / C$0.66 split, a regional supplement that reflects the highway corridors connecting Halifax with Dartmouth, and a documentary trail — logbook, odometer photos, toll and ferry receipts — strong enough to defend the reimbursement at a CRA payroll review. Sectors such as shipbuilding benefit directly from that discipline, securing budget predictability and protecting the employer in any future tax or employment audit in the province.
| Category | Per-km rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CRA reasonable allowance — first 5,000 km (2025) | $0.72/km | CRA Income Tax Folio S2-F3-C2 |
| CRA reasonable allowance — over 5,000 km | $0.66/km | CRA Income Tax Folio S2-F3-C2 |
| Northwest Territories / Yukon / Nunavut surcharge | +$0.04/km | CRA territorial rate addendum |
| Federal public service (NJC Travel Directive) | $0.625/km | NJC Appendix B (April 2024) |
Account executives based in Halifax log every visit with origin/destination and apply the CRA per-kilometre rate when they file expense claims.
Mobile workers servicing patients across Nova Scotia log mileage from Halifax to each appointment and use the table above to compute the reimbursable amount.
Civil servants in Nova Scotia on official travel reconcile their claims against the NJC Travel Directive and the CRA reasonable rate.
Local case study: Atlantic Service NOV, a shipbuilding employer headquartered in Halifax with 7 field staff covering the Halifax–Dartmouth corridor and the rest of the province, was logging 3950 km per employee per month before adopting the documentation workflow described above. After rolling out odometer photos at week start/end and aligning the per-km figure with the CRA reasonable allowance (C$0.72/C$0.66), Atlantic Service NOV cut internal expense rejections by 15%, kept the reimbursement fully exempt from income tax and CPP/EI, and closed the monthly mileage cycle in three business days instead of two weeks — without changing the overall travel budget for Nova Scotia.