Dollar amounts that are paid to an employee to cover expenses that they incurred while...

An expense reimbursement is a repayment to an employee for business costs they already paid personally (for example, meals, mileage, supplies), typically supported by receipts or an expense report. CRA’s guidance explains that a reimbursement is a payment made to repay amounts the employee spent while conducting the employer’s business, and that a reasonable reimbursement is generally not included in the employee’s income.

That’s why reimbursements are generally not part of “earnings” for payroll calculations—they are not compensation for work performed; they are repayment of a business expense. This differs from an allowance, which is usually a fixed amount paid without requiring receipts; allowances are often taxable unless a specific CRA exception applies.

So the correct term for “dollar amounts paid to cover job expenses incurred, but not considered earnings” is expense reimbursements (option D). Payroll best practice is to ensure reimbursements are properly documented and reasonable to support non-taxable treatment.