You may be able to claim tax credits for medical expenses, under certain conditions, if you paid to obtain medical care or treatment. The medical expenses paid for your spouse or your dependants are also taken into consideration.
If you incurred medical expenses for yourself, your spouse or a dependant (see definition) you may, under certain conditions, be entitled to the following tax credits:
- a non-refundable tax credit for medical expenses
- a refundable tax credit for medical expenses
If you incurred travel, accommodation or moving expenses in order to obtain (for yourself, your spouse or a dependant) medical services that are not available in your local area, you may be entitled to the tax credit for expenses related to medical care not available in your region.
Dependant
A person whose needs were provided for by you and who meets one of the following requirements:
- usually lived with you
- did not usually live with you but was dependent on you because of an infirmity. In the latter case, the person must have been resident in Canada at some time in the year, unless he or she was your child or grandchild or that of your spouse.
The dependant may be any of the following: your child, grandchild, brother, sister, nephew, niece, uncle, aunt, great-uncle, great-aunt, father, mother, or any other direct descendent of you or your spouse.
Non-refundable tax credit (line 381 of your income tax return)
The non-refundable tax credit corresponds to 20% of the eligible medical expenses exceeding 3% of family income (defined as your own net income plus that of your spouse on December 31 of the current taxation year).
Refundable tax credit (line 462 of your income tax return)
The portion of eligible medical expenses exceeding 3% of family income may entitle you to a refundable tax credit in addition to the non-refundable credit.
If your total eligible medical expenses for the current taxation year does not exceed 3% of family income, you should keep the receipts in order to deduct them the following year, if applicable.
