Medical

Line 330 - Medical expenses

You can claim medical expenses you or your spouse paid for any of the following persons:

yourself;
your spouse;
your or your spouse's child or grandchild who depended on you for support; and
your or your spouse's parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew who lived in Canada at any time in the year and depended on you for support.

You can claim medical expenses paid in any 12-month period. Generally, you can claim all amounts paid, even if they were not paid in Canada. Your total expenses have to be more than either 3% of your net income (line 236) or $1,637, whichever is less.

If you are completing the return for a person who died, you can claim expenses paid in any 24-month period that includes the date of death, if they were not claimed for any other year.

Notes
If you claim medical expenses for a dependant (other than your spouse) whose net income is more than $7,231, you have to reduce your claim. See line 331 for details.

In addition, there is a refundable tax credit for working individuals with low incomes and high medical expenses. See line 452 for details.

Allowable medical expenses - The most common medical expenses you can claim are:

payments to a medical doctor, dentist, nurse, or public or licensed private hospital;
payments for artificial limbs, wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, dentures, pacemakers, prescription drugs, and certain prescription medical devices;
amounts paid for attendant care, or care in an establishment (see "Options" in the guide called Information Concerning People with Disabilities);
expenses relating to guide and hearing-ear dogs; and
premiums paid under the Quebec Prescription Drug Insurance Plan, and premiums paid to private health services plans (other than those paid by an employer).

While building the primary residence of a person who has a severe and prolonged mobility impairment, or who lacks normal physical development, additional costs may have been paid to allow the person to gain access to (or be more mobile or functional within) the home. If so, under proposed changes, you also can claim these costs, minus any related rebates you can claim, such as for the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax. Make sure you get a breakdown of these costs.

Travel expenses - If medical treatment is not available locally, you may be able to claim traveling.

How to claim

Calculate your claim as follows:

Choose the 12-month period ending in 2000 for which you will claim medical expenses. You cannot include any expenses you deducted on your 1999 return.
Add up your allowable medical expenses for that period, and enter the total on line 330.
Subtract 3% of your net income (line 236) or $1,637, whichever is less.
Compare the result with the amount your spouse would be allowed. It may be better for the spouse with the lower income to claim the allowable medical expenses. You can make whichever claim you prefer.

Receipts - Attach your receipts and other documents (other than your health services plan premium receipts) to your paper return. Receipts for attendant care or therapy paid to an individual should show the individual's name and social insurance number.

For claims where a properly completed and certified Form T2201 is required, also attach it. If the person for whom you are claiming medical expenses qualified for the disability amount for 1999 and still met the eligibility requirements in 2000, you can claim this amount without sending us a new Form T2201 for 2000 unless the previous period of approval ended before 2000 or we ask you to do so.

The following example shows how to calculate your claim.

Example
Carol and her husband have reviewed their medical bills and decided that the 12-month period ending in 2000 for which they will calculate their claim is July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000. The total of their allowable expenses for that period is $1,842, which Carol enters on line 330.

Her net income on line 236 of her return is $32,000. She calculates 3% of that amount as $960. Because the result is less than $1,637, she enters $960 on the line below line 330, and subtracts it from $1,842. The difference is $882, which is the amount she enters on line 332.

Carol's husband's net income is $48,000. When they calculate the amount that he would be allowed if he made the claim instead, they find that he would be allowed only $402. In this case, they have found that it is better for Carol to claim the expenses.

You may claim medical expenses for any 12-month period ending in 2003. Therefore, you can claim medical expenses for, say, a period from January 2, 2003 to January 1, 2004 as long as you have not included the particular items for the selected period on a previous return. Any expenses incurred outside this period may be used in the next tax year, provided they fall within the 12 month timeframe at that time.

Before entering medical expenses, you should attempt to determine if you actually do have a claim. If your net income from line 236 is greater than $56,968, then your medical expenses must be greater than $1,728 in order to obtain a credit. If your net income on line 236 of your return is $56,968 or less, multiply the net income figure by 3%. If the result is greater than your medical expenses, then you cannot make a claim.