Line 316 - Disability amount

You may be able to claim a disability amount of $4,293 if a qualified person certifies both of the following:

• You had a severe mental or physical impairment, which caused you to be markedly restricted all or almost all of the time in any of the basic activities of daily living.
• Your impairment was prolonged, which means it has lasted, or is expected to last, for a continuous period of at least 12 months.

The only persons who can qualify to certify that your impairment was severe and prolonged are medical doctors, optometrists, audiologists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and, under proposed changes, after October 17, 2000, speech-language pathologists.

You may be markedly restricted in a basic activity of daily living if you are unable to do the following, even with therapy (other than life-sustaining therapy, see below) and the use of appropriate devices and medication:

• see;
• walk;
• speak;
• perceive, think, and remember;
• hear;
• feed or dress yourself; or
• eliminate bodily wastes.

You also can be considered to be markedly restricted if it takes you an extremely long time to do any of the above.

Line 318 - Disability amount transferred from a dependant other than your spouse

You may be able to claim all or part of any disability amount (line 316) for which your dependant qualifies. You can claim the unused part if he or she lived in Canada at any time in 2000, and was dependent on you because of his or her mental or physical impairment. In addition, one of the following situations has to apply:

• You claimed an equivalent-to-spouse amount on line 305 for that dependant, or you could have if you did not have a spouse and if the dependant did not have any income.
• Under recent changes, you could have claimed an amount on line 318 for your or your spouse's brother or sister in this situation for 1998 or 1999. If this change affects how you would have filed your return for those years, you can ask us to correct it.
• The dependant was your or your spouse's parent, grandparent, child, or grandchild, and you made a claim on line 306 or 315 for that dependant, or you could have if he or she had no income and had been 18 years of age or older in 2000.
• Under proposed changes, starting for 2000, this also applies if the dependant was your or your spouse's brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew.

If you are required to make support payments for your child, you cannot claim a disability amount for that child. However, if you were separated for only part of 2000 due to a breakdown in your relationship, you have a choice. You can claim, for that child, either the transfer of the unused part of his or her disability amount (plus any allowable amounts on lines 305, 306, and 315) or the support amounts paid for the year (if they are deductible) whichever is better for you.

How to claim

• Under proposed changes, if a dependant was under 18 at the end of the year, first use the chart for line 316 on the Worksheet you will find in the forms book to calculate the supplement that dependant can claim.
• Use the chart for line 318 on the Worksheet you will find in the forms book to calculate your claim for each dependant.
• Attach to your paper return a properly completed and certified Form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate, for each dependant. If your dependant 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. If you are not attaching Form T2201 for a dependant, attach a note stating the dependant's name, social insurance number, and relationship to you.

If you are splitting this claim with another individual, attach a note to your paper return including the name and social insurance number of the other individual who is making this claim. The total claimed for that dependant cannot be more than the maximum amount allowed for that dependant.

You can claim this credit only if the spouse of the person with a disability is not already claiming the disability tax credit or any other non-refundable tax credit (other than medical expenses) for the person with a disability, and you supported that person.