Until now, when you filed your Canadian Tax return, you were able to claim tax credits for medical expenses for yourself, your spouse or common-law partner, children under 18 and ‘certain other dependants’, such as children older than 18 years of age, grandchildren, grandparents, siblings, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew who were resident of Canada at any time of the year.

 

Changes in the Canadian Tax Return for 2011

For the ‘other dependents’, whose claims go into Line 331, there was a cap of 10,000 per eligible dependant.

Beginning 2011 tax year, this cap has been removed.

 

Claims for Immediate Family: What Can Be Claimed Under Line 330

These are claims for yourself, your spouse or common law partner, and your or your spouse/common law partner’s children born after 1994.

You can claim eligible medical expenses paid in any 12-month period ending in 2011 and not claimed for 2010. Generally, you can claim all amounts paid, even if they were not paid in Canada. Your total expenses have to be more than 3% of your and your family’s This goes in Line 330.

 

Claims for ‘Other Dependents’ – Line 331.

These are for the dependents mentioned at the top of this article. The expenses have to be the lesser of the two – 3% of the dependent’s net income or $ 2,052.00

 

Notes
On the return for a person who died in 2011, a claim can be made for expenses paid in any 24-month period that includes the date of death, if they were not claimed for any other year.

If you are claiming expenses paid for a dependant who died in the year, these amounts can be claimed for any 24-month period that includes the date of death, if they were not claimed for any other year.

 

Some Eligible Medical Expenses You Can Claim:

• payments to a medical doctor, dentist, nurse, or certain other medical professionals or to a public or licensed private hospital;

• premiums paid to private health services plans (other than those paid by an employer);

• premiums paid under a provincial or territorial prescription drug plan, such as the Quebec Prescription Drug Insurance Plan and the Nova Scotia Seniors’ Pharmacare Program (amounts or premiums paid to provincial or territorial government medical or hospitalization plans are not eligible); and

• payments for artificial limbs, wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, dentures, pacemakers, prescription drugs, and certain prescription medical devices.

• Cosmetic procedures and related expenses qualify as a medical expense only if they are required for medical or reconstructive purposes. For more information, see Guide RC4064, Medical and Disability Related Information.

 Reimbursement of an Eligible Expense

You can only claim the part of an expense for which you have not been or will not be reimbursed. However, you can claim the full expense if the reimbursement is included in your income, such as a benefit shown on a T4 slip, and you did not deduct the reimbursement anywhere else on your return.

 Travel Expenses and Meal Allowances

If medical treatment is not available to you within 40 kilometres of your home, you may be able to claim the cost of your transportation to get the treatment somewhere else.

• If you are planning to use the simplified system to calculate travel costs, this is what you can claim a credit for:

• Alberta – 53 c/km;
• British Columbia 52 c/km;
• Manitoba – 49 c/km;
• New Brunswick 52 c/k;
• Newfoundland and Labrador 55 c/km;
• Northwest Territories 615 c/km;
• Nova Scotia 53 c/k;
• Nunavut 61.5 c/km;
• Ontario 57 c/km;
• Prince Edward Island 52 c/km;
• Quebec 59 c/km;
• Saskatchewan 47.5 c/km;
• Yukon 63.5 c/km.

 

• While you are not required to retain receipts, as in the case if you are filing a detailed account, you will still need to log your costs and travels.

• If you using a simplified system to calculate meal costs, you can claim $ 17.00 per meal, with a maximum of $ 51.00 per day.

• If you had to travel at least 80 kilometres from your home, you can deduct accommodation and meal expenses in addition to your transportation expenses.

For more information about medical expenses, go to Canada Revenue Agency’s Line 330 – Medical expenses for self, spouse or common-law partner, and your dependent children born in 1994 or later page, or use Info-Tax, one of our TIPS services. You can also see Guide RC4064, Medical and Disability-Related Information, and Interpretation Bulletin IT-519, Medical Expense and Disability Tax Credits and Attendant Care Expense Deduction.

Tax Tip
Compare the result with the amount your spouse or common-law partner would be allowed. It may be better for the spouse or common-law partner with the lower net income (line 236) to claim the allowable medical expenses. You can make whichever claim you prefer.

The following example, taken off Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Site, shows you how to calculate your claim under Line 330.

Example
Richard and his wife Pauline have two children.  They have reviewed their medical bills and decided that the 12-month period ending in 2011 for which they will calculate their claim is July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011. They incurred the following expenses:

Richard	$1,500
Pauline	$1,000
Jen (their 16-year-old daughter)	$1,800
Rob (their 19-year-old son)	$1,000
Total medical expenses	$5,300

• The total allowable expenses for 2011 are $4,300, which will be entered on line 330. As Rob is older than 18 years of age, his expenses will be claimed on line 331.

• Pauline’s 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 $2,052, she enters $960 on the line below line 330 on Schedule 1 and subtracts it from $4,300. The difference is $3,340, which is the amount (A) above line 331.

• Richard’s net income on line 236 of his return is $48,000. He calculates 3% of that amount as $1,440. Because the result is less than $2,052, he enters $1,440 on the line below line 330 and subtracts it from $4,300. The difference is $2,860.

• In this case, Pauline and Richard have found it is better for Pauline to claim all the expenses for them and their daughter Jen.

Supporting documents for 2011 Tax

• If you are filing electronically, keep all your documents in case CRA asks to see them at a later date.
• If you are filing a paper return, attach all documents for yourself and documents for the person(s) you are claiming (other than for premiums paid to a health services plan, which you should keep in case CRA ask to see them).
• Receipts must show the name of the company or individual to whom the expense was paid.
• Receipts for attendant care or therapy paid to an individual should also show the individual’s social insurance number.

You may be claiming expenses that would be allowable only for a patient who qualified for the disability amount. For information about the disability amount, see Line 316.