Mullings – Tax Court of Canada finds that time spent administering special “medical formula” foods to a child counted as therapy administration and not as dietary control

The taxpayer’s ability to claim the disability tax credit in respect of her young child, who suffered from an inability to digest a common amino acid (“Phe”), turned on whether she was spending at least 14 hours per week on therapy, which was defined in s. 118.3(1.1)(d) to exclude “time spent on dietary…restrictions or regimes.”

Keeping such a child’s bodily levels of Phe within a narrow range (failing which there will be severe brain damage) requires that “medical formula [food] is given in very precise doses four times a day and administering it is no different from administering any other prescription medication.” Since “measuring and controlling Phe intake is properly characterized as administration of the therapy and not as control of X’s diet,” the time so spent counted towards the 14 hours. The taxpayer got the credit.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Mullings v. The Queen, 2017 TCC 133 under s. 118.3(1.1)(d).