ARCHIVED - Line 316 - Disability amount

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You may be able to claim a disability amount of $4,233 if:

• you had a severe mental or physical impairment in 1995, which caused you to be markedly restricted in your basic activities of daily living; and
• your impairment was prolonged; that is, your impairment has lasted, or is expected to last, for a continuous period of at least 12 months.

You may be markedly restricted in your basic activities of daily living if:

• you are blind; or
• you are unable to feed and dress yourself, eliminate (e.g., control bowel and bladder functions), walk, speak, hear, or perceive, think, and remember. You may also be markedly restricted if it takes you an extremely long time to perform any of these activities.

To qualify for the disability amount, your ability to perform an activity of daily living has to be markedly restricted all or almost all of the time, even with therapy and the use of appropriate aids and medication. If you are markedly restricted occasionally or part of the time, you are not entitled to this tax credit.

Note

If you receive a disability benefit, it does not necessarily mean that you are eligible to claim this credit.

If you or any other person claims medical expenses (line 330) for a full-time attendant that are more than $5,000 ($10,000 in the year of death), or for care in a nursing home because of your mental or physical impairment, you cannot claim the disability amount. You can claim your expenses or the disability amount, whichever is more favourable, but not both.

Tax Tip

If you meet certain conditions, you can claim both the disability amount (line 316), and either expenses for attendant care that allowed you to earn income (line 215), or expenses for part-time or full-time attendant care provided in Canada that are not more than $5,000 ($10,000 in the year of death) as a medical expense (line 330). See the explanations at these lines for details.

How to claim

• If you are claiming this amount for the first time, you have to submit a properly completed and certified Form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate.
• If you were allowed the disability amount in 1994 and your condition did not change in 1995, you can claim the disability amount in 1995 without sending us another Form T2201. However, you have to send us one if the period stated on the certificate ended before 1995.

You can get Form T2201 from us. We will accept a photocopy of your Form T2201. However, your doctor's or optometrist's signature has to be an original, not a photocopy.

For more information, get a copy of the pamphlet called Tax Information for People with Disabilities. The pamphlet contains Form T2201.

Tax Tip

You may not need all of your disability amount to reduce your federal income tax to zero. If someone other than your spouse supports you, that person may be able to claim the unused part of your disability amount on line 318. If you have a spouse, your spouse can claim the unused part of your disability amount on line 326.

Date modified:

2002-02-04