ARCHIVED - Line 330 - Medical expenses

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You can claim medical expenses that were paid for:

• yourself;
• your spouse;
• your or your spouse's children or grandchildren who were dependent on you for support; and
• your or your spouse's parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew who lived in Canada and who were dependent on you for support.

Note

If you claim medical expenses for a dependant, other than your spouse, whose net income is more than $6,456, see line 331 for more details.

You can claim medical expenses that were paid in any 12-month period ending in 1995 and were not claimed in 1994.

Your total expenses have to be more than either 3% of your net income (line 236) or $1,614, whichever is less.

How to claim

Calculate your allowable medical expenses as follows:

• Decide the 12-month period ending in 1995 for which you will claim the medical expenses (you cannot include any expenses that were deducted on your 1994 return).
• Total your allowable medical expenses, and enter the total on line 330.
• Attach your receipts to your return.

Allowable medical expenses

The following are some examples of medical expenses you can claim:

• payments to a doctor, dentist, or nurse, or to a public or licensed private hospital;
• payments for artificial limbs, wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses, dentures, pacemakers, and prescription drugs;
• payments for certain prescription medical devices;
• expenses for modifying your home to allow you or a person for whom you can claim medical expenses to be mobile and functional, if you or the person has a mobility impairment, or lacks normal physical development;
• expenses for guide and hearing-ear dogs;
• premiums paid to private health services plans (do not send us the receipts);
• the cost of visual or vibratory signalling devices to help people with a hearing impairment (for example, a visual fire alarm); and
• payments for rehabilitative therapy to help people adjust to a speech or hearing loss, including training in lip-reading and sign language.

Reimbursements - You cannot claim medical or dental expenses for which you have been or will be reimbursed. However, you can claim the 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.

Example

Daniel was in the hospital while on vacation in Mexico. He paid $2,800 in Canadian dollars for allowable medical expenses (allowable medical expenses are not limited to those paid in Canada). He was reimbursed for $1,500 of these expenses by his provincial health care plan. He did not include the reimbursement in income. Therefore, Daniel can claim the remaining $1,300.

Travelling expenses - If medical treatment is not available locally, you may be able to claim the cost of travelling to get the treatment somewhere else. Attach to your return your receipts and a statement listing your travelling expenses.

Expenses for an attendant or for full-time care in a nursing home

You may be able to claim either:

• amounts paid for a full-time attendant, provided the expenses were paid to a person who is not your spouse and is 18 years of age or older, or for full-time care in a nursing home (a doctor has to certify by letter or signing a valid Form T2201,Disability Tax Credit Certificate, that the person receiving such care had a severe mental or physical impairment in 1995); or
• amounts paid 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). You can claim these expenses if the patient is entitled to claim the disability amount (line 316), and the expenses were paid to a person 18 years of age or older who is not your spouse. However, if you made a claim for either attendant care expenses on line 215 or child care expenses on line 214 for that patient, you cannot make this claim.

Note

If you claim expenses paid for a full-time attendant that are more than $5,000 ($10,000 in the year of death), or for full-time care in a nursing home, neither you nor anyone else can claim a disability amount for the disabled person. You can claim the more favourable amount, but not both. Compare with line 316 to decide which claim is better.

Tax Tip

If you meet certain conditions, you can claim 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.

For more information on medical expenses, get Interpretation Bulletin IT-519, Medical Expense and Disability Tax Credits and Attendant Care Expense Deduction.

Date modified:

2002-02-04