Claiming Medical Expenses: Free Healthcare?

Free Health Care? Did you know that Canadians spend on average more than $1,000 on medical expenses each year? It’s estimated that government programs, via our taxes, cover about 72% of medical expenses, which means that we pay for the rest. Your clients may be over-paying on their taxes because they don’t know about medical expense deductions. 

Last week, CRA warned taxpayers that two of the proposed revisions for 2021 return are included on the T1 and schedules but will not be assessed until those provisions are given Royal Assent.

If you need answers to complex questions your high net worth families are asking about their income and capital after personal, corporate, trust and cross-border taxation, or when new triggers are driving financial decisions your clients want to make, working with a Real Wealth Manager (RWM™) can help you answer and execute on them.  This is particularly so in today’s complex world when financial peace of mind – and answers to tough questions – both are more difficult to come by. 

The tax filing season officially opened on February 21 for e-filing 2021 returns, while February 28, 2022 will be the opening day for filing T3 returns electronically.  The deadline for most Canadian filers is Monday, May 2 as April 30 falls on the weekend this year. As pros in the tax, accounting and financial services industries gear up for a busy season, there are other important tax filing and investment planning milestones to take note of, too.  Here’s a handy checklist to share with your staff and clients:

Did you really intend to make that claim on your tax return?  Intention is an important consideration when filing a tax return, especially if your client transacted in what is known as “grey areas”.  In other words, it’s not good enough just to report the numbers on the return; you’ll want to document the reasons for them too, especially if you are a small business owner.  Here’s why that’s important to your clients’ appeal rights down the line and why you need to get their help to document the facts properly.

In the 2021 Federal Budget, the government promised to return fuel charges to farmers in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.  The form to apply for this credit (T2043) has just been released, and the government has indicated that the refundable credit should be claimed on the new line 47556. 

We were spot on! The simplified per kilometer rates for medical and moving expenses for each province were announced by the CRA mid-February, and they jive with what we taught attendees a month earlier during the Advanced Tax Updated at the January CE Summits.  Here they are and details on when you would use them. Although, you do not need to keep detailed receipts for actual expenses if you choose to use the simplified method, the CRA may still ask for documentation to support your claim. Keep track of the number of kilometres driven during the tax year for your trips relating to medical travel (that is, when you must leave your home to receive medical treatments at least 80 kilometres away). You can also use this method in claiming travel expenses relating to your moving expense claim and for the purposes of the northern residents’ deductions.