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. 

Provincial budgets have now been tabled from every province but one: Ontario.  This includes those recently delivered by Newfoundland & Labrador on April 9 and PEI on April 10. Neither province introduced tax hikes, but both placed emphasis on helping businesses in their province. Check out the details:

According to a Statistics Canada report on March 31 labor market trends, job losses are starting to occur in Canada, for the first time in 26 months, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 6.7%.  Some of this can be attributed to tariff uncertainty.  But, amongst the 1.5 million unemployed people in Canada, 44% lost their jobs due to a layoff in the last 12 month and that means, doing a T1 return for 2024 will require specialized knowledge in reporting severance.  Here’s a primer on what to know:

Did you know that total health care spending in Canada is estimated at over $9,000 per person and is estimated by Health Canada to be between 10.9% and 13.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and that the average out-of-pocket health care cost was $1,189 per capital in 2022.  With a shrinking GDP on the horizon through a potentially recessionary period ahead, it’s important to know which of the numerous out-of-pocket expenses will qualify for the Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC) claimed on Line 33099 of the T1 General tax return.  Today, we discuss medical travel costs, moving for medical reasons and other medical deductions you don’t want to miss on your tax returns. Here’s an overview:

Coming THIS EASTER WEEKEND, A NEW LEAP - Knowledge Bureau’s new digital home. Check it out!  We have Grand Opening tuition offers available to you as new and returning visitors, April 17 to April 21! VIP Graduates, your offers come first to your email on April 17. For everyone else, we invite you to explore the new 2025-2026 Curriculum and the Four New Pathways to Upskilling - from entry level to mastery level - and receive a $50 tuition credit to use now until June 30.

“The Future is No Clearer”. This according to the Bank of Canada Governor who announced on April 16 that he is holding interest rates at their current level.  Nonetheless, Knowledge Bureau will tackle the subject with authority and practicality at the May 21 CE Summit.  The subjects:  Tax Year 2025 - New Taxes or New Benefits across the Provinces and with a new federal government.  Also, Planning with Trusts – Bare Trust, Special Trusts, Post-Mortem, Retirement Income Planning across four client profiles and embracing wealth planning opportunities with tax efficiency.  Get the whole story, interpret it and share your knowledge during our live virtual CE Savvy Summit on May 21.  Save Money, Register by May 15. Here’s more:

Are you missing the T slips you need to accurately file tax returns this year?  It’s CRA’s problem, but the consequence is on the taxpayer. Here’s the backdrop and what you can do to help clients avoid paying penalties and interest for missing slips: