Review Disability Tax Credit Forms with Doctors

The Disability Tax Credit is lucrative—be sure to take the time to review the Disability Tax Credit Certificate (Form T2201) with your doctor.

This tax credit should be claimed if you or your spouse have:

• a disability that is severe and prolonged, which is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months, starting in the tax year.
• markedly restricted basic activities of living. Marked restrictions include the following conditions:
  − Permanent blindness (a CNIB number is usually available)
  – Severe cardio-respiratory failure
  − Inability to feed or dress oneself
  − Inability to perceive, remember or think
  − Inability to walk
  − Inability to speak
  − Inability to hear
  − Inability to contain bowel or bladder functions

Taxpayers who must receive therapy like kidney dialysis may claim this credit if a doctor certifies that at least 14 hours per week are taken for such therapy.

The Disability Tax Credit Certificate (Form T2201) must be completed and signed by a medical doctor, optometrist, psychologist, occupational therapist, audiologist or speech-language pathologist and so on. Generally, the CRA requires that the form be
filed in the first year that the credit is claimed.

The Disability Amount may be claimed if there is a claim for Attendant Care Expenses elsewhere on the return. However, the Disability Amount may not be claimed if the costs of a full-time attendant or care in a nursing home or institution are also claimed as a medical expense unless the amount claimed is less than $10,000.

Excerpted from Jacks on Tax. © Knowledge Bureau, Inc. All rights reserved.