income tax/medical expenses

Just wanted to inform (or remind) everyone that your surgical medical expenses may be claimable on your income tax.

If you travel more than 40 km one way I believe you can only claim mileage.  If you travel more than 80 km one way you can claim mileage (it's 57 cents a km this year according to revenue canada website), meals (up to $17 per meal, up to $51 per day...receipts not necessary, but some "proof" may be required...could be as simple as an explanation that if you are driving for three hours to a 10am appoint, you will need to have breakfast and lunch on the road), accomodation (probably need receipt, but I am not positive) and parking (not sure about receipts here either, but I always use a credit card, so it shows up on my bill).  Revenue Canada is surprisingly easygoing when it comes to "proof"!  Trust me, I have been audited twice over the years!!

This is in addition to prescriptions, dental work, etc.  Vitamins and supplements are not allowed, even if prescribed by your doctor, so I think Optifast is out, but I plan on checking to be sure. (I think injectible B12 is allowed under certain cir****tances.)

If you need an attendant (need a note from doctor confirming this) to stay with you while you are in hospital and/or afterwards, you can also claim their expenses.

I did a rough draft of my taxes for this year and I actually have too many medical expenses, so I will save some and carry them over to next year.

Check out the revenue canada website, the explanations are pretty thorough.

Tracy

Thanks, Tracy. when you say that you had "too many", what exactly do you mean.

Also, i'm curious about the dental expenses. I had dental expenses that exceeded what my dental plan covered, for myself, spouse, and kids. What receipts do i submit for those, the payout or denial forms from my dental plan, or receipts from the dentist?

Medical expenses are only a tax deduction (reduces the amount you pay as opposed to giving you money back).  You have to have a certain amount before they count...they must be at least 3% of your annual income.  So if you made $20 000, your medical expenses must be over $600 before they will help at all. 

Then you have to look at how much tax you have to pay.  If your non-refundable tax credits (such as medical expenses or charitable donations) are higher than how much you owe, then you won't get money back, you will just owe zero.  Medical expenses (and certain other deductions) can be saved and used in future years, so if your amounts are high it makes more sense to save some of them for the future.  With all the mileage, meals, hotels, etc. from my surgery this year, I have over $3500 to claim...more than I need to put my tax rate at zero.  Going to get a nice refund this year...because if I don't have to pay any taxes, I get back everything that has been deducted from my pay this year.

Medical expenses can be claimed for any 12 month period that ends in the taxation year.  So if I only claim my medical expenses up to August and save the rest, next income tax I can claim from August 2012 to August 2011....

Clear as mud, right??

As for dental, you can claim any amount that is not covered by benefits for you and your spouse and dependant children (under 18 unless disabled).  If you pay for a benefits plan (like Blue Cross) you can also claim the monthly fees.  I am not sure about work benefits plans, but if you pay for them yourself (taken off your pay) I see no reason why they wouldn't be claimable too.

If you file electronically, you don't need to submit any receipts, just keep them for future reference in case you are audited.  If you file by paper, you have to send everything.  Just some sort of documentation that shows it was not paid by your benefits and proof that you paid it.  It could be a cancelled cheque, a receipt from the dentist.

Hope this helps...I am not an accountant or anything, just have a head for numbers and do income tax for most of my family and friends every year.

Tracy

Tracy just want to clarify one thing.  You use the word carry over but I think you really want to say is you are splitting your year as you describe further down.  Carry over or forward is totally different as in the case with student loans.  You can carry them forward for years.  Medical expenses have to have an end date in the year in which you are claiming so you technically can't carry forward but you can split.  I just don't want to confuse anyone with that term.

Thanks for clarifying.  That is why I explained further about the way you can use it in the next year.  I am not familiar with all the terminology, just understand how it works.  As I said, I am not an accountant...lol  Hopefully anyone will check with whoever does their taxes and not just take my advice!

Great post!! I kept most of my receipts (ie. the VIA train) and intend to use them at income tax time soon.

 My husband and I both had surgery in the past year and because we travel from north bay to Toronto we got northern health travel grants.  I assumed that meant we couldn't claim our travel expenses to and from appointments but when I spoke with the ministry of health they told me the travel grant was just to supplement the cost of the travel not pay for everything so she told me I could still claim the travel at tax time.  Anybody have different information?

Buggie, what you do is figure out what you can claim for each trip then you deduct the amount of travel grant you got back and declare the difference.  My mom travels from the north to Toronto every other week for treatments and her eligible expenses above and beyond what she gets from the travel grant is quite large.

You need receipts for everything other than the meals and the travel if by car as they pay so much per kilometre.  All other receipts could be asked for. I always file electronically and have been asked for proof of receipts twice.  I just sent them to them and never an issue.