Income Tax Information

Eligible Medical Expenses

Eligible medical expenses include, but are not limited to

  • amounts paid to medical practitioners, dentists, nurses, and certain other medical professionals. Note that for the cost of the service by a medical practitioner to qualify as an allowable medical expense, the person providing the service must be recognized as a "medical practitioner" according to the laws of the jurisdiction in which the service is provided. For instance, a massage therapist is recognized as a medical practitioner in BC and Ontario, but at the time of this writing is not recognized as a medical practitioner in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia.

  • amounts paid to public or licensed private hospitals

  • payments made to organizations for medical services rendered by their employees or partners. Examples are physiotherapy or homemaker services rendered in the taxpayer's home.

  • eyeglass frames and lenses and contact lenses prescribed by a medical practitioner

  • premiums paid to a private health services plan, such as extended health benefits or a dental plan, other than those fees paid by an employer. Fees paid for a provincial health care plan do not qualify. If a person is self employed, the premiums paid for a private health services plan can be deducted from self employment income, instead of being claimed as a medical expense. This would result in greater (or at least equal) tax savings, and is a way to provide a tax-free benefit to employees of a small business.

  • premiums paid for medical coverage during trips out of the country

  • premiums paid under the Québec Prescription Drug Insurance Plan

  • transportation service costs, where the taxpayer has to travel at least 40 km to the location where the required medical services are provided, as long as substantially equivalent medical services are not available in the taxpayers locality. If the taxpayer has been certified by a medical practitioner to be incapable of travelling without the assistance of an attendant, then the transportation service costs of the attendant may also be claimed. If the taxpayer has to travel at least 80 km for the medical services, then reasonable travel expenses (meals, lodging, vehicle expenses) may also be claimed. The travel costs can be calculated by keeping all receipts, or by using the CRA meal expense allowance and vehicle cost per kilometre amounts. See the CRA web page on travel expenses for medical expense.

  • costs of artificial limbs, iron lungs, rocking beds for polio victims, wheel chairs, crutches, spinal braces, colostomy pads, hernia trusses, artificial eyes, laryngeal speaking aids, hearing aids, or artificial kidney machines

  • costs of diapers, disposable briefs, catheters, catheter trays, tubing or other products required by the patient by reason of incontinence caused by injury, illness, or affliction

  • costs of oxygen tent or other equipment for administering oxygen or for insulin, oxygen, liver extract injectible for pernicious anemia or vitamin B12 for pernicious anemia, for use by the patient as prescribed by a medical practitioner

  • for blind or profoundly deaf patients, or those that have a severe and prolonged impairment that markedly restricts the use of the patient's arms or legs, the costs of an animal specially trained to assist the patient with the impairment, including the costs of food and veterinary care, reasonable travel expenses for the patient to travel to a facility that trains such animals and individuals so impaired, and reasonable board and lodging expenses of the patient while in full-time attendance at such a facility

  • reasonable expenses incurred in respect of bone marrow or organ transplants, including legal fees and insurance premiums to locate a compatible donor and to arrange for the transplant, and reasonable travel, board and lodging expenses of the donor (and one other person who accompanies the donor) and the patient (and one other person who accompanies the patient)

  • reasonable expenses relating to renovations or alterations to a dwelling to enable a disabled patient to gain access to, or to be mobile or functional within the dwelling

  • reasonable incremental costs related to the construction of the patient's principal place of residence, to enable the disabled patient to gain access to, or to be mobile or functional within the dwelling

  • costs of rehabilitative therapy, including training in lip reading and sign language, incurred to adjust for the patient's hearing or speech loss, as well as sign language interpretation services

  • reasonable moving expenses incurred for the purpose of a disabled patient's move to a dwelling that is more accessible by the patient, or in which the patient is more mobile or functional, to a maximum of $2,000

  • reasonable costs for driveway alterations for the principal place of residence of a patient with severe and prolonged mobility impairment

  • a portion of the cost of a van (up to $5,000) which has been adapted for the transportation of a patient who requires the use of a wheelchair

  • costs of tutoring services for a person with a learning disability or mental impairment. A medical practitioner must certify that the services are required

  • prescription drugs that have been prescribed by a medical practitioner and recorded by a pharmacist

  • costs of diagnostic procedures and services prescribed by a medical practitioner or dentist

  • costs of dentures, dental services,and orthodontia services

  • costs of devices or equipment for use by the patient that are prescribed by a medical practitioner, and are of a "prescribed" kind as listed in the Income Tax Act Regulation 5700, Medical Devices and Equipment. To access this regulation, go to the table of contents for Income Tax Act Regulations on the Canadian Department of Justice web site, and scroll down to PART LVII MEDICAL DEVICES AND EQUIPMENT. Some of the prescribed equipment includes wigs, needles and syringes, orthopedic shoes and inserts, hospital beds, breast prostheses, and talking textbooks. Note that a hot tub can be considered a prescribed device under the Income Tax Act, if it is purchased on the advice of a medical practitioner. A 2003 Tax Court of Canada case (Donahue v. The Queen) ruled in favour of a taxpayer who had purchased a hot tub on the advice of his physician, in order to alleviate his suffering from severe chronic back problems. The hot tub qualified as a device that is designed to assist an individual in walking where the individual has a mobility impairment. The appellant in this case was able to walk unassisted after using the hot tub, where previously he had to use canes. For more information on this, talk to your physician and a tax advisor.

  • the cost of real-time captioning and similar services used by persons with an impairment.

  • the incremental cost of purchasing gluten-free food products for individuals with Celiac disease who require a gluten-free diet. Those with Celiac disease should ensure they retain itemized receipts for all gluten-free products. The Canada Revenue Agency provides information on this topic on their web page Celiac Disease - Medical Expense.

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