Eligibility of Mobility-Related Expenses to the Medical Expense Tax Credit

The medical expense tax credit provides tax relief for individuals who have sustained significant medical expenses for themselves or certain of their dependants. The medical expense tax credit is a non-refundable tax credit that is applied to reduce the taxes of an individual. As a non-refundable credit, it can reduce your taxes to zero. If your medical expenses are high in relation to your income, you may also qualify for a partial refund.

Many different expenses qualify for the credit. For patients who have severe mobility impairments, there are many expenses that might not be generally considered as medical that are nonetheless eligible for the medical expense tax credit.

The first broad category of expenses are those that relate to transportation.

If, as a person with limited mobility, you need to modify your driveway to make access to your vehicle easier, reasonable expenses relating to the modifications are eligible as a medical expense.

Also eligible is a portion of the amount paid to acquire or modify a vehicle for use in transporting a patient who requires the use of a wheelchair.

An amount paid to transport a patient by ambulance to or from a public or licensed private hospital is an eligible medical expense. In the same way, if you need to hire a professional transportation service, this will be an eligible medical expense under the following circumstances:

• The patient travels to a place that is at least 40 kilometres away from the locality where he usually lives;
• Substantially equivalent medical services are unavailable within the patient’s locality;
• The patient takes a reasonably direct travel route having regard to the circumstances; and
• It is reasonable, in the circumstances, for the patient to travel to that place for the medical services.

Taxpayers with severe impairments often have special housing needs. There are many expenses relating to adapting their housing situations that qualify as eligible expenses.

Expenses relating to renovations or alterations to the taxpayer’s home or costs related to the construction of a new principal place of residence for the taxpayer are such an example. To claim these as eligible medical expenses, the following conditions must be met:

• The expenses were paid to enable the patient to gain access to his house or be mobile or functional within it;
• The expenses would not typically be expected to increase the value of the home;
• The expenses would not normally be incurred by persons who have normal physical development or who do not have severe and prolonged mobility impairment.

Items that are typically Included in this category are the purchase and installation of outdoor or indoor ramps where stairways impede the patient’s mobility, the enlarging of halls and doorways to allow the patient access to the various rooms of the home, and the lowering of kitchen or bathroom cabinets to allow the patient to be more functional in his home.