1.12 Disability Tax Credit

The disability tax credit is a non-refundable credit provided for under 118.3 of the Income Tax Act. The credit can be claimed by the person with the disability or their eligible family member.

In 2021, the claim was $8,662 with an additional credit of $5,053 available for an eligible dependent under 18 that has not had claims for child care expense or an attendant care expense. The disability tax credit is adjusted to inflation on an annual basis.

Individuals with a disability must complete form T2201, “Disability Tax Credit Certificate” and have portions filled out by a medical practitioner to certify that the disability is a severe and prolonged impairment

Prolonged and severe are defined as follows:

• A prolonged disability as an impairment of at least 12 continuous months
• A severe disability is defined as it usually takes a person three times longer to do a basic task compared to a person without the limitation at least 90% of the time.

Marked restrictions or the cumulative effects of 2 or more areas that are prolonged and severe will be considered for the disability tax credit in the following areas:

• Sight
• Speaking
• Auditory
• Walking
• Elimination
• Feeding oneself
• Dressing oneself
• Mental function
• Need for life-sustaining therapy

Transferring of the Claim

The claim maybe transferred if the taxpayer is unable to use the credit and is supported by a spouse or other supporting person if of the following are met:

• Eligible for disability tax credit
• Resident of Canada
• Dependent on taxpayer for some/all basic necessities of life

And one of the following:

• Dependent had no income
• Dependent was your or your partners’ parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece and was 18 or older in the tax year

How much can you claim with the disability tax credit?

Here’s an example: In 2021, Sandy was a single parent of a child with an approved application for the disability tax credit. The child was under 18 years of age and had no income. Nor did the child have an attendant during the year. As such, Sandy will be able to claim the DTC base of $8,662 and the additional supplement base of $5,053.

Other possible claims for individuals with disabilities are as follows:

• Medical expenses
• Disability supports deduction
• Child disability benefit
• Registered disability savings plan

References and Resources

• Article – “Eligibility criteria for the disability tax credit” (Author: Government of Canada)
• Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c1, (5th Supp.) s 118.3 (1)

“Disability Tax Credit” from Introductory Canadian Tax Copyright © 2021 by Susan Gill is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.