Medical Expenses

With the new Precedence Tax Filing Initiative, we want to get started on Medical Expense preparation.  

Medical expenses are quite straight forward however there are a few areas that commonly prepared incorrectly.  

We ask that the spreadsheet and additional details and questions are completed and uploaded to the tax portal by February 28.

Important Reminder

As our team grows please sure to include all information even though you have discussed with a team member outside the tax team.  Leaving out important information could lead to filing errors.

Key Items in completing the Medical Expense Spreadsheet

• The enclose bookkeeping spreadsheet can appear to be more complicated than it needs to be.  This spreadsheet is designed for those who have 2 health plans and between those 2 plans still have excess out of pocket expense.

• If you do not have any health plans you can still use the spreadsheet and use only applicable columns.

• If you require Precedence to complete your medical bookkeeping, meaning summarizing and totaling the medical expenses we can do so however information for bookkeeping should also be sent in February for completion.

Items that are often Miss-Prepared

Who claims the medical Expense

• Either spouse can claim the medical expense and because there is a threshold calculation, it often makes sense for the lower income earner to claim the expense unless they are not paying provincial taxes.

• We will determine for you which taxpayer should be claiming the medical expense based on your personal situation.  

Authorized Medical Practitioners

• The authorized medical practitioners vary by province.  

• Registered massage therapists is a common expense and one of the biggest misfiled expenses.  Registered Massage is only claimable in BC, NB, NL, ON, PE.  You cannot claim massage in SK, AB, MB, NT, NU, YT.

• The CRA site has a complete list of which provinces can claim which practitioner expense or you can provide to Precedence for review Authorized Medical Practitioners.

Even though you have medical expenses you may not be able to claim them.

• There is a threshold to medical expenses before it becomes a claimable expense. This means that you can claim the amount of your medical expense minus the lesser of the $2,479 (for 2022) and 3% of your net income.

Claimable Period

• You can claim medical expenses in any 12 month period ending in the current tax year.  This mean that it may not make sense to claim certain medical expenses now and to move them forward should you know you will have a larger amount in the following 12 month period.

• You can also pull expenses forward from the last tax year if they were not claimed.

• Precedence can help you assess the best decision on a case by case basis if you provide current medical expenses and those expenses expected for the next tax year.

Attendant Care and Care in a Facility

• Attendant care and care facilities are rarely claimed correctly.  These large expenses should be reviewed by Precedence along with each individual situation to determine what can be claimed.

Travel Expenses

• You can claim travel expenses for medical care if

o Equivalent medical services were not available near your home

o You took a direct travelling route

o It is reasonable for you to have to travel to that place for medical services

• You must travel at least 40 km one way to get to your medical appointment

• If you travelled more than 80 km one way you can also claim accommodation, meals and parking

• You can use the detailed or simplified method (see motor vehicle expense video)

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