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To make the most of your medical expenses, you may claim medical expenses incurred (and not reimbursed) within any 12-month period ending in the year.

Click here for the CRA's list of eligible medical expenses. It may include some you never thought of claiming.

You are allowed to combine medical expenses incurred for yourself, for your spouse, and in some cases for other family members. It is best to enter medical expenses in the file of the person for whom they were incurred. The program will combine them and credit the whole amount on the return of the person who can use them best to reduce the taxes paid by the entire family.

If you have moderate medical expenses, you may find that the tax rules do not enable you to make a claim. Before you spend time entering the details of all your expenses, consider trying an estimated total amount and running the tax calculations to see if the program considers you eligible.

It is generally better for the lower earning spouse to claim all the medical expenses as no benefit is obtained until the expenses exceed 3% of the net income. When entering medical expenses in the program, enter them in the file of the person for whom they were initially paid. The program will determine which spouse can better use the credit and will carry forward any unused expenses.

Before entering your medical expenses, sort them out chronologically. This will help you determine whether you would benefit from choosing a 12-month period other than the calendar year (January 1 to December 31st). For example, if you see that most of your expenses occurred in the latter part of last year, you may choose to hold on to them until the next tax season, and report them with more expenses from the early part of the current year.

Travel costs for medical treatment may be claimed if you travelled more than 40 kilometres, as long as your medical treatment cannot be obtained in your area. If you must travel more than 80 kilometres, you may also be able to claim accommodations.

If your doctor has prescribed a hot tub, you may be able to claim it as a medical expense. However, there are limitations to eligibility for such a claim, so it is wise to do some research before buying.

A refundable tax credit is available (line 452) for working individuals with low income and high medical expenses. The program will calculate the amount of this credit automatically using the information entered as medical expenses and earned income.

While it may be best for the spouse with the lower income to claim all eligible medical expenses, the decision is yours. The program will determine for you which spouse should use the medical expenses on their return, but if you wish to modify the program's decision, you may use the option Sharing of medical expenses between spouses.

Quebec residents

Normally, if your selection under Quebec drug insurance plan indicates that you must pay premiums for the Quebec prescription drug insurance plan, the program will automatically claim these premiums as medical expenses on the Quebec return in the same year. The MRQ considers 31-12- to be the effective date on which premiums were paid to the Quebec prescription drug insurance plan. If you enter a medical expense cut-off date before this (at Medical and disability > Last date of medical expenses) you will prevent the program from claiming any premiums as Quebec medical expenses in . Instead, the premiums will be carried forward to claim on your Quebec return.

If you need to claim your premiums paid to the Quebec prescription drug insurance plan on your Quebec return, enter the premium at Medical and disability > Medical expenses > premium paid under the Quebec prescription drug insurance plan (Schedule K) not deducted. Select Federal and Quebec. You will also need to enter the medical expenses cut-off date (at Medical and disability > Last date of medical expenses) that is before 31-12- (so that 31-12- will be included in the 12 month medical expenses year).

On your federal return for , you can only claim Quebec prescription drug insurance plan premiums from the preceding year (). If you used the program in , the federal claim for should have been automatically entered under Medical and disability > Medical expenses > premium paid under the Quebec prescription drug insurance plan (Schedule K) not deducted. If not, you will need to make this entry there yourself.

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