Canadian Tax Credit

[Guest andie]

To make a long story short my son was diagnosed with a malabsorption syndrome when he was two.

On routine blood work when he was 8 he was found to have extremely low iron stores, low B12, mildly anemic and generally unwell with no energy. He was tested extensively (no biopsy because he didn't have traditional celiac symptoms). They found nothing wrong with him other than the blood work that couldn't be explained. He is now 10. I can't remember why now but I decided to put him on a gluten free diet.

My husband was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and has been on heavy meds for 3 years. He had no energy, could hardly work, slept all the time, migraine headaches.

Both would go through a supersize bottle of tums a month. I started researching celiac disease symptoms and put him on the diet too.

It was an experiment and told them we would do it for six months and if no change we would quit. (My son not being happy about giving up his "comfort food".)

I cannot express the difference in the 2 of them after 3 months. No more tums, no headaches, more energy. My husband's psoriasis is virtually gone. At first my son would cheat at friends, and paid a price, now tells them 'I can't have that!'. My husband comes home from work, cuts wood, cuts the grass etc. etc. and rarely sits down.

Because of my increased knowledge we have diagnosed 2 people in hospital with celiac disease. One who was close to death because of the disease. Her family say it is a miracle.

Now I have a problem and questions.

In order to obtain the tax deduction for this disease is it necessary to have a positive biopsy?

If a biopsy is required, I will have to take them off the diet and wait until they get sick for the biopsy to show anything. I am not willing to do this.

How do you apply for this tax deduction? I'm sure I will have to prove it in some way.

Where do I get forms to complete? My doctor has no idea. I will continue to research, but I thought I'd go somewhere easy first to see if anyone has done this.

Thanx in advance for replies and advice.

Andie

P.S. Having access to all the Doctor's in my area, I have been steadily educating them in this area and am having amazing success. Esp. after the two who were cured!

[2kids4me]

I will find the link - there is a form to fill out to claim the deduction - it is not fun however - you keep receipts for all gluten free food then make a list of how many you bought - the $$ total, Then you have to price out the "normal" wheat alternative and claim the difference between the two.

Example: ( I am just making up prices to give you an idea)

gluten free flour - 1 lb bag = $3.49. You buy 10 bags thru the yr = 34.90

reg flour 1 lb bag = $1.29 ..so if you had bought 10 of those = 12.90

You claim $22.00

In order to be eligible - yes, your doctor stating this patient has celiac disease. The form is long and there will likely be a fee - but it is only filled out once - then each year - you only have to send in receipts. ( yeah and all the math and comparison prices that go with it - groan )It is the Disablility tax credit form and parts of it are filled out by the doctor. You can go to:

Open Original Shared Link

and print off the form T2201 (its in PDF so you need acrobat reader)

We needed an accountant to help us figure it out the first year !

Sandy

[Daxin]

My dad is a CGA in Calgary, and he says you also need a letter from you doctor confirming the diagnosis. It's a huge pain, for most of us to figure it out ourselves.

We don't do it here at our house. Also, but the time we figure out all the other medical claims and such, we are maxed out on the medical deductions anyway, so it may not even be worht the effort of doing all that silly math.

You also have to have the receipt stamped "Gluten Free" by the store you buy most of your gluten-free products from.

I am glad our gov't has such allowances celiacs, but I also hope that in the future, they change the tax codes so it is not so hard to make these dedutions.

[Lisa B]

I am a CA with a Celiac diagnosed child (recently diagnosed) and it seems to me that you don't need to complete the Disability Tax Credit form unless you are claiming for the 2001 and/or 2002 tax years; it is not available for other tax years. The CRA does not specify that the letter from the medical practitioner indicates how diagnosis was reached. You also have to remove the incremental cost of any gluten-free food for which you are making a claim eaten by non diagnosed people.

The CRA has a web page on the requirements at:

Open Original Shared Link

Excerpted as follows:

What documents do I need to support a claim for the medical expense tax credit?

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is responsible for administering the new medical expense. As with all claims, receipts should be available on request by the CRA. A request for supporting documents could be made before or after the return has been assessed, so it is important to keep the following information available:

a letter from the medical practitioner confirming the individual suffers from celiac disease and requires gluten-free products as a result of that disease;

a summary of each item purchased during the 12-month period for which expenses are being claimed (a sample summary is shown below); and

a receipt to support the cost shown in column (4) of each gluten-free product or intermediate product claimed.

The table with the summary table is on the web site.

Hope this helps.

[2kids4me]

Thank you Lisa B!

Yes, I get mixed up sometimes - we filled out the Disability form cause Matt is both celiac and diabetic - Type 1 children are now eligible for the tax credit. It is the medical expense claim as provided by Lisa - that is what you are looking for.

Sandy

[num1habsfan]

I'm going to school for a CGA myself and believe it or not, you learn NOTHING about Celiac, it shows up in one line on the textbook.

Gluten-free food is treated as a medical expensive, and you can claim is for your dependant as well.

I don't actually do it myself, we take our taxes in, but I have a save all my receipts and have my own little notebook where I keep track of each purchase to make sure I can claim it all. The max return in a year is $592 i think? lol. I'm too tired at the moment to look it up. Its almost $600.

The documentation required is a note from your doctor saying that you have Celiac and are on the gluten-free diet. I believe you're supposed to get a new note every year.

Hope this doesn't confuse you more ...just saying how things work here in Sask.

~ Lisa ~

[Guest andie]

I'm going to school for a CGA myself and believe it or not, you learn NOTHING about Celiac, it shows up in one line on the textbook.

Gluten-free food is treated as a medical expensive, and you can claim is for your dependant as well.

I don't actually do it myself, we take our taxes in, but I have a save all my receipts and have my own little notebook where I keep track of each purchase to make sure I can claim it all. The max return in a year is $592 i think? lol. I'm too tired at the moment to look it up. Its almost $600.

The documentation required is a note from your doctor saying that you have Celiac and are on the gluten-free diet. I believe you're supposed to get a new note every year.

Hope this doesn't confuse you more ...just saying how things work here in Sask.

~ Lisa ~

Lisa

$600 isn't very much. My husband is also celiac and of course he can claim his own, but what if my 7 year old develops it? Is it 600 per person or per household?

When I first started this diet, my son LOVED the dried blueberries. Not thinking I went and bought a moderate sized bag so he could snack on them. The lady at the cash gave me a funny look and when she rang them up they were $60. The lady behind me in line almost had a heart attack!

Not long to add up at that rate!

Thanx

Andie

[Lisa B]

Lisa

$600 isn't very much. My husband is also celiac and of course he can claim his own, but what if my 7 year old develops it? Is it 600 per person or per household?

When I first started this diet, my son LOVED the dried blueberries. Not thinking I went and bought a moderate sized bag so he could snack on them. The lady at the cash gave me a funny look and when she rang them up they were $60. The lady behind me in line almost had a heart attack!

Not long to add up at that rate!

Thanx

Andie

I'm not sure that $600 is an 'absolute' limit; as a medical expense I think that the total allowable would be based on your income possible up to a maximum for the year per person. Your husband can claim for himself and either one of you can claim for your child depending upon which would give you the most beneficial result which your tax preparer can work out for you.

With regard to claiming for something that is not specifically gluten free, I am not sure that you can, i.e. if dried blueberries are never prepared with gluten then there is no incremental cost to claim. If there is a gluten-free version and a non-gluten-free version then you can claim the incremental.

Lisa

[psawyer]

If I recall it correctly, the limit is variable. You must spend more than a certain percentage of your income (I don't recall which "income" line this applies to) and then anything beyond that is eligible. You can not claim more than the tax you would have paid, as I understand it. That is, the tax credit is not refundable, but it can reduce the amount of tax you would otherwise pay. I am not an accountant, so this is just my personal understanding of the rules. Nontheless, I hope it is helpful.

[Guest andie]

To make a long story short my son was diagnosed with a malabsorption syndrome when he was two.

On routine blood work when he was 8 he was found to have extremely low iron stores, low B12, mildly anemic and generally unwell with no energy. He was tested extensively (no biopsy because he didn't have traditional celiac symptoms). They found nothing wrong with him other than the blood work that couldn't be explained. He is now 10. I can't remember why now but I decided to put him on a gluten free diet.

My husband was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and has been on heavy meds for 3 years. He had no energy, could hardly work, slept all the time, migraine headaches.

Both would go through a supersize bottle of tums a month. I started researching celiac disease symptoms and put him on the diet too.

It was an experiment and told them we would do it for six months and if no change we would quit. (My son not being happy about giving up his "comfort food".)

I cannot express the difference in the 2 of them after 3 months. No more tums, no headaches, more energy. My husband's psoriasis is virtually gone. At first my son would cheat at friends, and paid a price, now tells them 'I can't have that!'. My husband comes home from work, cuts wood, cuts the grass etc. etc. and rarely sits down.

Because of my increased knowledge we have diagnosed 2 people in hospital with celiac disease. One who was close to death because of the disease. Her family say it is a miracle.

Now I have a problem and questions.

In order to obtain the tax deduction for this disease is it necessary to have a positive biopsy?

If a biopsy is required, I will have to take them off the diet and wait until they get sick for the biopsy to show anything. I am not willing to do this.

How do you apply for this tax deduction? I'm sure I will have to prove it in some way.

Where do I get forms to complete? My doctor has no idea. I will continue to research, but I thought I'd go somewhere easy first to see if anyone has done this.

Thanx in advance for replies and advice.

Andie

P.S. Having access to all the Doctor's in my area, I have been steadily educating them in this area and am having amazing success. Esp. after the two who were cured!

Thanx for all your help. I will certainly be keeping it in mind for next year. (I just filed for this year!)

Andie

[kali-mist]

I was diagnosed with Celiac in March and I never even knew that there was a tax credit! It sounds like way too much work and hassle though so I won't be doing it. I usually just eat meat, fish, veggies and fruits anyway. I never liked bread/pasta/pizza/bagels/cakes/cookies to begin with (probably because it made me sick) so I don't spend a lot of money on gluten free alternatives.