Canada Celiac Tax Credit?

[Guest username]

Hi, Can anyone tell me if this is a refund you receive in check form from the government?

Will they refund you all the money you have spend in incremental costs?

To make this simple: If I spent $100 dollars in incremental costs one year, at the end of the year they will write me a check for $100 dollars?

Hope you guys can clear this up for me. Thanks

[Rondar2001]

I wish it were that simple. You have to claim the incremental cost on your income tax forms as a medical type deduction. In order to get this deduction, your claim will need to be at least a percentage of your income (I think its 3%, but you would need to check this). You need to be able to prove these expenses so keep your reciepts, also a letter confirming your diagnosis is needed if requested.

Personally, we have not spent enough to come close to the lower limit so we haven't bothered claiming it.

[psawyer]

It is a deduction from your before-tax income. Only the difference in cost between the gluten-free item and an ordinary food can be claimed. If there is more than one person in the house, and not everybody is a celiac, then you must keep track of what portion is eaten by the celiac, because only the differential cost of that is deductible.

For example, if a slice of WonderBread costs 15 cents, and a slice of Glutino costs 50 cents, the difference is 35 cents per slice. Since my wife is not a celiac, but eats the same food I do, only half of each loaf can be claimed. If audited, you may have to produce a log showing who ate what.

For me, it isn't worth the effort to claim it. Your situation may be different.

[Coinkey]

It's claimed against the taxes as a medical expense and as the others have said, it's incremental and likely a real pain. You also need to have a written diagnosis from your doctor to prove you are celiac. If you are simply a non celiac gluten intolerant then you're out of luck. So, if you have a tax refund it will be issued as part of that, if you owe the government money, it simply reduces what you owe slightly.

And if there is a minimum amount you have to reach before you can claim- it's so not worth me getting tests done.