Getting approved for the Disability Tax Credit is the hard part, and it is covered in Canada’s federal disability benefits. This page is about what approval is worth — which is considerably more than the credit itself.
Four things sit behind that approval: a credit for medical expenses that most households under-claim, a $20,000-a-year renovation credit, a credit for the family member supporting you, and a savings plan that the government pays into. Two of them do not require DTC approval at all. One of them has an age cut-off that will disappoint a lot of people reading this, and it is better to know now than at 62.
The Medical Expense Tax Credit: you choose the 12 months
Almost everyone treats this as a calendar-year credit. It is not.
The CRA’s rule is that you can claim expenses you “paid for the medical expenses in any 12-month period ending in 2025” that you “did not claim in 2024.” The period is yours to choose. If your expenses cluster around a hospital admission in September, a window running from October to September can put two clusters into one claim instead of splitting them across two returns.
That matters because of the threshold. You subtract the lesser of:
- 3% of your net income (line 23600), or
- $2,834
Whatever is left is what the credit is calculated on. Splitting a year’s expenses across two returns means paying that threshold twice.
What actually counts
The CRA publishes a long list. These are the entries that come up repeatedly in Parkinson’s, with what each one needs:
| Expense | Eligible? | Prescription needed? |
|---|---|---|
| Walking aids (canes, walkers) | Eligible | Yes |
| Wheelchairs and wheelchair carriers | Eligible | No |
| Bathroom aids (grab bars, grips, rails) | Eligible | Yes |
| Lift or transportation equipment (power-operated) | Eligible | Yes |
| Renovation or construction expenses | Eligible | No |
| Driveway access | Eligible | No |
| Moving expenses | Eligible | No |
| Van | Eligible | No |
| Orthopaedic shoes, boots and inserts | Eligible | Yes |
| Elastic support hose | Eligible | Yes |
| Premiums paid to private health services plans | Eligible | No |
| Travel of at least 40 km, and at least 80 km | See CRA details | See details |
And the ones that surprise people by not counting:
| Not eligible |
|---|
| Travel under 40 km |
| Athletic or fitness club (gym) fees |
| Blood pressure monitors |
| Personal response systems such as Lifeline and Health Line Services |
That last row is the one worth flagging. A personal alarm is often the first thing a family buys after a fall, and it is not an eligible medical expense. The renovation that removes the trip hazard is.
Two entries repay a closer look. Premiums paid to private health services plans are eligible — and in most provinces that includes what you pay into your provincial drug plan, which can quietly be one of the largest numbers on your receipt pile. And moving expenses being eligible is not a typo: where a move is medically necessary, it can be claimed.
The prescription column matters more than it looks. A cane bought at a pharmacy without a prescription is not claimable; the same cane, prescribed, is. Ask your care team to write prescriptions for the aids they recommend, even when you do not need one to buy the item.
Remember to claim the provincial or territorial version as well, on line 58689 of your provincial Form 428. In Quebec the equivalent goes through Revenu Québec instead.
The Home Accessibility Tax Credit: $20,000 a year
This one does not require DTC approval if you are 65 or over — and if you are under 65, DTC approval is exactly what qualifies you. The CRA’s definition of a qualifying individual is someone “eligible for the disability tax credit at any time in the year” or someone “65 years of age or older at the end of the year.”
You can claim up to $20,000 per year in eligible expenses. If more than one qualifying individual lives in the dwelling, $20,000 is still the total for the home. The limit was $10,000 until 2021 and $20,000 from 2022 onward, so an older renovation may be worth revisiting under the rules of its year.
A qualifying renovation is one “of an enduring nature and is integral to the eligible dwelling” that either lets you “gain access to, or be mobile or functional within, the dwelling,” or reduces “the risk of harm to the qualifying individual within the dwelling or in gaining access to the dwelling.”
The credit is not limited to the person with Parkinson’s. An eligible individual — a spouse or common-law partner, or a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, nephew or niece in certain circumstances — can claim it. Where a son or daughter pays for the ramp at their parent’s house, that is a claim, and the claim can be split between them if they agree. If they cannot agree, the CRA decides.
The credit for the person supporting you
The CRA’s own description sets out both what it is and what it needs.
The CCC comes in two sizes, and which line you use depends on the relationship:
| Who you support | Amounts |
|---|---|
| Spouse or common-law partner with an impairment | $2,687 on line 30300, plus up to $8,601 on line 30425 |
| Eligible dependant 18 or older | $2,687 on line 30400, plus up to $8,601 on line 30425 |
| Other dependants 18 or older (not a spouse or an eligible dependant already claimed) | up to $8,601 each, on line 30450 |
What the CRA can ask for is a signed statement from a medical practitioner recording when the impairment began and how long it is expected to last, showing that the person “is, and will likely continue to be, dependent on others for a long and continuous period of indefinite duration.”
That wording is easy to satisfy for Parkinson’s and easy to fumble on paper. When you are next asking a doctor for a form, ask for this statement at the same time rather than making a second appointment for it. Note also what the amount depends on: your relationship to the person, their net income, and whether any other credits have been claimed for them.
If you are still working: the disability supports deduction
There is a third route that is neither a credit nor gated by the DTC, and it is often missed by people who are still in work.
Line 21500 lets an individual “who ha[s] an impairment in physical or mental functions and ha[s] paid for certain medical expenses” claim a deduction rather than a credit. Attendant care services, bed positioning devices, electronic speech synthesizers, and devices or software all appear on its list.
Three rules govern it:
- Only the person with the disability can claim it. A spouse cannot.
- You cannot claim the same amount here and as a medical expense — but “the person with the disability can claim the medical expense on either line 21500 or line 33099. They could also split the claim between these 2 lines, as long as the total amount claimed is not more than the total expense.”
- Use Form T929 to calculate it. Do not attach it or your receipts to the return; keep them in case the CRA asks.
A deduction reduces taxable income rather than tax payable, so which line is better depends on your marginal rate. This is the one item on this page genuinely worth putting to an accountant.
The RDSP, and the age nobody warns you about
The Registered Disability Savings Plan is “a long-term savings plan to help people with disabilities who are approved for the Disability Tax Credit save for the future.” Open one and the government pays in alongside you.
The Canada Disability Savings Grant matches your contributions — “the maximum yearly grant amount is $3,500, with a limit of $70,000 over your lifetime.” For the 2026 calendar year, using the family income reported on your 2024 return:
| Family income (2024 return) | What the government adds |
|---|---|
| $117,045 or less | $3 for every $1 on your first $500, then $2 for every $1 on the next $1,000. Contributing $1,500 gets you the maximum |
| More than $117,045 | $1 for every $1 on your first $1,000. Contributing $1,000 gets you the maximum |
The Canada Disability Savings Bond needs no contribution at all — “you do not need to make any contributions to your plan to receive the bond.” The maximum is $1,000 a year up to a lifetime $20,000. For 2026:
| Family income (2024 return) | Bond |
|---|---|
| $38,237 or less | $1,000 a year |
| Between $38,237 and $58,523 | A portion of $1,000, falling as income rises |
| $58,523 or more | None |
Now the sentence that decides whether any of this applies to you. The grant “is paid up until December 31 of the year the beneficiary turns 49.”
For young-onset Parkinson’s the calculation flips completely, and the carry-forward is why.
The 10-year catch-up
If you were DTC-approved in past years but had no plan, those entitlements did not evaporate: “The amount of grant and bond you were eligible for from the past 10 years, but didn’t receive, are still available in the current year.”
- Catching up on grants requires contributions, and the maximum in a single catch-up year is $10,500 including carry-forward — so it can take several years to collect everything
- Catching up on bonds requires nothing. On opening a plan you can receive “up to $11,000 (up to $1,000 for each year that you were eligible in the last 10 years, plus up to $1,000 for the current year)”
- Contributions still only attract grant “until December 31 of the year you turn 49,” catch-up included
The lifetime contribution limit is $200,000, with no annual cap — but contributing more in a year than the amount that attracts the maximum grant produces an “unassisted contribution,” and those “cannot be withdrawn without triggering the repayment of grant and/or bond.” Contributing $10,000 in a year where $1,500 would have collected the full grant is not a mistake in itself, but it is not free either.
One more thing to plan around: when a beneficiary dies, “grant and bond amounts deposited into their plan within the last 10 years before their death must be repaid.” What remains after that goes to the estate.
If this applies to you
| Your situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| You have never claimed medical expenses because “they weren’t much” | Add up a 12-month window of your choosing, including private drug plan premiums, aids, prescribed footwear and eligible travel. The threshold is the lesser of 3% of net income or $2,834 |
| Your expenses fall either side of 31 December | Choose a 12-month window that puts them in one claim. You only pay the threshold once |
| You and your spouse both have income | The lower-income spouse usually gets more out of the medical expense claim |
| You bought a cane or walker without a prescription | It is not claimable without one. Ask your care team to prescribe the aids they recommend, in writing |
| You are planning a bathroom or entrance renovation | Up to $20,000 a year under the Home Accessibility Tax Credit, if you are DTC-approved or 65 or over. Permanent alterations only. Check the device programme first — it funds different things |
| A son or daughter is paying for the work | They may be able to claim it themselves as an eligible individual, or split it with you |
| Your spouse has given up work to support you | Look at the CCC — $2,687 plus up to $8,601, depending on the relationship. Ask the doctor for the signed statement at your next appointment |
| You are still working and paying for attendant care | Compare line 21500 against the medical expense credit. Only you can claim it, and you can split an expense between the two lines |
| You are under 49 and DTC-approved | Open an RDSP now. Grants can be worth $3 for every $1, and up to 10 years of missed entitlement can be caught up at $10,500 a year |
| You are over 49 | The matching grant has closed. Ask what remains before opening a plan — the answer may be that other tools suit you better |
| You have an RDSP and need the money | Check when the last grant or bond went in. Withdrawing within 10 years costs $3 of grant and bond for every $1 you take |
This page is not medical, tax or legal advice and does not decide your entitlement. Figures were checked in August 2026: medical expense figures are for the 2025 tax year, and RDSP grant and bond income thresholds are 2026 calendar-year figures indexed annually by the CRA. Confirm your own position with the Canada Revenue Agency, your financial institution and your care team.