# Medical Expenses Claims/No Income/No Insurance



## LeanneG (May 3, 2016)

Hi Everyone!

I have been unemployed for 3 years and living off of my savings. I have had many prescriptions. Am I able to claim these on my 2015 tax refund? 

I believe the answer is that I cannot claim anything, however, if someone is able to provide a detailed answer to help me understand ('greater than 3% of net income'), it would be greatly appreciated before I enter in all of my official receipts. 

Thank you!


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

You can claim them but if you do not owe any income taxes, they will have no value to you.

The medical tax credit is a non-refundable tax credit. What that means is that they are not refunding anything to you. They will use the amounts you paid to REDUCE the taxes you owe in the year they are claimed. How they do that is they take the amount of medical expenses you have. Subtract 3% of your net income from that amount. The remainder becomes your medical tax credit. In most provinces it means you would save about 20% of that last number in taxes owed.

If you do not owe any taxes before you take this credit it will have no material value to you. In that case, you would be advised to hang onto the expenses. The medical credit is different then most credits in that it allows you to select any 12 month period that ends in the tax year that you are doing the taxes for. So if you cannot use them this year, perhaps you will earn a higher income next year and some of those expenses may qualify.


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## stardancer (Apr 26, 2009)

You can claim them on Schedule 1, line 330, but the question is, will the claim do any good?
For 2015, medical expenses minus 3% of net income (or 2208 maximum) equals amount

If your net income is $17,000 and your total claims are 1200: 1200 minus 510 (3% of 17,000) equals 690; you can claim 690
If your net income is $75,000 and your total claims are 1200: 1200 minus 2208 (the maximum allowed) equals 0; you can claim 0

Note: that whatever the positive amount is claimed is then reduced to 15% as this is a non-refundable tax credit; you don't actually get $690 back, but you get 103.50 (15% of 690) as a credit against tax assessed; if you owe no tax, or if your net income is below the personal exemption rate, then you don't get it in cash. If you have a refund coming, it would increase that refund. If you have a balance owing, it would decrease that balance owing.

Generally, I do a quick calculation of the total medical expenses to see if it would be worth the work or not
Don't enter each prescription individually; I lump the prescriptions together by drug store- example: 31 Dec 2015, pharmacy #1, 500; 31 Dec 2015, pharmacy #2 800; 31 Dec 2015, Dentist, 600, and so on. If CRA wants a detailed breakdown, they will request it and then the stack of receipts comes into play.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

OptsyEagle said:


> If you do not owe any taxes before you take this credit it will have no material value to you. In that case, you would be advised to hang onto the expenses. The medical credit is different then most credits in that it allows you to select any 12 month period that ends in the tax year that you are doing the taxes for. So if you cannot use them this year, perhaps you will earn a higher income next year and some of those expenses may qualify.


Since we are on the subject of non refundable tax credits; 
What happens if the medical expenses and personal assistance receipts with the tax calculations are MORE than the taxes I pay?

I have a DTC,disability tax credit already and this year I expect that for 2016 tax year,the medical/dental and personal assistance will be more than 3% of my net income.

Can I use some of it next year?, or do I have to limit it to whatever works out for me in 2016?

Ie; new used wheelchair purchase $4300
dental work (around $4700)
personal assistant services (agency $2400, private assistant with receipts ($4300)
Total medical/dental; $13,330 anticipated for 2016

net income (from 2015) is: 33,000 (Gross: $36,600 (still paying ex $300 a month from my pension, 3600 deduction) 

Last year net income: $33,053 (With $3, 378 tax paid,  got back $4, 200 due to additional amount for Happy Homes tax credit)

This year got an additional income of $10,000 from Nortel's pensioner hardship fund (20% withholding tax) =$8000 received,

For 2016, my gross income goes up by $10,000 (one time only) to $46,652 approx
Minus alimony to ex ($3600) = $43,052

With my DTC ($7980) and personal exemptions, for 2015, my non refundable tax credit was $5810.

I also had a fair amount of charitable donations last year ($3500) expect about the same for this year as well


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Remember you can claim for any non-overlapping 12 month period ending in the year. So you might claim ending in January one year and then say June the next year if there are insignificant expenses Feb-May. This requires a spreadsheet.


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