Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC) in Canada: What Caregivers Can Claim
The Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC) applies only to eligible medical expenses above a threshold — the lesser of 3% of your net income or the fixed dollar threshold the CRA sets for that tax year. Everything below that line produces no credit, which is why small, routine receipts still matter: they are what carry your total past the threshold. It is a non-refundable credit, so it reduces tax owing rather than producing a payment.
How the threshold works
- • Add up eligible expenses for a 12-month period ending in the tax year
- • Subtract the lesser of 3% of net income or the CRA’s fixed threshold
- • The federal credit is calculated at the lowest federal tax rate on the remainder
- • A separate provincial or territorial credit is calculated on your Form 428
Because the threshold is 3% of net income for lower incomes, the lower-income spouse often gets the larger credit when a couple pools expenses.
Choosing the best 12-month period
You do not have to use January to December. You may claim any 12-month period that ends in the tax year, as long as the expenses were not claimed in a previous year. Where care costs cluster — a hospital stay, a move into assisted living, a run of appointments — shifting the window can lift more of your spending above the threshold.
Expenses caregivers commonly miss
- • Travel to medical appointments over 40 km, and over 80 km including accommodation
- • Attendant care and certain nursing-home or group-home fees
- • Prescription medication co-pays and pharmacy dispensing fees
- • Dental, vision, hearing aids, and batteries
- • Prescribed medical devices, mobility aids, and home modifications
- • Private health-plan premiums you pay yourself
Whose expenses you can claim
You can claim expenses for yourself, your spouse or common-law partner, and your or your partner’s children under 18. Expenses for other dependants — a parent, grandparent, or adult child who depended on you for support — are claimed separately on line 33199, which uses its own threshold calculation for each dependant.
Records to keep
- • Original receipts showing the patient, provider, date, and amount
- • A prescription where the expense requires one to be eligible
- • A travel log with dates, destinations, and distance for mileage claims
- • Statements showing amounts your insurer did not reimburse
Official sources
- • CRA — Lines 33099 and 33199, eligible medical expenses
- • CRA — Details of medical expenses (full eligibility list)
FeatherKeep’s expense log captures receipts and mileage as they happen and tracks how close you are to the threshold, so the claim is already assembled at tax time. Related: Canada Caregiver Credit and the Disability Tax Credit.