Medical expense tax credit: home modifications and devices

Quick answer

The medical expense tax credit is a federal credit for health costs, and many home safety items count. Grab bars, bath and toilet aids, walkers, hospital beds and stair lifts count with a prescription. Wheelchairs count without one [1]. Renovations such as ramps and wider doorways count when they help a person with a severe and prolonged mobility impairment [2]. You claim only the part of your medical costs above a threshold: 3% of your net income or C$2,834 for 2025, whichever is less. For 2026 the dollar figure is C$2,890 [1] [6]. The federal credit is 14.5% of the rest for 2025 and 14% for 2026 [7]. It’s non-refundable, so it can only reduce the tax you owe [2].

What can count

The CRA’s rules sort home safety costs into three groups, and each needs different paperwork [1] [2].

Home safety items on the CRA’s list

The CRA keeps a list of common medical expenses that shows whether each one needs a prescription [1]. This table pulls out the items that come up in home safety, with the wording from the CRA’s guide [2].

Renovations: the extra rules

Renovation costs count when they give a person access to their home, or let them move around or function in it. The reason must be that they have a severe and prolonged mobility impairment, or lack normal physical development [2] [4]. Two more conditions apply. The work must not be the kind that would normally raise the home’s value. And it must not be the kind of work people without the impairment would normally do [2] [4].

The CRA’s examples are ramps where stairs get in the way, wider halls and doorways, and lower kitchen or bathroom cabinets. Fees for an architect or contractor can count too [3]. Its examples of work that generally doesn’t count are hardwood floors, hot tubs and pools [3]. The CRA looks at each claim case by case, and it’s up to you to show the conditions are met [3].

• New homes. When a home is built for the person, only the extra cost counts. For a wider doorway, that’s the cost above a standard doorway [3] [4].
• Rented homes. The rule covers changes to the person’s home whether they own it or rent it [3]. Our guide for tenants who want grab bars covers asking a landlord.
• Rebates. Subtract any related rebates, such as GST/HST rebates [2] [3].
• Paperwork. Get a breakdown of the costs, and keep the receipts and anything that shows the person’s situation meets the conditions [2].

What the credit is worth

Add up the eligible medical expenses paid in a 12-month period that ends in the tax year. Then subtract a threshold: 3% of your net income or a set dollar amount, whichever is less [1]. The federal credit is a percentage of what’s left [4] [7].

The threshold applies to all your medical expenses for the period, not just home safety costs. Prescription drugs, dental care and the other costs on the CRA’s list count toward it too [1]. Your province or territory gives its own credit for the same expenses, on line 58689 of its Form 428. Quebec residents claim through Revenu Québec [1].

Worked example: a ramp and bath aids in 2026 (our calculation)

Say a person with a severe and prolonged mobility impairment has a net income of C$40,000. In 2026 they pay C$5,600 for a ramp and C$400 for prescribed bath aids, and they have no other medical expenses.

• 3% of C$40,000 is C$1,200. That’s less than C$2,890, so C$1,200 is the threshold.
• C$6,000 minus C$1,200 leaves C$4,800.
• The federal credit is 14% of C$4,800, which is C$672, plus any provincial credit.

To try your own numbers, our medical expense tax credit calculator works through these steps for 2025 or 2026, for your family or for a relative who depends on you.

Very large claims. For 2025 to 2030, a top-up credit keeps the old 15% rate on non-refundable credit amounts above the top of the first tax bracket, which is C$58,523 in 2026. Finance Canada says this affects fewer than 0.3% of tax filers, for example people with a large one-time medical expense [7].

Who can claim

Line 33099 is for costs you or your spouse or common-law partner paid for yourselves, and for your children under 18 [1]. Either spouse can claim. The CRA notes it may be better for the spouse with the lower net income to claim, because 3% of a lower income is a smaller threshold [1].

Line 33199 is for other relatives who depended on you for support. These include your or your spouse’s adult children and grandchildren. They also include your or your spouse’s parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces, if they lived in Canada at some point in the year. For each one, the threshold uses that relative’s net income, not yours [1]. So if a parent depends on you for support, the devices you pay for may go on your return.

The 12 months. You can choose any 12-month period that ends in the tax year, as long as you haven’t claimed those expenses before [1]. In the CRA’s example, a couple used July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 for their 2025 return [1].

Money paid back. You can claim only the part of a cost that nobody has paid back or will pay back [1]. If a program pays part, such as Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program or the Home and Vehicle Modification Program, claim only your share.

This credit and the Home Accessibility Tax Credit

Many renovations could fit either credit. The Home Accessibility Tax Credit is for people who are 65 or older or eligible for the disability tax credit, and for family who support them. It covers up to C$20,000 of renovation costs a year [12], and there’s no 3% threshold to take off first [9].

For 2025, the CRA says you can claim an expense for both credits [2] [12]. From 2026, the law has changed. An expense claimed as a medical expense can’t also be claimed for the Home Accessibility Tax Credit [9] [10]. So for 2026 you choose, one expense at a time.

Which gives more depends on the numbers. Take the example above, and say the person is 65 and the ramp qualifies for both credits (our calculation):

If other medical costs already cover the threshold, the two come out the same at 14%. Items that won’t become a permanent part of the home, such as bath seats and walkers, generally can’t go under the Home Accessibility Tax Credit [12]. They stay with the medical expense credit. A tax professional can help you choose. Our Home Accessibility Tax Credit guide and tax credit calculator cover the other credit.

A cost claimed as a medical expense also can’t go into a claim for the Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit [3].

Where to buy

These are common items in the CRA’s bathroom aids and walking aids. Each one counts as a medical expense only with a prescription [1]. The rows come from our guides to each type, one product per type that’s sold in both countries. The figures are the makers’. We haven’t tested the products.

Claiming home safety costs as medical expenses

From simpleaging.com. This checklist is general information, not medical advice.

Before you buy or build

• If the item needs a prescription, get it first from a medical practitioner [1]. The CRA’s list shows who counts in your province [8].
• For a renovation, check that it’s for a person with a severe and prolonged mobility impairment, and that it helps them get into or move around the home [2].
• Ask the contractor for a breakdown of the costs [2].
• Keep every receipt. Each must show the name of the company or person you paid [1].
• Note anything a program or insurer pays back. You can claim only the rest [1].

At tax time

• Pick the 12-month period, ending in the tax year, that gives the largest claim. Leave out anything you claimed before [1].
• Put costs for yourself, your spouse and your children under 18 on line 33099. Put other dependants’ costs on line 33199 [1].
• Compare which spouse should claim. The one with the lower net income may get more [1].
• Claim the provincial or territorial credit on line 58689 of your Form 428 [1].
• For 2026 and later, don’t also claim the same renovation cost for the Home Accessibility Tax Credit [9] [10].
• Don’t send receipts or prescriptions with your return. Keep them in case the CRA asks [1].

Costs and funding

Refundable medical expense supplement

This supplement is for working people with low incomes and high medical expenses. Unlike the main credit, it’s refundable [1]. For 2025 you may qualify if all of these apply [11]:

• You claimed medical expenses, or the disability supports deduction, on your return.
• You lived in Canada all year and were 18 or older.
• You earned at least C$4,390 from work.
• Your adjusted family net income was under C$63,374.

The most it pays is C$1,504 for 2025 and C$1,534 for 2026 [6]. You claim it on line 45200 [11].

Programs that pay part of the cost

Some programs pay part of the cost of devices or home changes, such as Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program and Home and Vehicle Modification Program. Whatever a program pays, only your own share can count as a medical expense [1]. See Funding in Canada for programs in other provinces.

Questions to ask

An occupational therapist, physiotherapist or doctor

• Which device or change would help most, and can you write the prescription for it?
• Can you put in writing why I need this renovation, in case the CRA asks?

Your contractor or supplier

• Can my receipt show your business name and a breakdown of the costs?
• Which part of the cost is the accessibility work, and which is general work?

A tax professional or the CRA

• For 2026, should this renovation go under the medical expense credit or the Home Accessibility Tax Credit?
• Which 12-month period, and which family member, gives the largest claim?

Safety notes and when to talk to a professional

Choose for the person, not the credit. The federal credit is worth about 14% of what you spend above the threshold. The device or change still has to suit the person who’ll use it. Our guides compare the options for shower chairs, transfer benches and walkers.

When to talk to a professional. If someone has fallen, feels unsteady or worries about falling, talk to a doctor. A doctor can look for causes and may refer the person to a physiotherapist or occupational therapist, who can suggest the right equipment. For the tax side, the CRA or a tax professional can confirm what counts.