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-   -   Moving to Canada - Health Stuff (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canada-56/moving-canada-health-stuff-906521/)

Almost Canadian Dec 5th 2017 10:12 pm

Re: Moving to Canada - Health Stuff
 

Originally Posted by scilly (Post 12394484)
you can also claim any medical expenses not paid by a provincial or private plan, ie the amount you had to pay out of pocket, as a tax deduction.

The lowest earner of a couple should make that claim for both people.

I usually claim between $3000 and $4000 a year on my tax return, and get most of that (if not all) back as a refund.

I seriously doubt that. While your taxable income may be reduced by the amount you claim (after deduction of the prescribed amount) unless your marginal rate of tax is 100%, how do you get it all back as a refund?

Aviator Dec 5th 2017 11:15 pm

Re: Moving to Canada - Health Stuff
 

Originally Posted by scilly (Post 12394484)
you can also claim any medical expenses not paid by a provincial or private plan, ie the amount you had to pay out of pocket, as a tax deduction.

The lowest earner of a couple should make that claim for both people.

I usually claim between $3000 and $4000 a year on my tax return, and get most of that (if not all) back as a refund.

One can claim many, but not all uninsured medical expenses. There are some exclusions.

Sometimes is better for the lowest earner to claim, sometimes not. Depends on individuals circumstances.

There is no way anyone would get the majority of their medical claim back as a refund. There may be a similar amount, but not as a direct result of medical expenses. Some medical costs are an allowable expense that can be deducted off of income to reduce ones tax bill.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...it-return.html

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cr...rc4065-16e.pdf

scilly Dec 6th 2017 3:43 am

Re: Moving to Canada - Health Stuff
 
are you accusing me of lying???

I said, get most of it back (if not all), and that is in fact what I get back as a refund.

I actually have a low income, and no other deductions.

BristolUK Dec 7th 2017 11:31 am

Re: Moving to Canada - Health Stuff
 

Originally Posted by scilly (Post 12394484)
I usually claim between $3000 and $4000 a year on my tax return, and get most of that (if not all) back as a refund.


Originally Posted by Almost Canadian (Post 12394561)
I seriously doubt that. While your taxable income may be reduced by the amount you claim (after deduction of the prescribed amount) unless your marginal rate of tax is 100%, how do you get it all back as a refund?


Originally Posted by Aviator (Post 12394586)
There is no way anyone would get the majority of their medical claim back as a refund. There may be a similar amount, but not as a direct result of medical expenses.


Originally Posted by scilly (Post 12394669)
are you accusing me of lying???

I said, get most of it back (if not all), and that is in fact what I get back as a refund.

I actually have a low income, and no other deductions.

I think we need Jonboy's input.

My understanding is that it works in a similar way to things like pension or certain savings plan contributions in that the amount is not treated as taxable income.

So that, for example, if the contributions (pension or allowable medical costs were $4000 for the claimable period and, say, the tax rate was 25% then $4k would not be included in the taxable income calculation, leading to a reduction in tax liability of $1000.

So at the end of a year having tax deducted from income and receiving a tax refund of $4000, $3000 of that would have been coming back anyway, meaning a tax refund equal to 25% of the cost.

That's how it worked for me (although I have simplified the figures) in the UK for additional pension contributions and a child sponsorship thing I did.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In terms of costs of meds, I noted last week that 3 months worth of blood pressure meds for me are just over $200 for three months.

Fortunately my province runs a system jointly with Blue Cross where my premiums are $16 a month with a co-pay of $5 for each one.

scilly Dec 7th 2017 8:13 pm

Re: Moving to Canada - Health Stuff
 
I don't know how it works, our finance manager does all the filing.

All I know is that I submit to him legitimate medical costs usually between $3000 to $4000, the same amount is entered on my tax return (seen by me after submitting), same amount is on the form I get back from the government, and I get a refund for very close to that amount, if not actually equal to it.

If I remember from when I used to do my own tax returns, the medical expenses have to amount to more than 3% of the net income before any can be claimed ...... that's why the lower income earner usually claims them for spouse and other members of the family.

Aviator Dec 7th 2017 8:50 pm

Re: Moving to Canada - Health Stuff
 

Originally Posted by scilly (Post 12394669)
are you accusing me of lying???

I said, get most of it back (if not all), and that is in fact what I get back as a refund.

I actually have a low income, and no other deductions.

I feel sure you know what your got back. Why I cannot tell you, you may get other tax credits. The medical expenses, with the relevant thresholds are deducted from income before calculation of tax, so at best would reduce the tax bill by the marginal rate of the taxpayer. If you pay a low rate of income tax, they will be of little benefit.

http://www.taxplanningguide.ca/tax-p...ical-expenses/

'Say, after doing the math, the lower income spouse had $3,000 in expenses over the minimum threshold. The lowest federal tax rate is 15% and if they lived in Ontario where the lowest rate is 5.05% their total credit would be $601.50 (20.05% of $3,000).
“In the grand scheme of things, getting $600 back after out-of-pocket expenses of $4,200 may not seem like much,” says Dollar, “but the credit is designed to help those who have substantial medical claims."


https://www.sunlife.ca/ca/Learn+and+...gnLocale=en_CA


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