Income Tax Act

Marginal note:Disability supports deduction

64 If a taxpayer files with the taxpayer’s return of income (other than a return of income filed under subsection 70(2), paragraph 104(23)(d) or 128(2)(e) or subsection 150(4)) for the taxation year a prescribed form containing prescribed information, there may be deducted in computing the taxpayer’s income for the year the lesser of

• (a) the amount determined by the formula

  A - B

  where

  A

  is the total of all amounts each of which is an amount paid by the taxpayer in the year and that

  • (i) was paid to enable the taxpayer

    • (A) to perform the duties of an office or employment,

    • (B) to carry on a business either alone or as a partner actively engaged in the business,

    • (C) to attend a designated educational institution or a secondary school at which the taxpayer is enrolled in an educational program, or

    • (D) to carry on research or any similar work in respect of which the taxpayer received a grant,

  • (ii) was paid

    • (A) where the taxpayer has a speech or hearing impairment, for the cost of sign-language interpretation services or real time captioning services and to a person engaged in the business of providing such services,

    • (B) where the taxpayer is deaf or mute, for the cost of a teletypewriter or similar device, including a telephone ringing indicator, prescribed by a medical practitioner, to enable the taxpayer to make and receive telephone calls,

    • (C) where the taxpayer is blind, for the cost of a device or equipment, including synthetic speech systems, Braille printers, and large-print on-screen devices, prescribed by a medical practitioner, and designed to be used by blind individuals in the operation of a computer,

    • (D) where the taxpayer is blind, for the cost of an optical scanner or similar device, prescribed by a medical practitioner, and designed to be used by blind individuals to enable them to read print,

    • (E) where the taxpayer is mute, for the cost of an electronic speech synthesizer, prescribed by a medical practitioner, and designed to be used by mute individuals to enable them to communicate by use of a portable keyboard,

    • (F) where the taxpayer has an impairment in physical or mental functions, for the cost of note-taking services and to a person engaged in the business of providing such services, if the taxpayer has been certified in writing by a medical practitioner to be a person who, because of that impairment, requires such services,

    • (G) where the taxpayer has an impairment in physical functions, for the cost of voice recognition software, if the taxpayer has been certified in writing by a medical practitioner to be a person who, because of that impairment, requires that software,

    • (H) where the taxpayer has a learning disability or an impairment in mental functions, for the cost of tutoring services that are rendered to, and supplementary to the primary education of, the taxpayer and to a person ordinarily engaged in the business of providing such services to individuals who are not related to the person, if the taxpayer has been certified in writing by a medical practitioner to be a person who, because of that disability or impairment, requires those services,

    • (I) where the taxpayer has a perceptual disability, for the cost of talking textbooks used by the taxpayer in connection with the taxpayer’s enrolment at a secondary school in Canada or at a designated educational institution, if the taxpayer has been certified in writing by a medical practitioner to be a person who, because of that disability, requires those textbooks,

    • (J) where the taxpayer has a mental or physical infirmity, for the cost of attendant care services provided in Canada and to a person who is neither the taxpayer’s spouse or common-law partner nor under 18 years of age, if the taxpayer is a taxpayer in respect of whom an amount may be deducted because of section 118.3, or if the taxpayer has been certified in writing by a medical practitioner to be a person who, because of that infirmity is, and is likely to be indefinitely, dependent on others for their personal needs and care and who as a result requires a full-time attendant,

    • (K) where the taxpayer has a severe and prolonged impairment in physical or mental functions, for the cost of job coaching services (not including job placement or career counselling serv­ices) and to a person engaged in the business of providing such services if the taxpayer has been certified in writing by a medical practitioner to be a person who, because of that impairment, requires such services,

    • (L) where the taxpayer is blind or has a severe learning disability, for the cost of reading services and to a person engaged in the business of providing such services, if the taxpayer has been certified in writing by a medical practitioner to be a person who, because of that impairment or disability, requires those services,

    • (M) where the taxpayer is blind and profoundly deaf, for the cost of deaf-blind intervening services and to a person engaged in the business of providing such services,

    • (N) where the taxpayer has a speech impairment, for the cost of a device that is a Bliss symbol board, or a similar device, that is prescribed by a medical practitioner to help the taxpayer communicate by selecting the symbols or spelling out words,

    • (O) where the taxpayer is blind, for the cost of a device that is a Braille note-taker, prescribed by a medical practitioner, to allow the taxpayer to take notes (that can, by the device, be read back to them or printed or displayed in Braille) with the help of a keyboard,

    • (P) where the taxpayer has a severe and prolonged impairment in physical functions that markedly restricts their ability to use their arms or hands, for the cost of a device that is a page turner prescribed by a medical practitioner to help the taxpayer to turn the pages of a book or other bound document, and

    • (Q) where the taxpayer is blind, or has a severe learning disability, for the cost of a device or software that is prescribed by a medical practitioner and designed to enable the taxpayer to read print,

  • (iii) is evidenced by one or more receipts filed with the Minister each of which was issued by the payee and contains, where the payee is an individual who is a person referred to in clause (ii)(J), that individual’s Social Insurance Number, and

  • (iv) is not included in computing a deduction under section 118.2 for any taxpayer for any taxation year, and

  B

  is the total of all amounts each of which is the amount of a reimbursement or any other form of assistance (other than prescribed assistance or an amount that is included in computing a taxpayer’s income and that is not deductible in computing the taxpayer’s taxable income) that any taxpayer is or was entitled to receive in respect of an amount included in computing the value of A, and

• (b) the total of

  • (i) the total of all amounts each of which is

    • (A) an amount included under section 5, 6 or 7 or paragraph 56(1)(n), (o) or (r) in computing the taxpayer’s income for the year, or

    • (B) the taxpayer’s income for the year from a business carried on either alone or as a partner actively engaged in the business, and

  • (ii) where the taxpayer is in attendance at a designated educational institution or a secondary school at which the taxpayer is enrolled in an educational program, the least of

    • (A) $15,000,

    • (B) $375 times the number of weeks in the year during which the taxpayer is in attendance at the institution or school, and

    • (C) the amount, if any, by which the amount that would, if this Act were read without reference to this section, be the taxpayer’s income for the year exceeds the total determined under subparagraph (i) in respect of the taxpayer for the year.