Did you know that you may be eligible for tax benefits if you have a child with a learning disability?

According to TurboTax, (http://turbotax.intuit.ca/tax-resources/disability-tax-credit.jsp) persons with disabilities and their care givers may be eligible to receive help with the added expenses.

Your first step is to check with Canada Revenue Agency, (http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html) for information about specific programs.  The program you want to review is the Disability Tax Credit.

TurboTax says,

“It is a non-refundable tax credit that taxpayers with disabilities can use to reduce the amount of income tax they have to pay. It includes a supplement for children under 18. In order to be eligible, a medical professional has to fill out and sign the T2201 tax form, the Disability Tax Credit Certificate, and the CRA has to approve the application.

If you have no taxable income or if you don’t need the full credit to bring your tax payable to zero, you may want to transfer all or part of it to your spouse or common-law partner or another supporting person by using the Disability amount transferred from a dependant line.”

“People who have a severe mental or physical impairment which impacts the basic activities of daily living and/or need and dedicate time for Life Sustaining Therapy are eligible. The impairment has to have lasted or is expected to last for a period of 12 continuous months. There is no harm in applying if you are not sure that you would be eligible.

If you have had a disability for some time, your tax returns can be reassessed as far back as 10 years. Children who have ADD, ADHD FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder), autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, bi-polar disorder, manic depression, anxiety disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, Type 1/2 diabetes, epilepsy and learning disabilities can be eligible for the Disability amount.”