Disability Tax Credit is Available for Retired Educators

Peter J. Manastyrsky

Many people in Canada are suffering debilitating illness for years, unable to enjoy their retirement and their lifestyle has changed because of serious injury or persistent severe mental or physical condition. As Manitobans, we may have missed out on all or several of the disability credits that might be available to us, particularly the DISABILITY TAX CREDIT-DTC.

The DISABILITY TAX CREDIT is a nonrefundable tax credit that reduces income tax payable for those who qualify. It is available to Canadians who are deemed to have “one or more impairments that impact the activities of daily living, where those impairments are not likely to get better any time soon and have already been in place for a period of at least one year.” Eligibility is based on the condition’s severity and length that

has impaired your ability to perform basic tasks.

As a retired educator, you might be unable to, or are having difficulty performing basic activities of daily living because of walking impairment (knee and/or hip problem), elimination of (bladder and/bowel function), feeding or dressing oneself, difficulty performing mental functions for everyday life; you might qualify for the DISABILITY TAX CREDIT.

This Tax Credit is separate from any of the other disability benefits. If you have paid taxes (total payable) in the past years, your claim for an adjustment can go back as far as 10 years, retroactively to the date of impairment.

There is a possibility of obtaining DISABILITY TAX CREDIT on behalf of a deceased person for their estate. The DTC can be obtained only in the year of death if a medical doctor certified “before death” that the individual had a severe and prolonged mental and /or physical impairment in their medical file, and that the impairment was reasonably expected to last for at least 12 months or more. There must be an Executor of the Estate.

The DISABILITY TAX CREDIT is possibly one of the most frequently missed provisions on the tax return and under claimed. People are not aware of the large amount of tax refunds available to them. Once you have become familiar with the DISABILITY TAX CREDIT, you can benefit from it in two ways: by adjusting your previous returns and the second way by continuing to deduct the tax credit savings on returns you file in the future.

DISABILITY TAX CREDIT is eligible to all individuals (young, middle age, seniors) whoever has a physical or mental ailment. Furthermore, this DTC is transferable to a caregiver if the impaired person does not have enough income to generate tax payable that can be reduced by this non-refundable credit amount.

The DISABILITY TAX CREDIT is a pivotal section of the Income Tax Act that opens the door to other tax benefits. 

"As a retired educator, you might be unable to, or are having difficulty performing basic activities of daily living because of walking impairment (knee and/or hip problem), elimination of (bladder and/bowel function), feeding or dressing oneself, difficulty performing mental functions for everyday life; you might qualify for the DISABILITY TAX CREDIT."

In Memoriam

Life Members

December 2018

Clive Richard Taylor, Brandon, MB

January 2019

Donna Wiwchar, Winnipeg, MB

March 2019

Charles A. McArthur, Souris, MB

April 2019

Conrad A. Artibise, Winnipeg, MB Douglas Cowling, Yorkton, SK Evelyn G. Dempsey, Winnipeg, MB Joseph-Arthur Dupuis, Grande Prairie, MB Anne Ezowske, Dauphin, MB Agnes Margaret Hall, Vancouver, BC Margaret J. Harrison, Winnipeg, MB Elin Jolly, Vancouver, BC G. Ivan McBurney, Winnipeg, MB Carol Ann Pelton, Winnipeg, MB Olga M. Skolrood, Dauphin, MB Ronald George Smith, Brandon, MB Leonard Takoski, Victoria, BC Kethleen Tomecko, Oakbank, MB

May 2019

Elizabeth Brooks, Winnipeg, MB Trudy Lynne Chappellaz, St. Claude, MB Walter Hercia, Winnipeg, MB Patrice I. Letain, Dauphin, MB Margaret Anne Maciver, Newmarket, ON F. Wilma L. McKerchar, Thunder Bay, ON Heather Kathleen Muirhead, Portage la Prairie, MB Hugo Muller, Winnipeg, MB Vernon Wayne Penner, Winnipeg, MB Heather Gale Rothnie, Hamiota, MB James Allan Smith, Winnipeg, MB Carol Lynn Stankey, Winnipeg, MB Irene Dolores Tetreault, Ste. Genevieve, MB

Presented when a member reaches the age of 90

May 2019

Borislaw Bilash, Winnipeg, MB Theresa Longtin, Winnipeg, MB Isabella Maksymyk, Winnipeg, MB Barbara Matthew, Winnipeg, MB M. Lucille Muldoon, Ottawa, ON Edith M.K. Richmond, Treherne, MB John Suderman, Dauphin, MB Edwin A. Woods, Stonewall, MB

June 2019

Marjorie L. Connor, Comox, BC Anne Moroz, Winnipeg, MB F. Bernice Nowak, Swan River, MB Murielle Savard, Prince Albert, SK Lois C. Scott, Winnipeg, MB Beatrice E. Venables, Powell River, BC

June 2019

Lorraine Anita Marie Arbez-Meridji Winnipeg, MB Jerzy R. Bibik, Winnipeg, MB Nettie Rose Corneslson, Rosenort, MB Clara E. Darvill, Winnipeg, MB John Rudolph Fast, Winnipeg, MB M. Eileen Hamilton, Roland, MB Eldeen M. Henderson, Winnipeg, MB Arva J. Hryciuk, Portage la Prairie, MB M. Marie Kuhn, Winnipeg, MB Alice B. Laing, Steinbach, MB Jake Letkeman, La Riviere, MB Victor Jacob Loewen, Ste. Anne, MB Lillian Joyce MacMartin, Winnipeg, MB John David McDowell, Winnipeg, MB Karen Elizabeth McNeil, Boissevain, MB Josephine H. Zeller, Teulon, MB Alfred Z. Zorniak, Winnipeg, MB

July 2019

Mervyn Farough, Winnipeg, MB Marion E. Kreshewski, Brandon, MB Margaret R.M. Lesperance, Portage la Prairie, MB Barbara M. Scott, Crystal City, MB Colin S. Walley, Saskatoon, SK Sophie West, Winnipeg, MB