Which medical receipts are worth keeping for the tax return

Somewhere in most Canadian homes there is a drawer, an envelope or a shoebox of pharmacy slips and dental receipts. Some of those pieces of paper are worth money at tax time. Many are not. The difference comes down to a threshold, a time window that you get to choose, and the question of whose return they go on.

For retirees the stakes are higher than for most. Health costs tend to rise with age while income becomes fixed, and the medical expense tax credit is one of the few places where the return reflects that.

A credit that starts after a threshold

The medical expense credit does not apply from the first dollar. For the 2025 tax year (the return filed in spring 2026), the Canada Revenue Agency says you subtract the lesser of 3% of your net income or $2,834 from your total eligible expenses. Only the amount above that threshold counts. The fixed dollar figure is adjusted each year.

For most retirees, 3% of net income is the smaller of the two. On a net income of $40,000, the threshold is $1,200; on $60,000, it is $1,800. Anything below that line produces no credit, which is why a year of small receipts often adds up to nothing while a year with hearing aids or dentures can make a real difference.

The credit itself is non-refundable and is calculated at the lowest federal tax rate: 14.5% for 2025 and 14% from 2026, plus a provincial or territorial credit at that jurisdiction's rate. It reduces tax owing; it does not create a refund on its own.

The 12-month window you get to choose

The expenses do not have to fall in the calendar year. The CRA allows a claim for eligible expenses paid in any 12-month period ending in the tax year, as long as they were not claimed the year before. For the 2025 return, that could be January to December 2025, but it could equally be April 2024 to March 2025.

The window matters most when big costs fall either side of New Year. A dental bill in November and hearing aids in March can sometimes be brought into the same 12-month period, which lifts the total well above the threshold in one year rather than leaving two smaller totals that barely clear it.

Which receipts are worth keeping

The CRA's list of eligible expenses is long. These are the ones most common in retirement:

• prescription drugs and insulin;
• dental services and dentures, including the part you pay yourself under a dental plan (see what the Canadian Dental Care Plan covers);
• eyeglasses and contact lenses;
• hearing aids;
• wheelchairs and walking aids;
• fees paid to doctors and other medical practitioners, and laboratory tests.

And these, according to the CRA, are not eligible: gym fees, over-the-counter medications, vitamins and supplements, and organic food. Amounts a plan reimburses you for cannot be claimed either; only the part you actually paid.

Receipts must show the name of the business or person paid. They are not sent with the return, but they should be kept in case the CRA asks to see them. Some items also need a prescription, a written certification from a practitioner, or an approved disability tax credit certificate.

Whose return should carry the claim

On line 33099 you can claim expenses for yourself, your spouse or common-law partner, and your children under 18. Because the threshold is 3% of the claimant's own net income, couples often find that the claim is worth more on the return of the partner with the lower net income, provided that partner has enough tax to use the credit.

Separately, line 33199 covers dependants such as a parent or grandparent who relied on you for support. That calculation uses the dependant's own net income. If you are helping a parent, our piece on the caregiver credit covers a related claim.

A worked example for a couple

On these figures, putting the same receipts on Ann's return is worth about $104 more in federal credit. Had they spent only $1,500 in the year, Ron would have received nothing and Ann only a little, which is why the timing of the window matters as much as the choice of claimant.

Who this matters for

• Retirees with one large health purchase in a year: hearing aids, dentures, a mobility device.
• Couples with uneven incomes, where the lower-income partner has tax to reduce.
• People who travel for treatment or winter away and pay costs out of pocket; see how provincial health coverage works when you are abroad.
• Working retirees whose tax situation changed; see part-time work at 62.

The receipt that counts

Not every pharmacy slip is worth keeping, but the ones that are can add up to a real reduction in tax. The rule of thumb: keep anything for prescribed treatment, dental work, vision and hearing with the payee's name on it, choose your 12 months deliberately, and run the numbers on both partners' returns before filing. The official list on Canada.ca is the final word on what qualifies.