Can you claim the medical expense tax credit for a full-time attendant without a medical certificate attesting “that the impairment is a severe and prolonged impairment in physical or mental functions the effects of which are such that the individual’s ability to perform a basic activity of daily living is markedly restricted”? No.
Though the rules for this credit are complicated, this was an easy case to dismiss so that it is a bit of a surprise that the taxpayer’s representative pursued it.
Mr. Arciresi sought to claim a medical expense credit for $20,000 of expenses he paid in 2009 for an attendant for his wife. He filed certificates from her physician but the physician was not treating the wife in 2009 and, anyway, the physician said the wife was not markedly restricted in the daily activities of life. Justice Favreau dismissed the appeal.