Free tool · Canada

Do you qualify for the Disability Tax Credit?

Answer plain-language questions about your everyday activities. You'll see which route to the credit fits, and which practitioner can fill in their part of the form.

Checked against official sources on September 27, 2026. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.

The checker

1. How long has the condition lasted?

2. Everyday activities

Think about a typical day with your usual therapy, medication and devices. The test is whether you can't do the activity, or it takes you about 3 times as long as someone your age without the condition, and whether that's true all or almost all of the time (about 90%). If you're between two answers, pick the one closer to a typical week. Skip any that don't apply.

Walking

Walking a short distance, such as 100 metres (about one city block).

Mental functions for everyday life

Things like attention, concentration, memory, judgment, problem-solving, goal-setting, managing your behaviour and emotions, understanding what others say or signal, perceiving reality, and coping with everyday situations.

Speaking

Speaking so that someone who knows you can understand you, in a quiet place.

Hearing

Hearing well enough to understand someone who knows you, talking in a quiet place, even with hearing aids.

Vision

Seeing, even with glasses or contact lenses. A practitioner measures this: it means sight of 20/200 or worse, or a field of vision of 20 degrees or less.

Dressing

Dressing yourself. Finding, choosing or shopping for clothes doesn't count.

Feeding

Preparing food and feeding yourself, including chewing and swallowing.

Eliminating (bowel or bladder)

Managing your own bowel or bladder functions.

3. Life-sustaining therapy

Therapy that supports a vital function, needed at least 2 times a week for an average of at least 14 hours a week. Setting up portable devices and working out doses can count. Travel, appointments and exercise don't.

How CRA decides who qualifies

The Disability Tax Credit is not about a diagnosis. It's about what the condition stops you from doing. CRA approves it when a medical practitioner certifies one of these on Form T2201:

  • A marked restriction in one activity. You can't do it, or it takes 3 times as long as for someone your age without the impairment, even with therapy, medication and devices, all or almost all of the time (generally at least 90%).
  • Significant limitations in two or more activities that together are as restricting as one marked restriction. CRA calls this the "cumulative effect".
  • Life-sustaining therapy needed at least 2 times a week, for an average of at least 14 hours a week.

In every case the impairment has to be prolonged: it has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months in a row.

Who can fill in the practitioner's part

You fill in Part A. A practitioner fills in Part B, and which kind depends on the category.

Practitioners who can certify each category
CategoryCan be certified by
VisionMedical doctor, nurse practitioner, optometrist
SpeakingMedical doctor, nurse practitioner, speech-language pathologist
HearingMedical doctor, nurse practitioner, audiologist
WalkingMedical doctor, nurse practitioner, occupational therapist, physiotherapist
EliminatingMedical doctor, nurse practitioner
FeedingMedical doctor, nurse practitioner, occupational therapist
DressingMedical doctor, nurse practitioner, occupational therapist
Mental functionsMedical doctor, nurse practitioner, psychologist
Cumulative effectMedical doctor, nurse practitioner; an occupational therapist for walking, feeding and dressing only
Life-sustaining therapyMedical doctor, nurse practitioner

Most certificates CRA receives are approved

In 2024, CRA made decisions on 327,100 disability tax credit certificates and accepted 299,220 of them, about 91%. Mental functions was the largest category, with 146,340 accepted. Walking came next, at 114,300.

Those are certificates a practitioner had already filled in. The harder part is getting that far: knowing you might qualify, and giving your practitioner enough detail to describe your day accurately.

What approval opens up

  • Tax savings each year, and adjustments to up to 10 past years. Estimate them.
  • The Canada Disability Benefit, for ages 18 to 64, up to $204.20 a month from July 2026. Estimate it.
  • A Registered Disability Savings Plan, with government grants and bonds. See what's added.
  • The Child Disability Benefit, for families with an eligible child under 18. See CRA's page.

You never need to pay a share of your refund. Applying is free. Since November 15, 2021, the Disability Tax Credit Promoters Restrictions Act has capped what a promoter can charge for a disability tax credit request: $100 per request, and $100 per tax year for refund requests, adjusted for inflation every five years from December 2025. WiseBenefits doesn't prepare, review or submit anyone's application.

Questions people ask

Can I get the Disability Tax Credit for ADHD, anxiety or depression?

It depends on the effect, not the diagnosis. Conditions like these are assessed under mental functions necessary for everyday life, such as attention, memory, judgment, and regulating behaviour and emotions. It was the largest category CRA approved in 2024.

Does it cost anything to apply?

No. CRA charges nothing to apply. Some practitioners charge a fee to fill in forms. Nobody needs to be paid a share of your refund.

Do I have to reapply every year?

If your approval notice has no expiry date, you don't need to send another application unless CRA asks you to.

What if CRA says no?

You can ask CRA to review the decision and send new medical information, or file a formal objection within 90 days of the date on the notice of determination.

Who fills in the form?

You fill in Part A of Form T2201. A medical practitioner who is allowed to certify your category fills in Part B.

Sources

Checked against these on September 27, 2026. Amounts change every January or July; we recheck them each year.

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