The Disability Tax Credit and Form T2201 in Canada

Someone has told you to look into the disability tax credit. You can't just claim it on your return the way you'd claim a donation. A doctor or nurse practitioner first has to fill out a form called the T2201, describing what your impairment stops you from doing, and you have to be approved before any of it comes off your tax. Approval matters more than the credit itself, because it also lets you open a registered disability savings plan and apply for the Canada Disability Benefit.

Key takeaways

• You apply once, on form T2201, and you're approved for a stretch of years rather than for a single return.
• Your application is decided on Part B, which your practitioner fills out. They write down what your impairment stops you from doing on an ordinary day.
• Once you're approved, the credit takes roughly $1,448 off your 2026 federal tax, and your province works out its own on top.
• It's non-refundable, so it can't take your tax below zero. If you can't use it all, a family member who supports you often can.
• Your approval also opens up a registered disability savings plan and the Canada Disability Benefit, so it's worth having even in a year you owe nothing.
• If you were eligible in earlier years and never claimed, you can go back up to ten of them.

What the credit is worth once you're approved

For 2026 you can claim a disability amount of $10,341.¹ You don't receive that as money. Credits like this one are worked out at the lowest federal tax rate, 14% in 2026,² so that takes about $1,448 off the federal tax you owe. If you were under 18 at the end of the year, you can add the supplement for children with disabilities, $6,032, and the two together come to about $2,292.¹

That's the federal half only. Your province charges its own income tax and gives its own credits alongside the federal ones,³ so what actually comes off your final bill is more than the federal figure.

Non-refundable means the credit can bring your tax down to zero and then stop. It won't pay you anything past the tax you actually owed. So if you're living on a disability benefit and you pay little or no income tax, the credit on its own does very little for you that year. Approval still opens up other doors, though, and that's why most people apply regardless.

It can move, though. If you don't need all of it, you can transfer some or all of it to a family member who supports you with at least one of food, shelter and clothing.⁴ That's your spouse or common-law partner, your child or grandchild, your parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece or nephew, or any of those same relations on your partner's side. You claim it for yourself on line 31600. A family member other than your spouse claims it on line 31800, and your spouse or common-law partner claims it on line 32600.⁴

Who qualifies, and what "markedly restricted" means

Eligibility turns on what your impairment does to your daily life, not on what you've been diagnosed with.⁵ You and someone with the same condition can get different answers back, because the question is about effects.

To count as markedly restricted, all three of these have to be true of you:

• You're unable to do the activity, or it takes you three times longer than someone of a similar age without the impairment, even with the right therapy, medication and devices.
• You're like that all or almost all of the time, which is generally read as at least 90%.
• The restriction has lasted, or is expected to last, for a continuous period of at least 12 months.⁵

There are nine categories: walking, mental functions, dressing, feeding, eliminating (bowel or bladder functions), hearing, speaking, vision, and life-sustaining therapy.⁵

The second route is the least well known. If no single category is bad enough on its own for you, two or more significant limitations that you have together at least 90% of the time can be combined, as long as their effect together is equivalent to being markedly restricted in one category.⁵ You can't combine life-sustaining therapy with anything else. It qualifies on its own.

Life-sustaining therapy has its own arithmetic. You'll need it at least two times a week, for an average of at least 14 hours a week, and that time has to come out of your ordinary life.⁶ Figuring out and administering a dose counts. So does keeping the log, setting up and maintaining the equipment, and the time a parent spends doing all of that for a child. Travelling to an appointment doesn't count, and neither does the time a pump takes to deliver the therapy.⁶ If you have Type 1 diabetes, you meet these criteria for 2021 and later years, and your practitioner no longer has to set out the details of your therapy.⁶

If you want to walk your situation through the categories before booking an appointment, you can run your own numbers.

Do you have to be unable to work to qualify?

No. Nothing in the test asks whether you work, what you earn, or how long you've been off sick. It asks what you can and can't do in one of nine everyday categories, and for how much of the time.⁵ You can hold down a full-time job and still be markedly restricted in dressing or in mental functions.

The reverse holds too. If you're approved for Canada Pension Plan disability benefits, or you're drawing workers' compensation, or you hold a private disability policy, none of that means you qualify here.⁷ Those programs each have their own test, and you've been measured against a different one. Being approved somewhere else doesn't decide this one, and neither does holding a job.

That's also why a condition with no outward sign is worth applying on. Mental functions is one of the nine categories, and eligibility rests on what the impairment does to you rather than on its name,⁵ so nobody else has to be able to see it.

Who fills out the T2201, and how it gets sent

The form comes in two halves, and you'll only fill out one of them. Part A is yours. Part B belongs to a medical practitioner, and if you fill it out yourself your application won't be processed.⁸

Which practitioner you need depends on the category you're applying under.⁸

Applying digitally is quicker. You sign in to your Canada Revenue Agency account and start the form there. It asks about you, and about anyone who might claim the credit on your behalf. When you finish, you're given a reference number. You hand that number to your practitioner. It's good for up to 12 months, it works exactly once, and when they finish Part B the form goes in on its own.⁸

Paper still works. You'll need version 23e or 23f of the T2201, and both halves go in the mail. You can't mix them, though. If you send Part A one way and your practitioner sends Part B the other, neither half processes.⁸ You also can't send these forms through the submit-documents section of your account any more.⁹

There are two small things that'll save you time later. If there's any chance you'll transfer the credit, Part A has a space for that family member's details. And an application that goes in before your return is dealt with first, because if you file at the same time, the return sits until the application is settled.⁸

Plenty of people stall right here, because asking a busy doctor to sit down with a government form feels like an imposition. Nobody else can do it for you, though. Your practitioner may charge for it. You pay that fee, but you may be able to claim it back as a medical expense on line 33099 or line 33199.⁴

What approval opens up beyond the tax credit

You can't open a registered disability savings plan until you're approved for the credit, and once that's done, money can go in until the end of the year in which the beneficiary turns 59.¹⁰

The Canada Disability Benefit needs the same approval. You've got to be between 18 and 64, and for July 2026 to June 2027 you can get up to $204.20 a month, calculated against your adjusted family net income. Back payments reach up to 24 months from the day your application arrives, though never to a month before June 2025. From the fall of 2026 there's also a one-time $150 towards what getting approved cost you, and you don't apply for it separately.¹¹

If your child is the one approved, you get the child disability benefit every month alongside the Canada child benefit, up to $3,480 a year, or $290 a month, for each approved child. You don't apply for it. If you're already getting the Canada child benefit and your child is approved, the payments start on their own, and they'll taper once your adjusted family net income passes $82,847.¹²

Those two carry similar initials, and you'll see both shortened the same way. The Canada Disability Benefit is paid to a working-age adult, and the child disability benefit is a top-up on a parent's Canada child benefit.

Can you claim the disability tax credit for past years?

Yes, you can go up to ten years back.⁴ If you were eligible in those years and never claimed the disability amount, you can have those returns reassessed, and what comes back to you arrives as a refund.

The application carries a box asking for your earlier returns to be adjusted automatically. If you tick it, the work happens for you. If you didn't tick it, you can still ask in writing, or change the returns yourself.⁴

How far back you actually get isn't your choice. Your notice of determination names the years you're approved for, and those follow from what your practitioner said about when the effects began.⁷

What your income, your province and your age change

Your income. This moves your answer more than anything else does. A credit that only reduces tax does nothing for you in a year you owed none. In a year you did owe, the same approval is worth about $1,448.¹²

Whose income. A family member who supports you and does have tax to pay can use what you can't.⁴

Your province. Provincial tax and provincial credits are calculated separately from the federal ones,³ so where you live changes the total.

Your age. Being under 18 on the last day of the year adds the supplement.¹ Between 18 and 64 is the window for the Canada Disability Benefit.¹¹ Contributions to a registered disability savings plan stop after the year the beneficiary turns 59.¹⁰

What you already receive. Whether you draw a disability benefit today moves none of this, in either direction.⁷

None of that tells you whether you clear the bar, because that rests on facts only your practitioner can describe. You get the answer in a notice of determination, which says whether you're approved and for which years.⁷

Why an application comes back denied

The decision comes down to what your practitioner wrote in Part B.⁷ If your practitioner names the condition but not what it stops you from doing, there's nothing for an assessor to approve.

The 90% line is the second common reason. You can have a condition that comes and goes, that is genuinely disabling, and still not meet a test written around how much of the time you're restricted.

Then there are the mechanical ones. If you send Part A digitally and your practitioner sends Part B on paper, neither half processes.⁸ Nor will one sent through the submit-documents section of your account, which no longer accepts them.⁹

Approval isn't permanent. It runs for a period, and you don't send a new form each year unless that period ends or you're asked for one. You do have to say if your condition improves and you no longer meet the criteria.⁷

A denial after all of that lands hard, and it isn't the end of it. Your notice of determination sets out why. People who get one usually check it against their copy of the form and then write to their tax centre asking for a review, with any medical information that hasn't already gone in. A formal objection is the other option.⁷

Two different reasons people apply

Most people who already pay income tax are after the credit itself, because that same $1,448 a year off a federal bill is real money and it comes back every year they stay approved.

Most people living on a disability benefit with little or no tax to pay land somewhere else. The credit does nothing for them in a year they owe nothing, and they apply anyway, because the Canada Disability Benefit and a registered disability savings plan both need the approval first.

Parents usually arrive through the child disability benefit, which turns up monthly whether or not anyone in the house owes tax.

None of that settles your own case. Yours turns on what your practitioner writes down, and they can only describe what they know about your ordinary days.

?

Common questions

Do you need a specific diagnosis to qualify for the disability tax credit?+

No. Eligibility is based on the effects of an impairment rather than on the condition itself, so two people with the same diagnosis can get different decisions. It comes down to what you can't do, or what takes you three times longer, and for how much of the time.

Can you get the disability tax credit if you work full time?+

Yes. Nothing in the test asks about work or income. It asks about walking, mental functions, dressing, feeding, eliminating, hearing, speaking, vision, or life-sustaining therapy, and whether you're restricted all or almost all of the time.

Does being approved for CPP disability mean you will get the disability tax credit?+

No. Canada Pension Plan disability benefits, workers' compensation and private disability insurance each use their own test, and being approved for one of them doesn't mean you're eligible for this credit. You still have to apply on form T2201.

Does Type 1 diabetes qualify for the disability tax credit?+

Yes. For 2021 and later years, people with Type 1 diabetes meet the life-sustaining therapy criteria, and a medical practitioner no longer has to set out the details of the therapy on the form.

Do you have to reapply for the disability tax credit every year?+

No. Approval runs for a set period, named in your notice of determination, and you don't send a new form each year unless that period has expired or you're asked for one. You do have to tell them if your condition improves and you no longer meet the criteria.

What happens if you owe no tax at all?+

The credit itself is worth nothing to you in that year, because it can only reduce tax you actually owed. You can transfer some or all of it to a family member who supports you, and the approval still lets you open a registered disability savings plan and apply for the Canada Disability Benefit.

Further reading

• A Good Lifeby Al Etmanski🍁 Canadian

  The Canadian thinking that produced the registered disability savings plan, and a much wider view of what the money is for.

Sources

1. CRAIndexation adjustment for personal income tax and benefit amounts: disability amount $10,341 and supplement for children with disabilities $6,032 for 2026. Accessed 2026-09-02.
2. CRACurrent year tax rates and income brackets (2026): the lowest federal rate is 14%. Accessed 2026-09-02.
3. CRAProvincial and territorial tax and credits for individuals: provincial credits apply in addition to federal ones, and Quebec administers its own. Accessed 2026-09-02.
4. CRAClaiming the disability tax credit: transferring the credit, who counts as a supporting family member, lines 31600, 31800 and 32600, the medical practitioner's fee, claiming for the past 10 years, and the year-by-year amounts. Accessed 2026-09-02.
5. CRADisability tax credit: who is eligible. The marked restriction test, the nine categories, and the cumulative effect of significant limitations. Accessed 2026-09-02.
6. CRALife-sustaining therapy eligibility: at least 2 times a week, an average of at least 14 hours a week, what counts toward the hours, and Type 1 diabetes from 2021. Accessed 2026-09-02.
7. CRAGuide RC4064, Disability-Related Information: other disability benefits do not decide eligibility, approval runs for a period, and what to do if the application is denied. Accessed 2026-09-02.
8. CRAHow to apply for the disability tax credit: the two parts, which practitioner certifies which category, the digital reference number, form versions 23e and 23f, and applying before you file. Accessed 2026-09-02.
9. CRADisability tax credit (DTC): applications may no longer be sent through the submit-documents section of a CRA account. Accessed 2026-09-02.
10. CRARegistered disability savings plan rules: the plan is for someone approved for the disability tax credit, and contributions may be made until the end of the year the beneficiary turns 59. Accessed 2026-09-02.
11. ESDCCanada Disability Benefit: eligibility requires approval for the disability tax credit and an age between 18 and 64; the maximum is $204.20 a month for July 2026 to June 2027; back payments run up to 24 months from the date of application and never before June 2025; and a one-time $150 supplemental payment starts in fall 2026. Accessed 2026-09-02.
12. CRAChild disability benefit: up to $3,480 a year, or $290 a month, for each child eligible for the disability tax credit, reduced above an adjusted family net income of $82,847. Accessed 2026-09-02.

Educational, not financial advice. Figures verified against primary sources on the date shown.

See it in a story: "The Help She Didn't Know to Ask About," where Joanne almost leaves a monthly top-up unclaimed because nobody had mentioned it. For how the rate that sets this credit's value fits together with everything else you pay, see Canadian tax brackets by province, or browse the whole taxes hub.