This is what TurboTax had to say:
Having celiac disease is never easy, but with a bit of planning, you can help make tax time easier by claiming a medical expense deduction to help with the costs of gluten free products. If you have been diagnosed by a medical practitioner with celiac disease, you can claim the incremental costs of gluten free products on your income tax return as a medical expense.
Eligible expenses are limited to food items, such as gluten free bread products, muffins & cereals.
What is an incremental cost?
The eligible claim is for any incremental costs you incur - not the full price of gluten-free products.
Defined as the difference of purchasing a non-GF product and the cost of GF-product, the incremental cost is determined by subtracting the non-GF product from the cost of the GF product.
But there are other considerations when determining the eligible claim. For example, only the amount consumed by the person diagnosed with celiac disease is eligible to be claimed as a medical expense. If your spouse eats half the loaf of gluten-free bread, than only half of the incremental cost can be
claimed.
What documents do I need to support this claim?
The following documents are required in order to claim gluten-free products as a medical expense:
- A letter from a medical practitioner confirming that you have celiac disease and requires gluten free products
- A summary of each item purchased during the 12-month period for the expenses are claimed (a helpful tool, provided by TurboTax, to help you track your expenses is below!)
- Receipts to support the costs
Click here to download the expense tracker spreadsheet.
What if I have a gluten-intolerance, but haven’t been diagnosed by a medical
practitioner?
You must be diagnosed by a medical practitioner in order to claim gluten-free products as a medical expense on your income tax return.
For more information on what is an eligible expense, and to determine if you are eligible to claim gluten- free products as a medical expense, please visit the Canada Revenue Agency’s website.
Thanks for sharing! This is really helpful. I was just diagnosed last year and gluten free living can be hard on a budget.
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ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know if there is a minimum dollar value that has to be claimed? For example in order for me to claim any medical expenses it has to be a certain percentage of my income. I can't remember the exact amount but I know that one year I had a couple hundred dollars worth of medical expenses and I couldn't claim it because it wasn't enough. Does this apply to claiming gluten-free items? I'd hate to do all the work of saving receipts and figuring out the amount only to find out that it's not enough to qualify.
ReplyDeleteTo be beneficial, medical expenses should be over 3% of your net income or $2,152.
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Your gluten free items are considered medical expenses and fall under the same category. So you still need to exceed the amount required on income tax for it to be beneficial.
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