Family caregiver amount (FCA)

The family caregiver amount is a non-refundable tax credit that’s designed to help Canadians who take care of dependants with an impairment in physical or mental functions. Depending on the age of the dependant, you might be able to claim either:

In order to claim this tax credit, your dependant must be:

  • 18 years of age or older and dependent on you because of an impairment in physical or mental functions or
  • a child under 18 years of age, with a prolonged and indefinite impairment in physical or mental functions and he or she must be dependent on you for assistance in personal needs and care (when compared to children of the same age).

Note: You might be asked by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to provide a signed statement from a medical doctor about the impairment, unless they have an approved T2201: Disability tax credit certificate already on file for your dependant.

 

Family caregiver amount for an infirm child under 18

To help parents care for a child with an impairment, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) allows you to claim an additional amount for your or your spouse’s or common-law partner's children who:

  • are under 18 years of age at the end of the year
  • lived with both of you throughout the year and
  • have an impairment in physical or mental function

Only one claim per child is allowed; and either you and your spouse can decide who'll make the claim. If you’re making this claim for more than one child, either you or your spouse can claim this amount for all eligible children or you can each claim separate children, as long as each child is claimed only once.

If the child didn’t live with both of you throughout the year, the parent who claims the amount for an eligible dependant can also claim this amount. This is also true if you have joint custody of your child. If, however, you have joint custody of your child and you and your ex-spouse can’t agree on who will claim the amount, neither one of you can make this claim. 

 

Where do I claim this?

FCA for infirm children under 18 or an eligible dependant:

H&R Block’s tax software automatically calculates and adds this amount to your return based on the information you’ve entered on your return.

If you’re preparing your return together with your spouse or common-law partner, the software applies the tax credit to the spouse with the higher income. You can choose to have the lower income spouse claim this amount on the Credits and claims page under the OPTIMIZATION icon on the WRAP-UP tab.  

FCA for a spouse or common-law partner:

If you and your spouse are preparing your returns together, H&R Block’s tax software automatically claims this amount for you if your spouse’s net income was less than $13,595 for the year and they indicated on their return that they suffered from an impairment or disability during the year. Follow these steps when preparing your spouse’s return:

  1. On the PREPARE tab, click the OTHER icon.

  2. Navigate to the Special situations page. You’ll find yourself here: 

    Special_situations_EN_final.png

    Select Yes to the question Did you suffer from a mental or physical disability in 2016? If you did, would you like to claim the disability tax credit? and the question that follows it, Has this mental or physical disability lasted for at least 12 consecutive months?.

If you and your spouse are not preparing your returns together, follow these steps on your return:

  1. On the PREPARE tab, click the OTHER icon.

  2. Navigate to the Amounts from {Spouse’s} 2016 return page. You’ll find yourself here:Amounts_from_spouse_EN.png

  3. Answer Yes to the question, Is {Spouse} suffering from a prolonged physical or mental infirmity?

 

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