Helping Canadian Disabled Community Communicate

[Christina_D]

I am puzzled about the 'Disability Tax Credit' , if someone can explain this please?

According to this CRA reference page : http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/tchncl/n...f1-c2-eng.html

"The disability tax credit is a non-refundable tax credit that provides tax relief for individuals who have a severe and prolonged impairment in physical or mental functions by providing a credit against Part I taxes payable"

And then on the same page further down, it states the following:

"The base amount is available to any individual who is an eligible person with a disability for purposes of the Act. It is a fixed amount that is indexed each year in accordance with subsection 117.1(1). For 2014, the fixed amount is $7,766 which means that the basic disability tax credit for the 2014 tax year is $1,165 (15% x $7,766)."


Unless I am reading it wrong, but isn't that a contradiction? In the first paragraph, it is stating that this is a 'non-refundable tax credit' which to my understanding means that it will simply lower the taxes someone owes. But in the second paragraph, it sounds like the DTC is a tax credit and that you get a refund for it.

So which one is it?


-Assuming a family member is eligible for the DTC and it's claimed by me for tax purposes. And let us assume for all of 2014, I have paid $8000in taxes, does that mean I will get $1165 (see calculation above) in tax refund?

[taxguru]

All taxpayers can claim a basic non-refundable tax credit for their income tax, known as the personal amount. It is adjusted annually to allow for inflation and other factors. In 2014, the personal amount for federal taxes was $11,138 and the personal amount for Ontario taxes was $11,305.


The amounts allowed, for example the basic personal amount, transform into tax credits at the rate of 15% for the federal authorities and 18% for Ontario. These tax credits help reduce the taxes payable.

[taxguru]

Please keep in mind if DTC claimed every year it will be calculated against tax payable, and the DTC will apply against tax owing.