FAQs

If you are submitting a profile form online, generally we will contact you by telephone within a few days and discuss your situation in detail. Depending on the availability of information that we need, it is usually possible to give you a preliminary indication of what tax credits or refunds you are missing during this conversation or shortly after.

TaxWise has found disability/medical conditions tax credits and/or medical expense deductions for a good percentage of qualified applicants. Who is most likely to benefit can be found here. For most applicants this has been worth $3000 - $10,000. You or a family member have a very good chance of finding out you are eligible for significant tax refunds or credits. There are many factors to consider you may not be aware of.

Yes. Your tax review will include what your options are as well as guidelines about engaging our firm to take care of everything for you. We are able to maximize results due to our experience and expertise. Our contingency fee is based only on successful outcomes and of course does not include any credits or refunds you are already getting. There are no up front costs of any kind. All future benefits are yours alone and we take no fee going forward. After you engage our services it generally takes three to six months for CRA to process your file.

Since Tax Wise can only submit a claim to CRA for reassessment based on the data you (and others involved such as your family) provide us, it is in the best interests of all parties to provide accurate data and situational information.

In all cases the only risk is in not making the effort. The worst that can happen is that you end up in the same tax situation you are now.

Generally a tax review costs hundreds of dollars up front - if you can find someone with the expertise - and then there is no guarantee you will get positive results. TaxWise removes that risk and cost completely.

If we find refunds and/or deductions you are entitled to and you take the next step of engaging us to prepare and submit your claims to CRA we cannot guarantee they will accept any claims but the effort and cost is ours. If for some reason CRA does not accept your claim (as submitted by TaxWise or yourself) this does not in any way make you vulnerable for future action or reassessments by CRA. Obviously we would not submit any claim we did not think was valid. In all cases the truth prevails.

The online application forms are encrypted and stored in a secure environment. The toll free fax # and client letters are accessed only by designated personnel. No one else but the people performing your tax review will have access to your file and we routinely delete personal files and of course will do so on a request basis as well. You can call us at any time and talk about your situation. We have been helping individuals and small business reduce taxes for over 30 years.

According to Statistics Canada in a self assessing survey, as of March 2003, there were over 3,400,000 disabled people in Canada or 14.6% of the population. 5.9% of the population classified themselves as severely disabled or infirm. This represents about 1,400,000 adults (over 15) who are likely to qualify for a Disability Tax Credit Certificate. Compare this to how many are now receiving the DTC. According to a news release by Finance Canada on Disability Tax Credit Proposals, (November 29, 2002) the DTC currently provides $400 million per year to about 450,000 eligible Canadians suffering from a severe and prolonged mental or physical impairment, the effects of which markedly restrict their ability to perform a basic activity of daily living.

When you include family members or support providers who are financially supporting a person with a disability/medical conditions and who may qualify for transferable credits or refunds, and the fact that children also qualify for the DTC (then transferred to a parent) the number grows quickly.

We have integrated our own research activities and personal experience with the above numbers to establish the figure of at least 1 million people (including family members and support providers) who have not maximized their disability/medical conditions tax credits or medical expense deductions. We also think that this is a conservative estimate.

As well, there are very few tax specialists in this often complex area and most tax reduction efforts do not diligently cross-reference tax regulations with personal circumstances to establish all possible tax breaks - of which there are many. So most people are forced to make assumptions about their tax situation based on superficial opinions and hearsay. Yes, our free tax review performs this cross reference for you.

Add to this the fact that recent legislation and numerous successful appeals and challenges in the tax courts have considerably broadened allowable medical expenses and qualifications for disability/medical conditions tax credits. Most people are unaware of what recent changes will benefit them. That there are increased opportunities is substantiated by the increased funding the Government of Canada has earmarked in recent federal budgets to cover future claims.

Disability tax credits are non refundable (they only reduce taxes paid) so if you have no income or low income or are on social assistance (resulting in low or no income tax owing) you may think TaxWise cannot help you. This is not necessarily true. Due to criteria such as potential transferability to a spouse or supporting family member and retroactive claims you should still complete the application forms and let us sort things out. If you meet the medical qualifications don't hesitate.

Almost 50% of eligible tax credits we find people are eligible for are transferable to family members. Our review includes all family members who share the financial burden.

In some cases we include current year and past year preparation of tax returns. A special case exists for those who have not filed tax returns for a number of years and may be qualified for disability/medical conditions tax credits or medical expense deductions. If your analysis is favourable with respect to real tax savings our service will evaluate on a case-by-case basis the need to complete tax returns including one for the current year.

We are asking your cooperation to please review all of the information on this site and the forms themselves before calling us for help. If you have done that then by all means give us a call. Thank you for your cooperation.

This usually happens when someone has a low or no income level or extenuating circumstances have occurred - which are certainly understandable. We have helped numerous people in this situation. If you think you may qualify for disability/medical conditions tax credits complete the forms as best as you can and submit them to us. It is important to include your support providers in the tax review. You may want to ask them to look at this information and give us a call to discuss the situation. We will help you if we can. Likely we will need to contact you for more information.

The bottom line is that in most cases you should get your free tax review so you know whether or not it is in your best financial interests to apply for a DTC.

Can we help you with this?
In the end it is the medical practitioner under whose care you are who will decide if you qualify. Here are a few things to think about. Due to recent legislation and successful challenges in the tax courts, many more individuals than previously are now eligible for disability/medical conditions or medical tax credits or deductions. The DTC has recently been revised to help facilitate these changes and to avoid previous grey areas that sometimes made it difficult to provide a definitive assessment of what defined disability/medical conditions relative to tax legislation. These are positive changes. So if you think you may qualify as a person with a disability/medical conditions do not hesitate to proceed. As well, second opinions may be appropriate for those who have not qualified for some reason they truly think is unfair or wrong.

We will coach you through the best approaches (for your situation) to obtaining a DTC if you engage our services. To review a list of what may qualify for a DTC go here.

Situations that do not need a DTC
Other medical and attendant care expenses incurred by the disabled person(s) or their spouse, immediate family, and/or caregiver may be tax deductible and/or transferable. Our analysis covers all of these situations so your caregivers or spouse certainly do not need a DTC in these situations-only you do. Often medical expenses are eligible for tax deductions and this has nothing to do with disability/medical conditions tax credits.

If you currently have a valid Disability Tax Credit Certificate (DTC) and are receiving disability/medical conditions tax credits every year you need to decide if, due to low income, some of these credits or medical expenses could be legitimately transferred to a spouse or family member since you are not able to take advantage of all that is allowed due to your low income. Our analysis will do this as well.

Remember that this free review is specifically for people who are not sure if they have received all the disability/medical conditions tax credits and/or deductions that they are entitled to. TaxWise exists to dispel any uncertainty that you are missing any tax credits and to help you take action to maximize results.