My wife lived in Canada throughout 2021 as she waited for her Permanent Residency to be processed. Her income was $0. On whose taxes should we claim our medical expenses?

[TurboTaxSusan · Accepted solution]

The medical expense tax credit is a non-refundable tax credit that you can use to reduce the tax that you paid or may have to pay. It can’t be used to generate or increase a refund. So, if you don’t have any taxes payable, you will not get the credit.  

As your wife’s income is $0, she will not have any taxes owning, so the medical expenses should be claimed by you.

Medical expenses can be claimed in a 12-month period with the final month ending in the tax year you are filing. So, you may be able to claim your unused expenses next year, if you can’t use them this year.

[Skanes]

This is exactly the advice I received when speaking with another TurboTax Tax Expert on a call. Thanks so much for the reply, I feel even more confident now about how I filed my taxes.