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Which dental expenses can I claim on my return?

by TurboTax•5• Updated 3 days ago

Certain dental expenses are included in the CRA’s list of eligible medical expenses that can be claimed on your tax return. You can claim eligible expenses within any 12-month period ending in the year of your return, as long as the expenses haven’t been previously claimed.

According to the CRA, eligible expenses include:

  • Dental services paid to a medical practitioner
  • Dentures and dental implants (no certification or prescription required)
  • Orthodontic work paid to a medical practitioner or dentist
  • Premiums paid to private dental plans, if at least 90% of the premiums were paid for eligible medical expenses

Expenses for purely cosmetic procedures aren’t eligible.

For the 2024 tax year, you can claim your total amount of eligible medical expenses minus the lesser of $2,759 or 3% of your net income. These expenses mustn't have been reimbursed, to you or anyone else. Except it's OK if the reimbursement was included in someone else’s income and wasn’t deducted elsewhere on their return. 

Enter your dental expenses into TurboTax the same way you’d enter other medical expenses. Before beginning, make sure you've entered all your income info, as TurboTax will use these details to automatically calculate the minimum medical expenses you need to enter and determine your eligibility for claiming a deduction.

  1. Answer the initial Personal info and Tax profile interview questions if you haven't already. This unlocks the Tax home screen
  2. From the Tax home screen, under Add to your return, enter medical and select Medical Expenses Profile.
  3. At the Your Medical Profile screen, select all checkboxes that apply, then continue.
  4. At the Medical Expenses screen:
    • TurboTax will display the minimum amount of eligible medical expenses required to generate a tax benefit.
    • If you're eligible medical expenses are less than the minimum amount displayed by TurboTax:
      • Select Done, as there aren't enough expenses to generate a tax credit.
      • Otherwise, select Enter New Medical Expense.
  1. At the Medical Expenses screen:
    • Select +Add Medical Receipt #1.
    • Fill out the Medical Expenses Receipt form.
    • Select Enter New Medical Expense, repeating this step until all receipts are entered.
    • At the Medical Expense Summary screen, review your expenses and select Done With Medical Expenses.
    • At the Medical Expense Claim screen, select Yes and continue.
  1. At the Medical Expenses screen, under Enter Medical Expenses Total Amount enter the total amount of the medical receipts and continue.
  2. At the Medical Expense Summary screen, review your expenses and select Done With Medical Expenses.
  3. At the Medical Expense Claim screen, for Do you want to claim the medical expenses? select Yes and continue.

Input eligible receipts, either individually or in a single amount, directly in the Medical Expense form, and then complete either (or both) the:

  • Dependent Information worksheet
  • Medical Expense worksheet
  1. Select Find from the TurboTax menu, enter medical in the Find window, select Medical expenses profile from the list of results, then Go.
  2. At the Your medical profile screen, select all the checkboxes that apply, then continue.
  3. At the Medical expenses screen:
    • TurboTax will display the minimum amount of eligible medical expenses required to generate a tax benefit.
    • If the eligible medical expenses are less than the minimum amount displayed by TurboTax, select Done, as there aren't enough expenses to generate a tax credit.
  4. Otherwise, select Enter Expenses on return, and prepare to enter your expenses
  1. At the Medical Expenses screen, fill out the form, then select Enter Expenses on return, repeating this step until all receipts are entered.
  2. Select Done.
  1. At the Medical Expenses screen, fill out the form once by entering the total amount of the medical receipts.
  2. Select Done.
  3. At the Medical expense summary screen, review your information, and if more needs to be added, repeat the above steps.
  4. Once completed, select Done With Medical Expenses.

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