The Top 5 Reasons the CRA denies Disability Tax Credit Applications #3
Reason #3: The application is incomplete
The Disability Tax Credit application on the surface appears to be quite simple. The individual applying provides their name, address, date of birth, social insurance number, and telephone number in Part A.
Part B of the form is completed by your doctor or nurse practitioner. Depending on the category, a specialist such as an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, psychiatrist, or audiologist may complete your application. If the qualified practitioner happens to miss a question or fails to indicate which category you are applying under the application will be denied. There are 10 different categories that can be selected.
The first category is Vision, and seven of the remaining categories are concerned with what the CRA refers to as “Marked Restrictions”:
Speaking
Hearing
Walking
Eliminating
Feeding
Dressing
Mental Functions necessary for everyday life.
The ninth category is Life Sustaining Therapy and the tenth, and likely the most misunderstood category is the Cumulative effect of significant restrictions. (More about this category in my next blog)
The doctor is required to answer “yes” that the patient meets the criteria to one or more of the categories. Surprisingly a large number of applications are submitted with all of the categories marked as “no” – not applicable or simply left blank. It should come as no surprise that this results in a denied application.
The doctor is also required to provide examples of your impairments in the “Effects of Impairment” section. Quite often a doctor will only provide a diagnosis and fail to go into any details as to how your disability manifests in your daily activities. If only a diagnosis is provided the application will be denied.
Also required is information on the duration of the impairment, whether or not the impairment has or is likely to improve, which years they have been the attending medical practitioner and if they have medical information on file supporting the restriction for all the years certified. If any of these questions are left unanswered the application can be denied.
If the doctor has only been the attending practitioner for the current year they must be able to produce medical records to substantiate the prior years. In a case where the doctor does not have past medical records the CRA may approve the current year but will not approve the prior years for the credit.
As a Disability Tax Credit Advisor all of my clients’ applications are thoroughly checked for errors and omissions. We either return the application to the client or directly to the qualified practitioner to be completed as the situation requires. Only when the application is complete and the information is verified is it submitted to the CRA for consideration.
Contact us today to set up a free consultation, and allow us to use our expertise to assist you through this application process. Keep an eye out for the next installment in this five part blog series.