Optimize medical expenses
The Medical Expense form automatically shares information between coupled returns. To optimize medical expenses, answer Yes to the question Optimize medical expenses? at the top of the form. ProFile will determine which taxpayer should claim the deduction at lines 330 and 331, according to the lowest net income (as long as the taxpayer can claim all expenses).
Note: The Optimize medical expenses? question only displays for coupled returns.
Manually split medical expenses
Medical expenses will be optimized to claim only enough medical expenses to reduce the tax payable to zero. If the lower income spouse only needs a small portion of the expenses to reduce his or her taxes payable to zero, using all the medical expense credit will not be of any benefit.
In this situation, the medical expenses can be split between spouses. Medical expenses must exceed 3% of net income or $2,152 before they produce a tax credit. If splitting them between spouses results in one of you not reaching the threshold, then this should be claimed on one return. If transferring medical expenses, either transfer the full amount, or a percentage.
To manually decide which spouse should claim the deduction:
On the question Are you claiming medical expenses, select either Yes, No, or Percentage.
- If No is selected, 100% of the claim will go to the spouse.
- If Percentage is selected, the claim can be split between spouses.
Note: If answering No to the question Optimize medical expenses? at the top of the form, it is also necessary to answer the question Are you claiming medical expenses for this dependant? for each of the taxpayer's other dependants.