Understanding the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) in Canada with Annie and Gordon VanderLeek

In this episode, Valerie continues her conversation with estate planning lawyer Gordon VanderLeek and disability advocate Annie VanderLeek about an important support available to Canadian families raising children with disabilities: the Disability Tax Credit (DTC).

Gordon is the founder of VanderLeek Law, and Annie leads the firm’s Disability Advocates division, helping families navigate disability-related programs and supports.

Together they explain what the DTC is, how eligibility is determined, and why this credit can be much more significant than a simple tax reduction.

What is the Disability Tax Credit?

The DTC is a federal program administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. While it can reduce income tax, it also acts as an important gateway to other federal disability supports.

Eligibility is not based on diagnosis alone. Instead, the CRA evaluates how a disability affects a person’s daily functioning.

To qualify, a person must be:

- Markedly restricted in one area of daily living, or

- Significantly restricted in multiple areas

Areas assessed may include walking, hearing, eliminating, mental functioning, and life-sustaining therapy.

Why Documentation Matters

Strong documentation is critical when applying. Helpful records may include:

- Medical and psychological assessments

- School reports or IPPs/IEPs

- Therapy reports

- Historical diagnoses

As Annie emphasizes, keeping documentation helps families clearly demonstrate the real-life impact of a disability.

Challenges in the Application Process

The DTC application requires a medical professional to complete part of the form. Challenges can arise when doctors:

- Do not know the individual well

- Have limited time to complete forms

- Are unfamiliar with certain disabilities

Working with professionals who understand the complexity of disability can make a significant difference.

Retroactive Benefits

One powerful aspect of the DTC is that approval can be retroactive for up to 10 years, depending on when the disability began. This can result in meaningful tax refunds that help offset the additional costs families often face.

Final Advice

Annie’s biggest recommendation for families:

Keep your documentation.
Medical reports, school records, and assessments may become essential when applying for disability supports.

This episode is part of a continuing series exploring financial and legal planning for families raising children with disabilities.

Live with intention - Embrace the journey.

Connect with the VanderLeeks

- Website: vanderleeklaw.ca

- Disability Advocacy Services: disabilityadvocates.ca

· https://facebook.com/vanderleeklaw

· https://www.linkedin.com/company/vanderleeklaw

· https://www.instagram.com/vanderleek_law/

Connect with Valerie

info@foreverhomeconsulting.ca

Music Acknowledgement: Audio Coffee - Denys Kyshchuk

Editor: Scott Arbeau

Link for book: The S.H.I.N.E. Principle: The special needs mom's path to strength, hope and happiness by Valerie Arbeau

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CW18ZXGX (Canada)

https://a.co/d/03hFdZI4 (United States)

Learn more about your host at:
https://coachingwithvalerieanne.com/

Transcript

Valerie

 Hello and welcome to this week's episode. As always, it's so great to have you here. We are continuing with a series of the episodes we have recorded with Gordon VanderLeek, who is the founder of VanderLeek Law, estate planning lawyer, disability advocate, and dad to five adopted children, three with long-term disabilities. In part one of our conversation, (it's season two, episode 19), Gordon and I talked about his journey as a special needs dad, how his firm has evolved, and RDSPs known as ABLE accounts in the US.

Valerie

 In part two, (season two, episode 21), we went beyond just put the house in your child's name and examined the structural and governance considerations behind securing a forever home. We will have one more episode after today, and this will be released next month. So watch out for that, because it will be the conclusion to today's episode. So today we have Gordon back with us and his wife, Annie, has joined him. In the fall of 2009,Gordon's law firm established a division named Disability Advocates, which has been led by his wife, Annie. 

Gordon and Annie started the We Advocate podcast in the fall of 2025. And Gord is also the host of the podcast Estates Made Simple, which was launched in 2023.

Valerie

 Today, Gordon and Annie are here with us to discuss a crucial topic in the world of disability supports in Canada, the Disability Tax Credit, otherwise known as DTC. Welcome, Gordon, and welcome, Annie.

[00:02:06:17 - 00:02:11:13]

Gordon

 Thank you. Thank you for having us, well, having us on and having me back.

[00:02:12:13 - 00:02:28:04]

Valerie

 You're so welcome. You are such a wealth of knowledge that I just want our audience to be able to tap into and also point them to your podcast as well, because you have so much information to share in our world of people with disabilities. So, thank you for all that you both do.

[00:02:28:04 - 00:02:38:21]

Gordon

 We're very welcome. And thank you for bringing attention to it. It's a small effort to try to bring some good information to the disability community here in Alberta.

And of course, in some cases, we're talking about issues that are broader, you know, beyond our local jurisdiction, because there's common areas, common concerns when you're parenting a child with a long-term disability.

[00:02:55:05 - 00:03:03:04]

Valerie

 For sure. Before we get into eligibility for this DTC,

Disability Tax Credit, can you clarify what it means? What does the tax disability tax credit actually, what is it actually? And why is it so more significant than just a small tax reduction?

[00:03:17:00 - 00:03:18:02]

Gordon

 Sure.

It's well, first of all, thanks for highlighting it. And I guess for those that are not in Canada, the cue would be you need to look at the maybe federal rules with regard to supports or credits that are in place if you have a disabled family member or child and looking for qualifications for tax credits or other levels of supports.

In Canada, and I guess the first thing to say is this is federal legislation. Each province or territory offers supports to individuals who have long-term disabilities, whether child or adult in Canada, senior services moves to the federal system.

And, you know, in terms of accessing the disability programs for somebody over the age of 65.

[00:04:17:05 - 00:05:20:09]

Gordon

 But in this case, we're focusing on the Disability Tax Credit. And the first distinguishing feature is that it, in fact, is a federal program. Right. So you are applying to Ottawa, if you will, because it's federal legislation. There are rules in place under the Income Tax Act with regard to who qualifies for the disability tax credit and a branch of the federal government administers this program. Currently, the Canada Revenue Agency. So the same place we file our taxes will receive the application for the Disability Tax Credit. And really what it focuses on, as the name suggests, it starts with the word disability. It really focuses on if a Canadian has a long-term disability, they have some criteria to say, well, you would qualify. Now, first and foremost, going back to the last word, it does say the word credit. So normally, the starting position would be, well, you get a credit against taxes, right? So you take your income, you know, less deductions.

And then that's the amount of income which is subject to a rate of tax. And every year in Canada, it's by April 30th. I know it's different dates in the States. It's April 15, but you file your tax returns. And in some cases, it can be very beneficial to say, I have a credit. There are some more rules with regard to who can claim the credit. But just the highlight would be it's a federal program. It's a credit against taxes. I know in another segment that we're going to cover later on, we'll talk a little bit about why it becomes important for other supports that might be in place as well. But fundamentally, it's an application process. It's to the federal government and it gives you a credit against taxes you might otherwise pay so could have some immediate effect in terms of saving the amount of tax that you would be eligible. But maybe as a little bit of a tease for that other discussion.

[00:06:21:18 - 00:06:27:17]

Gordon

 The federal government has this as its criteria for determining who is disabled and who is not, right? So you can understand to say, well, there's millions of Canadians and they at some point have to set a standard to say, well, you qualify or you don't qualify as being eligible for the Disability Tax Credit or the DTC.

And for example, a newly launched program was the Canada Disability Benefit. And no surprise, the federal government goes, well, how do we determine that? Oh, wait a minute, we have our own standard. We have rules in place to determine who's a disabled Canadian and who isn't. And so we're going to make this program eligible for those that qualify for the Disability Tax Credit. 

 So the pathway to these other programs is often on the road called the Disability Tax Credit. So, they can because, of course, each province or territory will have their own rules about eligibility for their local programs. But we're dealing with a different level of government. This is the federal government that is across and which makes sense because it's talking about income tax rules. So, if you get a credit against income tax the way that we are structured in Canada, that is federal jurisdiction. And therefore it's the federal government that creates the rules. And this is applicable across the country. So it becomes very important when accessing other programs such as the newly launched Canada disability benefit to be eligible for the program. And so we'll talk a little later on while it's more than just saving taxes.

[00:08:34:18 - 00:08:59:11]

Gordon

 But the federal government uses this as a criteria for the most part in determining who gets support and who doesn't, who's disabled and who's not. And the rules frustratingly, I think for a lot of parents of children with long term disabilities can be different. Their experience at the local level, you know, can be, you know, at the provincial level, can be different than at the federal level because it's a different test.

[00:09:00:11 - 00:09:52:00]

Valerie

 Right. OK, well, thank you so much for that. So it's a federal program that we have to apply to. They have their criteria, they have their rules. And we just hope that we can get through it and be able to qualify. It's a little nerve wracking. We have done this with both of our children and it. Yeah, it's a little nerve wracking because it's a lot of information to put together to make that application to send it in. 

So, I'm going to direct this next question to Annie. Annie, one of the biggest misconceptions about the DTC is that it's based on diagnosis. So my children, one has cerebral palsy, the other one has ADHD and also is on the spectrum. Actually, they're both on the spectrum. So can you walk us through how CRA, Canada Revenue Agency, actually determines the eligibility and what they're actually looking for?

[00:09:53:02 - 00:10:40:01]

Annie

 Yeah, so it's not necessarily based on a diagnosis because everybody's sort of a little bit different. So, it looks more at is someone markedly restricted? So what does that mean? And it takes someone just longer than the norm and it would be 90 percent of the time. So in one area, it could be that they're markedly restricted in different areas of functioning and the application has different areas like it could be hearing, it could be walking, it could be eliminating, it could be mental functioning, and a number of different ones that they would look at and that you are then markedly restricted because of those areas. And so I do a lot of applications where mental functioning is the one area.

So you have to be able to prove in one area that it basically is there all the time. And otherwise, sometimes people have more than one so that they're significantly restricted. So maybe not quite all the time. Right. But that there's more than one area. So someone could have mental functionings and maybe isn't a wheelchair. So walking is one of the areas. Right. So, then they would be able to show that there's more than one area that they have that they're affected.

And it's changed quite a bit where mental functioning… So if someone has a severe mental illness, then that again is an area that sort of opened up now after the new application came in. And in 2018, there were some changes and that opens it more up, whereas before it's quite difficult to get something if someone was struggling with mental illness. And if somebody has a diagnosis, as an example diabetes, if someone has something where they're they're needing to use, well, life sustaining therapy is what it would be. And so someone with a type one diabetes diagnosis would get it because they have to maintain insulin throughout the day. So because of that, they would also be a yes.

[00:12:07:23 - 00:12:17:06]

Valerie

 Good to know. I hadn't thought about that is a life sustaining treatment that they have to have every day for the rest of their life.

[00:12:17:06 - 00:12:24:09]

Annie

 So yeah, that are diabetes when they need insulin. That would be another one that would be a yeah.

[00:12:25:15 - 00:12:53:19]

Gordon

 Yeah, let me maybe I can jump in to say I think what is interesting about the Disability Tax Credit, as Annie has described, is that it's daily functioning, right? It's how are you working in, you know, how are you functioning in the world? How/what does life look like for you? And are there restrictions, impediments, difficulties that you have in doing life? My words, not the government's words.

[00:13:00:04 - 00:13:38:17]

Which interestingly is a very different test, right? We've talked about, for example, let's compare and contrast against a provincial program. In Alberta, we have the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped. Different provinces have different programs by different names. But this is where the provincial government says we want to help citizens of our province or territory who are struggling or are not able to support themselves. So, you know, this is a program that says if you can't work, then we'll give you this monthly stipend and other benefits on there. So to compare, to clarify what it is, that is looking at your ability to support yourself kind of employability, if you will. Can you work is sort of the hallmark or the test. If you look at it from a legal perspective, what is the test for qualification for this program?

But that's different than the Disability Tax Credit right, Annie? It's looking at how do you function in life as you give an examples of, you know, you're in a wheelchair. Well, you might be able to work. Right. And just because you can work says, well, I'm not going to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit because I can work. Well, no, that's not the test. Right.

[00:14:16:17 - 00:14:54:07]

Maybe the macro point out of all this and then Annie maybe you can respond to that or clarify, is when you're looking at different support systems, and this would be applicable for your listeners wherever they are located anywhere in the world. Right. There maybe you got to investigate and say, what has my government put in place because I have a disabled loved one that I'm a caregiver or I'm a parent or I'm a guardian. If I'm looking after this person, what is the government doing by way of supports and recognizing, I think very typically, there's multifaceted tests and they all have different rules.

Looking at it from a legal perspective, they have different qualification standards. Sometimes we'll say that's the test. What test do you have to meet in order to get a passing grade to be able to be eligible for that program? Right. So you've got to make this application and the application is asking questions that are based on the criteria. So if you go back and look at the enacting legislation, it will say, well, these type of people are eligible for this type of support.

So that becomes the legal test. And it's interesting that part of Annie's experience and I think her skill set is that she's gotten very good at understanding each program is looking for different things. So it's almost you have to tell the story based on the criteria because you're perhaps emphasizing the lived experience of that person as it relates to the test. Because the person sitting behind the desk evaluating the application has been trained to say, well, these are our criteria. We help these type of people, but not these type of people. You know, a simple example might be, well, we help people between the ages of 18 and 65, 18 being the legal age, you know, for adulthood in Alberta. It could be different in different provinces or different jurisdictions. Right. So we do adult services. Well, if somebody applies and the person is over 65, well, then they would reject the application. You're not eligible because those are the rules. You got to look at the test for that. So I think that's an important criteria, even if you go, well, I don't live in Alberta, so I'm going to tune out. I'd say pause a minute if you're listening at this point, and say what's important is to understand what the rules are. And if you're the one applying, you need to position your application based on the understanding of what the rules are. Now, I've talked for a bunch, Annie, so you can fill in some of the details on that or as it relates to the Disability Tax Credit.

[00:16:52:07 - 00:17:50:07]

Annie

 Well, I think some of the difficulty is because you have to somehow show that you're markedly restricted. Right. And so I think some of the challenges we have, you know, I'll do applications for someone who it's hard to sort of document some of the struggles that people have. So pain is an example. Right. I have applications that I've done where someone has a very difficult time doing things because the pain factor, that's a hard thing to get into to really be able to describe, or have enough paperwork to sort of describe that. So someone who struggles a lot with pain has to really sort of have backup material because that is harder to sort of show. So documentation is a very important thing to be able to back up sort of what you're trying to show and how you're restricted, whether that's significantly or markedly.

[00:17:51:19 - 00:18:39:07]

Valerie

 Yes. I love the point that you bring up, the fact that documentation, you need to support your application. That's what I'm hearing. Yeah. And with our youngest, I remember digging back, I'm so glad I kept all the reports from the various psychologists that they'd seen. They probably had about six of them, different ones over their school years. But I did keep a lot of those reports and I was able to add that to my application when I sent it in. But you're right. And even down to ADHD, how do you quantify that? How do you objectively measure that sometimes? And so, yeah, so that's what I did. And I remember it would be about this thick, what I actually sent in. And I just kept thinking the more they have, the better. The more they have, the better.

[00:18:39:07 - 00:18:58:10]

Annie

 Yeah, very true. And we always laugh in the office. I love paper because I believe that I want them to really have to look at the package before they even open it up saying, oh, there must be a lot here. Right? Because of the stack of paper that there is. So to me, just saying to any parent, don't throw away any documentation. Like as much as we don't like, or scan it in or something so that you always have some of the backup stuff because you will need it for a lot of the different things you're going to apply for. You want to have all of that material to back up to help tell the story. Right? Where maybe one document itself doesn't, maybe isn't strong enough for something like ADHD as an example. But if you have a number of different things where you're showing IPPs that are also showing sort of the difficulty and how it's hard to do sort of the regular things in a classroom. Right? That helps to back up what you're saying about being significantly restricted as an example. Right? And I think that it shows that the teachers need to have a lot of extra time because of some of the struggles. So that's what you're trying to put together the documentation to help with that.

[00:19:58:17 - 00:20:07:14]

Valerie

 Absolutely. Yes, I agree. And certainly, in our case was very helpful that I had all those and incidentally, I did put in the IPPs as well.

All right. So, the application process.

Annie, once someone believes that they qualify, what does the application process actually look like? Because I know this is what you do. You spend a large amount of your time helping people with their application. And where do people most often run into trouble?

[00:20:28:03 - 00:20:37:07]

Annie

 Well, sometimes you need a doctor who sort of knows you well enough. And because we're looking at the, again, activities of daily living, does a doctor for sure know you well enough to be able to fill those things in? So that's one of the things sometimes that there's a struggle a little bit.

It opens the door a little bit like a psychologist could do it. So sometimes you're having someone do a further assessment and that sort of helps them to know you a little bit more. So again, you want a very good one, but it's a big application. It's like 16 pages. So, a doctor doesn't always sort of want to do it.

But the more time they sort of spend in, the more writing that they put in it, the better it is, because that helps to document what some of the struggles are.

 Again, backing it up with other documentation, like just sending in the Disability Tax Credit application on its own isn't a very good application. You want to be able to back it up with other things so that you can show the length of time that something's been there. Again, we joked about the amount of paper.

[00:21:43:11 - 00:22:15:05]

Annie

 My vision of the person who initially gets the application is someone sitting in a cubicle who probably doesn't know a lot about disability and has been told, this is what you look for. This is a yes. This is a no. Well, I want that person to say, hmm, I'm not really sure I want it to go to a supervisor. That's where I want it to go because I want the other additional documentation along with so that it actually goes up the chain a little bit so that it is somebody who really understands disability because if it was just by the check marks, lots of times people get turned down because of that.

[00:22:20:15 - 00:22:59:23]

Gordon

Can I add to that, Annie? I think, you know, some of our experience over the years and get you to comment on this, that, you know, the form is kind of check a box, right? There's different questions and they got little square boxes and check yes no kind of binary questions. And I think in your experience also, there probably needs to be some better training for doctors because sometimes they misunderstand the question. So some of your experience and just even the advocacy to the physicians who are filling this out, because they may have certain assumptions. And it fleshed that out a little bit as part of the application process. 

[00:22:59:23 - 00:23:27:17]

Annie

 Well, I think the new form has helped because it's actually has more information. The old form was not good. It was kind of a yes or no. So it was hard for a doctor to mark off significantly restricted because it was almost like the person couldn't do anything, which is not necessarily the case. And so this form does have more sort of areas. So it's better as far as what they're able to do.

And it does allow them to say that, you know, there, isn't something that's necessarily going to assist in making that better, that it is going to be there all the time. That helps to get a yes for it. And so that the new application has helped a lot.

And, but again, I just think there needs to be a lot of backup to it in order to make sure that you can do it in order to, to assist with it really showing that, that the person qualifies.

[00:23:58:19 - 00:24:56:14]

Valerie

 I know for myself, I've done this in the past where I've actually filled out forms for the doctors. So sometimes I can just get a signature at the end of it. Now, obviously something like this, the Disability Tax Credit form would need the doctor to be writing in. But what I have done is sort of sent an additional, like a supplemental piece of paper with information on that they can kind of transcribe onto the form. Because as you say, doctors tend not to have a whole amount of time to fill in these forms. And some of them, especially we just recently changed doctors because ours had moved to a different practice. So then they, they don't have a history with us. So, in those cases, that's when I found it helpful to sort of either sit with the doctor to fill out the form if they have that kind of time, depending on the form, or have that supplemental sheet of paper, which will have the information for them just to kind of transcribe.

[00:24:56:14 - 00:25:21:19]

Annie

 Even if you've had an assessment done, like a psychological assessment done at a different period of time, that even helps for the doctor to look through something initially so that they sort of have an idea. So that when they're sitting down with the individual that they have more of an idea of what they're looking for and, whether they can back up what they've read about, right?

 The problem is sometimes it is going in between appointments. It's, you know, they need a longer appointment in order to be able to do this form because it is longer. So you got to make sure to say that.

But that helps a doctor to do it. Lots of doctors don't want you filling it in ahead of time. I know that there's other parents too, but I think it's better to have a supplemental sheet to sort of help them to have the information so that they're filling it in.

Sometimes they'll just sit and talk to you as a parent about them first so that they would have a better idea too. So, I think the struggle is sometimes someone looks really good and just by seeing them, you would never know that they have a disability. So again, you want a doctor who does really understand disability to also do it. I think one of the challenges for a lot of people is that they don't necessarily have a physician, right? And then who fills in the form, right? So, I think that's the challenge sometimes is how do they actually get their story across?

 And are they able to sort of talk to a doctor about it? If they don't have somebody sort of to assist, I have people who have a challenge being able to know, what do I tell the doctor? So that's sometimes the challenge that stands in the way for someone with a disability.

[00:26:47:01 - 00:27:03:24]

Valerie

 Yes. We did have a challenge with one of our doctors who had been a family doctor for a few years and it was just interesting. This was a doctor that was not a parent and just didn't get the ADHD, ASD piece.

So they looked at my child, my youngest child and saw a bright child. This kid is bright, but they did not understand the nuances of living with someone with ADHD, and somebody that's on the spectrum, and the masking piece and all of that. My child is very much an advocate for themselves. We've taught them that from being young. And so they were able to speak well, to advocate for themselves. But this doctor just didn't believe the limitations, the functional limitations that our child had. So it was very difficult to get her to fill out any forms.

So speaking about that, I guess I don't know if this is something that you run into, Annie. Do you advocate for your families to find someone else to fill out those forms if they're running into that problem?

[00:27:54:07 - 00:28:59:21]

Annie

 Yes. If somebody doesn't have a doctor, or if their doctor doesn't sort of understand disability for sure, right? Looks at what they see and then doesn't understand the complexity underneath, I think that's definitely a problem. So sometimes then we're going to somebody else. Somebody who maybe really understands disability and can ask the right questions and understands that, you know, what you see is not always a true reality. And so the complexity of it, I sometimes think, does make it difficult for a doctor, right? Because if they don't, they only have so much time and if they haven't only seen this person, you know, a few times and haven't dealt a lot with disability, it is hard. The complexity of lots of disabilities are very difficult to sort of understand if you're not either living it or, you know, know other people who've had challenges sort of with their child. Right? So I see where it comes from. Right? So sometimes we are finding a different person.

[00:28:59:21 - 00:29:54:21]

Valerie

 Yes. OK. OK. And one of the other things that I've run into a mom who has two children with a disability is, they're adults now. And we told them about the Disability Tax Credit. And for them, it was just so overwhelming to go through the forms. So, I don't even think that they actually did it. But one of the things that we recognize when we did do it for our oldest and then again for our youngest, that it was retroactive. And so that was 10 years, it goes back 10 years. So we actually did get quite a little bit of a sum for our youngest child when we did put in the application for that child. And so, I think people don't realize that it can be beneficial to help you with the today stuff and just help to offset some of the financial burden that we can sometimes have as a parent of a child with a disability.

[00:29:54:21 - 00:29:57:22]

Annie

 Yes. Yeah. So, the retroactive part is great.

[00:29:57:22 - 00:30:06:14]

Gordon

 Yeah. A couple of things on there. I think, Annie, as part of the documentation, you also want to have clear evidence of when the disability started. In some cases, it's from birth.

[00:30:06:14 - 00:30:07:05]

Valerie

 Yeah.

[00:30:07:05 - 00:30:14:01]

Gordon

 If somebody has Down Syndrome, well, that OK, very clearly that is genetic. It was from day one.

But other disabilities are acquired. There could have been a brain injury as a result of, say, a motor vehicle accident or, somebody is struggling with schizophrenia and it emerged in adult years, not when they were a child.

So knowing when it started will determine how far they're going to go back. But there is a limitation of the 10 years. Right. So it'll be important to look at the documentation to make sure that there's sufficient evidence thatthey will go back if that's part of the application process. But you need the evidence of when it started. Right. Because they're not going to go back before the onset of the disability. So I guess to your friend, the advocacy would be reach out and get help because every year that goes by could be a year that falls off the table.

Assuming the disability is longer than 10 years. Right. Then the sooner you get it in place and even if you go, well, I don't need it right now. To the extent that there's additional costs associated with caring for this loved one, a little bit of extra dollars may go a long way. Right. To putting respite in place, about taking an extra holiday, or just caring for yourself, or for your loved one accessing programs that would improve their quality of life, or setting the money aside in a savings account for that person. Yes.

[00:31:47:00 - 00:32:06:17]

Annie

 So just to clarify, though, the Disability Tax Credit would first be used by the individual themselves. So if they were able to work, then they would use it first and then whatever they couldn't use, then can be used by somebody else, a parent usually, who is then supporting in the area of food, clothing and shelter.

So, yeah, it would be used, though, by the individual first if they were working.

[00:32:13:17 - 00:32:55:03]

Gordon

 Yeah, they're over 18 in that situation. And just to highlight maybe beyond this podcast, there are some very specific rules about how you can transfer and how you can use and or access the Disability Tax Credit and depending on the age of the child. So that's where I think some specific accounting advice as you're preparing your tax return will determine when you can use it and when you can't. And again, that's going to vary for people outside of Canada, those rules will be different. But that's where an accounting professional, somebody who's assisting with the preparation of the tax return can definitely assist in making sure you're completing that properly.

[00:32:55:03 - 00:33:19:02]

Valerie

 Yes. Wow. Well, thank you so much, guys, for introducing us to this topic of the Disability Tax Credit, because it's a huge topic. We will be recording another session to cover some more. So before we conclude our conversation today, Annie, do you have any pearls of wisdom, any words of encouragement for families that are living with someone with a disability?

[00:33:20:18 - 00:33:47:19]

Annie

 I think very much just just remember to keep the documentation. You're not always sure that you're going to need this down the road. That's one of the problem sometimes is that somebody has done a spring cleaning and gotten rid of different things. So if you're unsure of whether you're going to use it again, just try to save it because you may be able to help get a yes for Disability Tax Credit with doing that.

[00:33:47:19 - 00:33:59:02]

Valerie

 Yes. Thank you so much, Annie. Gordon, Annie, thank you so much for being with us today. We so appreciate having you here and sharing your knowledge. And again, so appreciate the work that you guys do.

[00:33:59:02 - 00:34:02:08]

Gordon

 Thanks for having me. I appreciate the invites and for the conversation.

[00:34:02:08 - 00:34:08:00]

Valerie

 You're so welcome. 

So, audience, I want you to remember to Live with Intention - Embrace the Journey.