Transferring the unused credit
Transfer is what makes the DTC useful for people who owe little or no tax. If the person with the impairment does not need the full disability amount to reduce their own tax, some or all of the unused amount may be transferred to a supporting family member, who claims it on their own return. The transfer does not change the size of the disability amount; it changes whose tax bill it reduces. The person with the impairment claims first, and only the leftover moves.
Who counts as a supporting family member
A supporting family member is someone the person with the impairment depends on for at least one of the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, or clothing. The family member must also be one of the following: a spouse or common-law partner; a child or grandchild; a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew; or the same relationships through a spouse or common-law partner. Support must be real: the family member must actually provide support for a basic necessity, not merely be related to the person.
Which line on the return
| Who claims | Line on the federal return |
|---|---|
| The person with the impairment, for themselves | 31600 — Disability amount for self |
| A spouse or common-law partner, transferred amount | 32600 — Amounts transferred from your spouse or common-law partner |
| Another supporting family member, transferred amount | 31800 — Disability amount transferred from a dependant |
Using the wrong line is a common, correctable error, but it can delay an assessment while the CRA sorts out who claimed what. If two people support the same dependant, they may split the claim between them, but the total claimed by everyone together cannot exceed the maximum amount allowed for that dependant. Two people cannot each claim the full amount for the same person in the same year.
How a transfer is arranged
The simplest route is to name the supporting family member in Part A, question 2, of Form T2201 when the certificate is first submitted. If the certificate is approved with that person identified, the transfer follows the normal claiming rules. If the supporting person was not identified on the original application, they can still ask for a transfer by sending the CRA a signed written request that describes the support they provide for the basic necessities of life. Either way, the CRA must have an approved certificate for the person with the impairment before anyone can claim a transferred amount for that year.
Worked example (assumptions stated)
Example — transfer to a spouse. Assumptions: 2025 tax year, adult with an approved certificate, federal tax payable before the DTC of $400, spouse with federal tax payable of $2,500, spouse identified as the supporting person. The claimant uses $400 of the $1,470.01 federal credit, leaving $1,070.01 unused. That unused credit value, corresponding to the unused part of the $10,138 disability amount, may be transferred to the spouse, who claims it on line 32600. The spouse's federal tax then falls by up to $1,070.01, limited by the spouse's own tax payable. If the spouse's tax payable were lower, part of the credit would remain unused even after the transfer, and it would not be refunded.
Parents and children
Where the person with the impairment is a child, the transfer rules work the same way in substance: a supporting parent claims the child's disability amount, including any supplement, on the parent's return, subject to the supplement reduction rules and to the parent's tax payable. The child's own return, if one is filed, should not also claim the same amount.
Sources: Canada Revenue Agency, "Claiming the DTC" page on canada.ca (transfer rules, supporting family member definition, lines 31600, 31800, 32600).
Photo credits: dt16.jpg — k; dt17.jpg — k; dt18.jpg — k